Michiel Andrieszoon ( fl. 1683–1684) was a Dutch

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from Stuart Restoration, the Restoration in 16 ...

who served as lieutenant to Captain

Laurens de Graaf Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn de Graaf (c. 1653 – 24 May 1704) was a Dutch pirate, mercenary, and naval officer in the service of the French colony of Saint-Domingue during the late 17th and early 18th century. De Graaf was also known as Laurencil ...

. He commanded the ''le Tigre'', with a 300-man crew and between 30 and 36 guns. He is occasionally referred to in English as Michel or Mitchell, and is often erroneously"Bréha" generally refers to fellow buccaneer Pierre Bart. given the nickname "Bréha Michiel". In 1683, he was one of the leaders of the

attack on Veracruz The attack on Veracruz was a 1683 raid against the port of Veracruz, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial Mexico). It was led by the Dutch pirates Laurens de Graaf, Nicholas van Hoorn and Michel de Grammont. History On 17 May 1683 the pirate ...

. This was one of the last major buccaneering raids in the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

and included such captains as

Yankey Willems Jan Willems (died 1688), also known as Janke or Yankey Willems, was a 17th-century Dutch buccaneer. Based out of Petit-Goâve, Willems participated in a number of expeditions against the Spanish during the early to mid-1680s with other well-know ...

Nicholas van Hoorn Nicholas van Hoorn (c. 1635 in Vlissingen – buried 24 June 1683, in Isla Mujeres) was a merchant sailor, privateer and pirate. He was born in the Netherlands and died near Veracruz after being wounded on the Isla de Sacrificios. ''Nikolaas'' or ...

and

Michel de Grammont Michel de Grammont (c. 1645 – 1686?) was a French privateer. He was born in Paris, Kingdom of France and was lost at sea in the north-east Caribbean, April 1686. His privateer career lasted from around 1670 to 1686 during which he commanded th ...

. He was with de Graaf when they rendezvoused with the rest of the fleet from

Petit-Goâve Petit-Goâve ( ht, Ti Gwav) is a coastal commune in the Léogâne Arrondissement in the Ouest department of Haiti. It is located southwest of Port-au-Prince. The town has a population of approximately 12,000 inhabitants. History The town is ...

in February 1683. The two men had two ships, a bark and a sloop, and 500 men. Andrieszoon took part in raiding Spanish ships in the

Bay of Honduras The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km (125 miles) from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras. ...

and off the coast of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

for several weeks. They arrived at Veracruz on May 17 and, after some reconnaissance, attacked at dawn the following morning and successfully looted the Spanish stronghold.Marley, David. ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1998. (pg. 192, 194) In late November, Andrieszoon was with de Graff, Yankey Willems, Francois Le Sage and several others for the raid on Cartagena. When Viceroy Juan de Pando Estrada was informed of the buccaneers' presence, he ordered three Spanish warships to confront them. On December 23, the small squadron sailed out to meet the enemy fleet. Under the command of 26-year-old Captain Andres de Pez y Malzarraga were the 40-gun ''San Francisco'', the 34-gun ''Paz'' and a 28-gun

galliot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a flat- ...

carrying 800 soldiers. Instead of fleeing, the smaller ships sailed around the Spaniards, confusing its gunners. The ''San Francisco'' ran aground early in the battle, the galliot was captured by Willems, while the ''Paz'' struck after four hours of fighting. Casualties were relatively light, with only twenty buccaneers and ninety soldiers killed and the rest taken prisoner. The buccaneers took the warships for themselves, de Graaf raising the ''San Francisco'' and making it his new flagship, and later released the prisoners with a message for the governor thanking him for the Christmas present. Andrieszoon took ''Paz'' for his own, giving ''Tigre'' to Le Sage. Andrieszoon presumably remained with the expedition as they maintained the blockade for three weeks, before de Graff headed northwest for Roatan and

Saint Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the islan ...

. Over the next two years Andrieszoon returned to the Caribbean alongside Willems, taking ships near Cuba before sailing north to resupply in New England. Afterwards they and several others raided off the Spanish Main, eventually sacking

Campeche Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...

in 1685 before returning to

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

to retire.

See also

References

Further reading