Jan Mendoses was a European

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

or merchant who lived during the 17th century. It is possible that Jan Mendoses' real name was Juan eMendoza. There is considerable doubt about his nationality, some sources claiming he was a Belgian named Mandaus, others that he was Spanish. He may even have been a merchant heading for

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, rather than the "notorious pirate" claimed by Danish sources. According to the Danes, he had earlier been raiding the

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with the

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pirate Thomas Tucker who had formerly served under the English pirate Admiral Easton. In 1614, Tucker fitted out his first pirate command in

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and seems to have recruited Mendoses there. Mendoses was captured by the

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Admiral Jørgen Daa off the north coast of

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in 1615. The future explorer

Jens Munk Jens Munk (3 June 1579 – June 1628) was a Danish-Norwegian navigator and explorer. He entered into the service of King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway and is most noted for his attempts to find the Northwest Passage. Early life Jens Munk ...

served on Daa's ship, and a book which Munk took from Mendoses' ship is now in the

Danish Royal Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

. Mendoses was taken back to

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where he was hanged.

References

Further reading