How A Galley Slave Drove the Spanish Empire Into Bankruptcy

I always enjoy watching your videos despite my distaste for violence, but every time I keep wondering, what is the point of the work that went into gathering these bits of history? Why is the study of the misadventures of Charles the Bold, for example, important? Aside of being very interesting, of course. This question is not meant as an insult. I've been wondering about this for a long time. From Google, I get the usual answers. That by learning history, we learn not to repeat the same mistakes, for example. No examples are ever given for when history saved the day. Another popular answer, is that history teaches us about peoples, and their identities. My problem with that, is that identities are formed by what people are taught about what has happened, and not by what actually happened. The same is true for religion. Whether those are true or not, is incidental, in my opinion. If anyone has an opinion about the issue, please be civil.

Ah yes, our very own Jack Sparrow. The Dutch certainly had some naval legends, quite fitting for one to be a privateer

"They know we know!" "But they don't know that we know they know we know, that's our chance!"

The only succesfull capture of a Spanish treasure fleet. Piet Hein really did something special. It also shows how well the Spanish protected their fleet for it to be only captured once. It wasn't for a lack of trying by their enemies

Piet Hein was also very modern for his time, being the first admiral of low birth and being against slavery, based on his own experiences. He also had his own way of making deals in the indonesian islands, where normally the dutch would employ gunboat tactics, Hein chose the pen over the sword. This led to a bond between the netherlands and the island of Ambon and its surrounding islands so strong, that even 400 years later they would be the only allies of the dutch during the indonesian war of independence after WW2 Truly a magnificent man

This video is kinda different from our other stuff. We always wanted to get more into the naval side of history. If you like this topic / form of storytelling, please let us know. Also, suggestions for other topics that are related to naval history are more than welcome.

Good video, very interesting. Some extra info: The "Dunkirk" privateer who shot Piet Heyn was from Ostend (Oostende) and called Jacob Besage. He is the most famous Ostend privateer because of this fact. His name is not well known, but we do have a street named after him :-)

'Piet Hein, Piet Hein, Piet Hein sijn naem is cleijn, sijn daden benne groot, hij heeft gewonnen de silver-vloot'. Piet Hein, his name is small, his deeds are great, he won the silver-fleet') We Dutch still sing about this feat in one of our national songs ( mainly during football matches nowadays). Maybe you could do a video on Michiel De Ruiter as well. He led the very last succesful raid in England in 1667 during the battle of Chatham, near London. He destroyed the entire English fleet and took the King's crown ship 'Royal Charles'' with him. The back 'mirror' of this ship is still on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as a national treasure. The English language still holds harsh sentiments against us due to that raid and following battles (Double Dutch, Dutch courage, to beat the Dutch at sea, etc.) History is always alive!

As a Spaniard I admire Piet hein for being the only one in three centuries to capture the "Flota del Tesoro". To give you an idea of how difficult this was, the Dutch sent 10 years later a fleet of 24 galleons under the command of Cornelis Jol to capture a convoy of 7 galleons under the command of Carlos Ibarra that was transporting 30 million pesos. In the Battle of Cabañas in 1638 the Dutch lost 5-7 galleons(depending on the source), the Spanish lost none. It is also known that after the battle the Dutch had to sink several of their ships due to the serious damage during the combat. That is why I respect and admire the great sailor and admiral Piet Hein.

It always amazes me how we got all sorts of bullshit stories from Hollywood, but we NEVER get proper history dramas that revolve around ACTUAL events of fantastic proportions.

Very good video about Piet Hein and the silverfleet. One remark, as a admiral who had fallen in battle, hé was awarded with a” praalgraf”, which you still can find in the old church in Delft.

You should do more of these naval history videos. There are a lot of important events and even heroes in the oceans and seas of 16th and 17th centuries

I LOVE the age of exploration...outside of the Ancient Roman world, I think the Age of Exploration is my favorite historical timeframe. I like everything about it. And its cool to see weapons like Halberds and Pikes(and swords for sidearms) being used alongside Pistols, Muskets, so on, with plate armor(well, a breastplate and helmet and gauntlets, depending on the person of course, but always a breastplate and helmet at least) for defense. Its like a mix of modern(or rather, napoleonic era) weaponry with the weapons and armor of the old world; and that armor was bullet proof(against pistol balls at least). And there were plenty of rivalries in the old world, and PLENTY of vicious hostile savage tribes in the Americas and in various islands to fight and conquer - or live among if you got stranded there. I greatly enjoy reading everything I can about this time period. It has always inspired me a great deal. Sometimes I feel like I was born 400-500 years too early lol.

I had no idea only one treasure fleet was actually taken. This story seems truly amazing.

I enjoyed this! The Dutch are not talked about much in the Caribbean, nor have i heard about many Dutch pirates. Great work!

Think one day we could get a video about De Ruyters great victory over the English at Medway? That would be epic!

It's crazy to think that the personal vendetta of a common man, a slave even can turn the fate of an Empire.

And he’s back everyone! Get the popcorns and sodas! We’re leaving the castle and Europe and we’re sailing high seas! Yarr!

"That is without a doubt the best pirate I've ever seen..."

This story is worthy of a good adventure movie! Drama, glory, war, revenge.. its all there.