Hendrick Jacobszoon Lucifer (1583–1627) was a Dutch-born

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 ...

. Hendrick's last name, Lucifer, referred to a lighting stick, not to the fallen angel

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...

, and was most likely used as a

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

due to his use of fire and smoke to surprise enemies.

Greatest success and death

In 1627, Hendrick was in charge of 3 ships transporting colonists to Guyana for the Dutch West India Company, accompanied by two other pirate captains. One encounter off the coast of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

caused by a near collision with a two-ship Honduran treasure fleet allowed Hendrick's fleet to capture a ship and contents worth 1.2 million

guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Emp ...

. Hendrick fought ''as brave as a lion'', (according to surviving crewmen), and personally killed around ten enemy soldiers in close combat, before being hit by a bullet. He still continued his plundering, but another bullet hit him in the chest and he had to quit fighting. He made it back safely to his ship, and his crew finished up the last of the treasure fleet's sailors. Lucifer, by then mortally wounded, gave the order to transfer the loot (1404 chests of Indigo, 4280 animal skins, 32 jars of balsam ointment and several other items) to his ship. He then walked to his cabin. He slowly lay down to bed, saying he would go to rest, and then died as a result of wounds received during the encounter.

References

1583 births 1627 deaths Dutch privateers 16th-century Dutch people 17th-century Dutch people 17th-century pirates Dutch pirates Deaths by firearm in international waters {{Pirate-stub