Thanks for your research on Nicolaas van Hoorn. I am not yet convinced on the case of the ships name. Where does the story of “st. Nicholas day” come from in the first place? It might have been something that is lost in translation from English to French or Spanish. I agree with your experience in historical research. Usually you find things where you are not looking for. I’ll be happy to assist you with documents in the VOC archive. I have no experience in off-line archives though. As far as I know, the VOC archives are in The Hague (national archive), not in Amsterdam. Furthermore, I think you might be more interested in WIC archives, which are also in the Hague. I might be of more help for sources in “het scheepvaart museum” which claims to have a large collection of books on shipping history. But keep me posted when you need something from The Hague. I won’t be there often, but when I am there I’ll try to combine a visit to the archive.
Hi MK,
Sorry I took some time to contact you again, but I am still busy with my st. Nicholas research of which other topics take time as well. The difficulty of Jan Jansz st Nicholas connection is that there are no accounts of the festivities themselves. The st Nicholas parties were quite popular in those days, but the authorities and religious figures where not enthusiastic about it, to say the least. So, most of written evidence consists of complaints by protestant clerics about the catholic tradition. The visit of Jan Jansz at Veere was even more troubling to the authorities. Only some of the simple facts are written down, as well as the official reaction by the authorities: Next time they would convict and punish a moslim pirate when he refuses to return to christianity and stop piracing. But two years later, Jan Jansz arived again, in Amsterdam this time. Again he was able to get away with it. An interesting history, but it doesnot give us any information about the st. Nicholas party in Veere. I suspect that the story about this visit initially went viral. So word of mouth, the social media of the time. The only way forward is to find circumstantial facts.
I looked into your story about Nicolaas van Hoorn. He seems to have been a remarkable brave and vicious person and someone not very likely to humorously name a ship, sort of, after himself. I am not yet convinced about the Name “St. Nicholas day” as David Marley himself seems to use st. Nicholas in “Pirates of the Americas”. I was mistaken about the availabillity of “the Sack of Vera Cruz” online. I probably mixed up some titles as I am quite new to the subject of Buccaneers. I am still quite interested in the sources you have. I do not mind to obtain them myself, but I first need to know which are worth it.
Thanks,
Michiel
