The Battle in the Bay of Matanzas was a naval battle during the Eighty Years' War in which a Dutch squadron was able to defeat and capture a Spanish treasure fleet. Combatants Dutch rebels Spanish Empire The Eighty Years War, or Dutch Revolt (1566–1648), was the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Netherlands against the Spanish king. ... Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Spanish treasure fleets brought the wealth of the Spanish colonies in Central and South America to Spain, in the form of silver, gold, gems, spices, cocoa and other exotic goods. ...

In 1628, Admiral Hein, with Witte de With as his flag captain, sailed out to capture the Spanish treasure fleet loaded with silver from their American colonies. With him was Admiral Hendrick Lonck and he was later joined by a squadron of Vice-Admiral Joost Banckert. Part of the Spanish fleet in Venezuela had been warned because a Dutch cabin boy had lost his way on Blanquilla and was captured, betraying the plan, but the other half from Mexico continued its voyage, unaware of the threat. Sixteen Spanish ships were intercepted; one galleon was taken after a surprise encounter during the night, nine smaller merchants were talked into a surrender; two small ships were taken at sea fleeing, four fleeing galleons were trapped on the Cuban coast in the Bay of Matanzas. Events March 1 - writs were issued in February 1628 by Charles I of England that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date. ... Witte Corneliszoon de With (28 March 1599-8 November 1658) was a Dutch naval officer of 17th century. ... In the Royal Navy a Captain of the fleet could be appointed to assist an admiral when the admiral had ten or more ships to command. ... In the 16th century the Spanish treasure fleets brought the wealth of the Spanish colonies in Central and South America to Spain, in the form of silver, gold, gems, spices, cocoa and other exotic goods (Zarin, 2005). ... Joost van Trappen Banckert (ca. ... A Spanish galleon A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by the nations of Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. ... Matanzas is one of the provinces of Cuba. ...

After some musket volleys from Dutch sloops their crews surrendered also and Hein captured 11,509,524 guilders of booty in gold, silver and other expensive trade goods, as indigo and cochineal, without any bloodshed. The Dutch didn't take prisoners: they gave the Spanish crews ample supplies for a march to Havana. The released were surprised to hear the admiral personally giving them directions in fluent Spanish; Hein after all was well acquainted with the region as he had been confined to it during his internment after 1603. The treasure was the company's greatest victory in the Caribbean. A sloop-rigged J-24 sailboat In sailing, a sloop is a vessel with a Fore-and-aft rig. ... The gulden (sometimes called guilder in English), represented by the symbol ƒ or fl. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... Indigo is the color of light between 440 to 420 nanometres in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet. ... Binomial name Dactylopius coccus Costa, 1835 Synonyms Coccus cacti Linnaeus, 1758 Pseudococcus cacti Burmeister, 1839 Cochineal is the name of both an expensive crimson or carmine dye and the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), from which the dye is derived. ... Havana (Spanish in full: La Habana, formerly named San Cristóbal de La Habana; UN/LOCODE: CU HAV) is the capital of Cuba and of one of the 14 provinces of Cuba, the one named Ciudad de La Habana), with a population of more than 2. ...

As a result, the money funded the Dutch army for eight months allowing it to capture the fortress 's-Hertogenbosch and the shareholders enjoyed a cash dividend of 50% for that year. He returned to the Netherlands in 1629, where he was hailed as a hero. Watching the crowds cheering him standing on the balcony of the town hall of Leyden he remarked to the burgomaster: "Now they praise me because I gained riches without the least danger; but earlier when I risked my life in full combat they didn't even know I existed...". Hein was the last to capture such a large part of a Spanish "silver fleet" from America. s-Hertogenbosch (literally The Dukes Forest in Dutch; translated in French as Bois-le-Duc), unofficially also called Den Bosch, is a municipality in the Netherlands, the capital of the province of North Brabant. ... A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ... Dividends are payments made by a company to its shareholders. ... Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ... Leiden (in English also, but now rarely, Leyden) is a city and municipality in South Holland, The Netherlands. ...