Jan Willems (died 1688), also known as Janke or Yankey Willems, was a 17th-century Dutch

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates 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 u ...

. Based out of

Petit-Goâve Petit-Goâve () is a coastal List of communes of Haiti, commune in the Léogâne Arrondissement in the Ouest (department), Ouest Departments of Haiti, department of Haiti. It is located southwest of Port-au-Prince. The town has a population of a ...

, Willems participated in a number of expeditions against the Spanish during the early to mid-1680s with other well-known privateers including Michiel Andrieszoon,

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 ...

, Laurens de Graaf, Nicholas van Hoorn and Michel de Grammont.

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. 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 Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

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 primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

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

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

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

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

, however they were forced to leave by the governor. He and Wright then sailed to the Islas Las Aves 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 buccaneers that were active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. They mostly operated in two locations, ...

". Willems, along with Laurens de Graaf, Nicholas van Hoorn and Michel de Grammont, successfully raided Vera Cruz on May 17, 1683. Using two captured Spanish galleons in the

vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and 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. ...

, 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 Michiel Andrieszoon, Francois Le Sage and Laurens de Graaf in attacking Spanish shipping off Cartagena resulting in an altercation with Governor Juan de Pando Estrada 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 (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 career in 1682, sailing from Jama ...

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, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...

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 for several years, Willems reportedly died in the

Gulf of Honduras The Gulf of Honduras or the 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 Cei ...

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

Biography

References

Further reading