Jacques L'Hermite

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Jacques L'Hermite (* 1582 ; † June 2, 1624 in Callao de Lima ) was a Dutch admiral and namesake of the Hermite Islands near Cape Horn .

Life

Jacques L'Hermite was a Rotterdam shipowner and merchant, as such a member of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Over the centuries he has remained known as the admiral of the Nassau fleet, which circled the world from 1623 to 1626 ( circumnavigation of the world ), and with the naming for Isla Hermite (55 ° 50.5 'S, 67 ° 40' W) near Cape Hoorn found his "perpetuation".

The Nassau fleet was sent by the States General and Prince Moritz von Nassau as an expedition against the Spaniards in Peru. She sailed with 11 ships ( Oranje , Haas , (Wapen van) Amsterdam , Arend , Koning David , Delft , Eendracht , Griffioen , Windhond , Hollandia and Hoop en Mauritius ) and a crew of 1,637 from the port of Amsterdam on April 29, 1623 . Admiral L'Hermite's ship was the Amsterdam . On February 16, 1624 the fleet sighted Cape Horn in NNE. After two long cross cuts and no significant advance to the west, they entered what would later become known as the Nassau Bay (Bahía Nassau). With this, L'Hermite discovered the northern passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific at the back of Cape Horn. A number of geographical names in the region bear witness to this discovery. In addition to the Bahía Nassau and Isla Hermite already mentioned, these are the Bahía Schapenham (after the Vice Admiral, 55 ° 34 'S, 68 ° 1' W), the Bahía Windhond (after a ship in the fleet, 55 ° 14 'S, 67 ° 32 'W) and the Bahía Orange (after another ship in the fleet, 55 ° 31' S, 68 ° 4 'W).

In addition to the geographical discoveries, the first encounter between Europeans and the Yámana (or Yaghan) Indians made this journey significant. However, the encounter was extremely bloody, 17 Arend men were killed or captured by the Indians.

Siege of Puna Island squad led by Jacques L'Hermite, after an engraving from 1630

After circumnavigating the southern tip of America, the fleet attacked Callao ( Lima , Peru ), Guayaquil and Pisco . Before Callao, L'Hermite, who had been a sick man for eight months, died on June 2, 1624. He was buried on Isla San Lorenzo , just outside Callao. John Hugo Schapenham completed the circumnavigation of the world and returned to the Netherlands with one ship in 1626, while the other ships remained in Jakarta to reinforce the VOC.

literature

  • Hessel Gerritsz: Journal van de Nassauche Vloot . Amsterdam 1626
  • Adolf Decker: Journal or Tag-Register of the Nassau fleet . Strasburg 1629
  • Felix Riesenberg: Cape Horn . London 1941
  • Verschoor, Julius Wilhelm Van . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 6 : Sunderland - Zurita . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1889, p. 283 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive - Navigator by L'Hermite).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME L'Hermite, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch admiral and namesake of Isla Hermite near Cape Horn
DATE OF BIRTH 1582
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1624
Place of death Callao de Lima