Jan Willems (died 1688), also known as Janke or Yankey Willems, was a 17th-century 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 the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...

. Based out of Petit-Goâve, Willems participated in a number of expeditions against the Spanish during the early to mid-1680s with other well-known privateers including

Michiel Andrieszoon Michiel Andrieszoon (fl. 1683–1684) was a Dutch buccaneer who served as lieutenant to Captain Laurens de Graaf. 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 ...

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

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 ...

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 t ...

Biography

Although a Dutchman, Willems worked with English privateers during the first years of his buccaneering career raiding Rio de la Hacha with

in 1680. In September 1681, he and English privateer William Wright sailed together from

Bocas del Toro Bocas del Toro (; meaning "Mouth of the Bull") is a province of Panama. Its area is 4,643.9 square kilometers, comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The province consists of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Bahía Almirante (Almirante Bay ...

. Although Willems did not have a commission himself, he captured a Spanish merchantman with a cargo of

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

while sailing with Wright south along the caribbean coast of New Granada actual

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

. Taking the Spanish prize as his own, he gave his old

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

to Wright who burned his own ship. They attempted to sell the Spanish cargo 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 coa ...

, however they were forced to leave by the governor. He and Wright then sailed to the

Islas Las Aves The Las Aves Archipelago is a pristine archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, and is part of the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela. It is located north of the Venezuelan states of Aragua and Carabobo, between the Dutch island Bonaire in the west, and ...

and Los Roques where they remained until February 1682 and presumably parted ways soon after. During next year, he was among those present at a conference on Roatan in one of the largest held gatherings of the "

Brethren of the Coast The Brethren or Brethren of the Coast were a loose coalition of pirates and privateers commonly known as buccaneers that were active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. They we ...

". Willems, along with

and

, successfully raided Vera Cruz on May 17, 1683. Using two captured Spanish galleons in the

vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives f ...

, he and Laurens de Graaf were able to sneak into the Spanish harbor during the early morning hours and landed a small force on shore. The buccaneers caught the garrison off guard, many of the soldiers still sleeping, and took out the city's defenses allowing the rest of the fleet to enter the harbor. After three or four days, Willems and the others looted the town before retreating at the sight of the New Spain fleet. In late-November, he joined

Francois Le Sage Francois Le Sage (died 1694) was a pirate and buccaneer active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He is primarily associated with fellow buccaneers Michiel Andrieszoon and Laurens de Graaf. History Le Sage, alternately described as D ...

and Laurens de Graaf in attacking Spanish shipping off Cartagena resulting in an altercation with Governor

Juan de Pando Estrada ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

who commandeered two Spanish slavers to go after them.Marley, David F. ''Historic Cities of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2005. (pg. 751-752) Governor of Jamaica Thomas Lynch tried to hire Willems to capture French pirate

Jean Hamlin Jean Hamlin (alternatively spelled Jean Hamlyn, fl. 1682–1684) was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He was often associated with St. Thomas's pirate-friendly Governor Adolph Esmit. History Hamlin began his ...

in 1683 after two Navy ships and pirate-turned-pirate-hunter John Coxon failed; Willems refused Lynch's offer. He participated in de Graaf's later raids against Cartagena in 1684 and

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. After the raid on Cartagena, de Graff gave Willems his old flagship, the ''Princesa''. After having sailed alongside fellow Dutch buccaneer

Jacob Evertson Jacob Evertson (died 1688 or 1695, also known as James or Everson) was a Dutch buccaneer and pirate active in the Caribbean. He escaped Henry Morgan and sailed with Jan Willems for several years. Biography Early piracy Evertson captured a briga ...

for several years, Willems reportedly died in the

Gulf 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. ...

in 1688, possibly alongside Evertson; their remaining crew members signed on with Captain Peterson.

Biography

References

Further reading