Pieter van der Does

Van der Does attack on Las Palmas

Pieter van der Does (born January 17, 1562 in Leiden , † October 24, 1599 in São Tomé and Príncipe ) was a Dutch admiral.

He comes from the noble family Van der Does and was the youngest son of Jacob van der Does (around 1500 to 1577), who was a lay judge in Leiden. Pieter van der Does became superintendent of the Dutch fleet in August 1586 and was involved in the fight against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He cruised off the Flemish coast to prevent the Duke of Parma from joining the Armada. He also sank a few Spanish galleons and captured two more (the San Felipe and the San Matteo, the flag of the latter being displayed in Leiden). In recognition of this, he became Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland in 1588. In 1587 he became bailiff (Baljuw) and dikgrave of the Rijnland and in 1588 chief lay judge of Leiden. In 1594 he served on land with the Reductie van Groningen under Wilhelm Ludwig (Nassau-Dillenburg) and was wounded by a bullet. In 1595 he became general master of the artillery and in 1596 he supported Moritz of Orange in the besieged Hulst . In 1599 he was sent to Spain as the commander of a large expedition fleet with 3000 sailors and 8000 landing troops and, after finding Spanish ports such as Coruna well guarded, attacked Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. He conquered the city and made rich booty. Pieter van der Does was one of the first to climb the ladders in the attack on Las Palmas and was wounded several times. After that he turned after having half the fleet under Jan Gerbrandsz. had sent back with the booty, against Spanish and Portuguese possessions in West Africa (he also planned to go to Brazil) and fell sick like most of his people of an epidemic and died on Sao Tome.

He was married to the admiral's daughter Philipote van Duidenvoorde since 1586, with whom he had a daughter Henrika, who married Adriaan van Mathenesse in 1610.

Web links

• Biographical Portaal van Nederland