Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff ( – 22 May 1609) was a Dutch admiral of the

Admiralty of Amsterdam The Admiralty of Amsterdam was the largest of the five Dutch admiralties at the time of the Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven ...

, notable for his voyage to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

between 1607 and 1612. Verhoeff was in the service of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. In 1601, he was involved in the

Siege of Ostend The siege of Ostend was a three-year siege of the city of Ostend during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. A Spanish force under Archduke Albrecht besieged the fortress being held initially by a Dutch force which was reinforc ...

. During the Battle of Gibraltar, in 1607, he was flag captain of the ''Aeolus'', the flagship of Admiral

Jacob van Heemskerk Jacob van Heemskerck (3 March 1567 – 25 April 1607) was a Dutch explorer and naval admiral. Early life Jacob van Heemskerck was born in Amsterdam in 1567. He is described as having delicate feature, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, ...

. He died during an expedition to Banda, where he and many of his crew were ambushed and murdered by natives of Banda Island while negotiating with them for the

. This assassination was the direct cause of the

Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands The Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands was a process of military conquest from 1609 to 1621 by the Dutch East India Company of the Banda Islands. The Dutch, having enforced a monopoly on the highly lucrative nutmeg production from the islands, ...

(1609–1621).

Footnotes

Bibliography

* 1570s births 1609 deaths Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic History of Kerala Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company {{Netherlands-bio-stub