Piet Hein

Piet Hein

Piet Pieterszoon Hein (25 November 1577 – 18 June 1629) was a Dutch admiral and privateer for the Dutch Republic during the Eighty Years’ War.

Hein was the first and the last to capture a large part of a Spanish treasure fleet which transported huge amounts of gold and silver from Spanish America to Spain.

The amount of silver taken was so large that it caused a rise of the silver price worldwide, and near bankruptcy of Spain.

Conquest of the silver fleet in the Bay of Matanzas by Admiraal Piet Heyn, in 1628:

Piet Hein’s attack on Matanzas bay, Cuba was the most spectacular success against the Spanish foe, where Hein robbed from them gold, silver, and other goods worth more than 12 million "guilders".

The galleons were so loaded with gold and silver that they had actually blocked many of their own gun ports, making it impossible to properly engage the Dutch privateers in battle.

He would go on to return to the Netherlands as a marauding hero with 15 captured Spanish ships added to his fleet.

Following this success, Hein headed out to confront English pirates in 1629, and was hit in the shoulder by a cannonball, blown apart, and died instantly: