1628 Eroberung Der Reiche Silber – Vloot Inde Bay oder Haven Matancae.

This remarkable engraving depicts the Capture of the Spanish Silver Fleet Near Havana, in 1628 by the Dutch West India Company, under the command of Piet Heyn, son of a well-known Dutch maritime commander. The outcome of the maritime battle pictured here resulted in Piet Heyn becoming a well-known Dutch hero. The scene has been depicted by many cartographers and artists since the time it took place. Context of the Conflict By 1628, the Dutch and Spanish had been at war for most of the past sixty years. While undertaken as a Dutch war for independence, the war had spread beyond Europe and into the Atlantic. For two and a half centuries Spain had funded its government in all its undertakings with treasure mined or looted in South America and taken back across the Atlantic in fleets which sailed virtuously unmolested. Hogenberg beautifully depicts one of the rare incidents when a treasure fleet floundered, intercepted by the Dutch. The Disorganized Spanish Fleet At the time of the inciden