Joris Pieters van den Broeck (1610 – 27 August 1652) was a Frisian sailor in the service of the Admiralty of Friesland.

Service

In the days before the Battle of the Downs, Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp had chosen a position off the coast near

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.La Coruña. On receiving Broeck's report on it, Tromp decided to attack and in the ensuing battle Broeck was sent to

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

to bring back new supplies of gunpowder to the Dutch fleet. Having done so, Broeck rejoined the fleet and managed to capture a 140-man 18-gun Spanish galleon. On 18 October 1640 he captured an 8-gun 72-man Dunkirker frigate and sail it back into Dokkum, followed in May 1642 by his capture of some small Dunkirker vessels and an 80-man 12-gun Dunkirker frigate. In August 1642 he forced a 14-gun enemy frigate to run aground and captured a 140-man 20-gun frigate. In the battle of Plymouth on 26 August 1652 he commanded the ''De Westergo'' in the squadron of Michiel de Ruyter (and was, apart from de Ruyter, the highest-ranking officer present), but he died in the evening after the battle of disease. {{DEFAULTSORT:Broeck, Joris Pieters van den 1610 births 1652 deaths Dutch naval personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars Dutch sailors People from Friesland