Jurriaen Aernoutsz (or Aernouts) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

colonial navy captain, who briefly conquered the capital of

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...

Fort Pentagouet Fort Pentagouët (Fort Pentagoet, Fort Castine, Fort Penobscot, Fort Saint-Pierre) was a French fort established in present-day Castine, Maine, which was the capital of Acadia (1670–1674). It is the oldest permanent settlement in New England. I ...

Penobscot Bay Penobscot Bay (french: Baie de Penobscot) is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast, Maine, Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many ...

(present day

Castine, Maine Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduate ...

) and several other villages, and renamed the colony New Holland during the

Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, also known as the Dutch War (french: Guerre de Hollande; nl, Hollandse Oorlog), was fought between France and the Dutch Republic, supported by its allies the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark-Nor ...

. The commander of the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

''Flying Horse'', based at

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

during the

Third Anglo-Dutch War The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...

, Aernoutsz was dispatched by the governor of Curaçao to fight French and English ships in the North Atlantic after the Netherlands recaptured

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. By the time he reached New York, however, the English and the Dutch had made peace in the Treaty of Westminster — but with the

still underway, Aernoutsz met with

John Rhoades John Rhoades was a fur trader from New England, who was part of Jurriaen Aernoutsz's short-lived conquest of Acadia in 1674. A resident of Massachusetts, Rhoades met with Aernoutsz shortly after the latter's arrival in New York City, and used h ...

and decided to attack Acadia. On August 10, 1674, Aernoutsz and the crew of the ''Flying Horse'' captured

in two hours. He then sailed up the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

, pillaging several French posts along the coast and ending at

Fort Jemseg A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, which he also captured. Aernoutsz claimed Acadia as the Dutch territory of New Holland, burying bottles at both Pentagouet and Jemseg to assert his claim, and remained in Acadia for about a month. He subsequently returned to Boston in mid-September, disposing of his pillage and selling the cannon from Pentagouet to the government of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Aernoutsz then returned to Curaçao in October, leaving Rhoades and company in Boston with orders to return to Acadia to maintain possession of the territory. Once in Acadia, Rhoades, Peter Roderigo, and Cornelius Andreson began seizing New England vessels coming to trade with the

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...

.George Francis Dow, John Henry The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730 pg. 45 As a result, the government of Massachusetts apprehended the party and tried them as

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 ...

s, during which time the French regained control of the territory without any military opposition. The Dutch continued to consider New Holland part of their colonial empire in North America, appointing

Cornelius Van Steenwyk Cornelius Steenwyck
Long Island Wills and Death Notes, 1708-1728. (born Cornelis Jacobsz Steenwijck; March 16, ...

as Dutch governor of the territory in 1676, but this was largely a paper designation — in actual practice, the region remained under French control and sovereignty. Shortly after his appointment, Van Steenwyk sent a Dutch expedition to reoccupy Pentagouet, but they were turned back by three English warships from Boston. The Dutch continued to claim sovereignty over Acadia on paper until 1678, when they surrendered the claim at the end of the war.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aernoutsz, Jurriaen Acadian history Sailors on ships of the Dutch West India Company Military history of Acadia Military history of Nova Scotia Military history of New England 17th-century Dutch military personnel