Dutch vessels were highly prized targets, not only because they carried valuable cargo and potential slaves, but especially because they could be encountered almost anywhere at sea.

At the height of the Dutch Golden Age, the Dutch merchant fleet consisted of approximately 20,000 vessels ranging from 50 to 600 tons. Through this enormous fleet, the Dutch controlled around 60 percent of Europe’s salt trade, 75 percent of the herring trade, 75 percent of the grain trade, and 65 percent of the wine trade. By 1680, some 50,000 sailors were officially registered. The likelihood of encountering a Dutch merchantman in mid-ocean was therefore far from insignificant.

Corsair xebecs in pursuit — Don Antonio Barceló Con Su Jabeque Correo Rinde A Dos Galeotas Argelinas (1902), oil painting by Ángel Cortellini y Sánchez (1858–1912).

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, Barbary corsairs operating from their home ports — including Algiers, Tripoli, Salé, Tunis, and Tetouan — preyed upon European merchant shipping from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean as far north as Iceland. In the Mediterranean, they relied primarily upon brigantines, small and fast vessels propelled both by sail and by oars. These brikken, as the Dutch called them, were equipped with two masts, supplemented by staysails and an extended bowsprit. Behind the mainmast stood a triangular fore-and-aft sail set parallel to the keel.

The slow Dutch fluyts — the standard cargo vessels of the period — were no match for these heavily armed wolf packs of corsairs. Those who lacked the protection of a convoy lived in constant fear of being boarded.

The brigantines, however, suffered from one major disadvantage: because of their relatively small size, they could carry only limited provisions and were therefore unsuitable for extended voyages at sea. Raids against Western Europe required more seaworthy ships, yet the North Africans possessed little tradition in the construction of large square-rigged warships. The solution was obvious, though highly dangerous and difficult: capturing European frigates was no easy task.

Nevertheless, throughout the centuries the corsairs regularly succeeded in taking such vessels, often under the command of European captains and sailors who had converted to Islam and saw opportunity in piracy. The most famous among them was Jan Janszoon of Haarlem, who, under the name Murat Reis, commanded an impressive fleet of eighteen warships from Salé from 1618 onwards and was even appointed Grand Admiral.

Captured European frigates were generally stripped down as much as possible in order to make them lighter. Between-decks and anything not strictly necessary for combat at sea were removed. As a result, the ships became faster and more manoeuvrable, perfectly suited to the corsairs’ preferred tactics: strike swiftly and disappear.

According to contemporary estimates, the Algerian fleet in 1623 consisted of three galleys, no fewer than seventy-five ships of the line, and one hundred smaller lightly armed vessels (brigantines).

Source: Lambert Hendricksz en zijn jihad tegen de Barbarijse zeerovers, by Joost Schokkenbroek 

The Oranjeboom

The Sint-Joris

Source: Bataviawerf