Hendrick Jacobszoon Lucifer

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Hendrick Jacobszoon Lucifer, 1583-1627, was a Dutch-born pirate and brute.^[1]

Hendrick's last name, Lucifer, referred not to a lighting stick, but to the fallen angel Lucifer, and was most likely used as a nickname due to his use of fire and smoke to surprise enemies.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Greatest success and death

In 1627, Hendrick was in charge of 3 ships transporting colonists to Guyana for the Dutch West India Company, accompanied by two other pirate captains. One encounter off the coast of Cuba caused by a near collision with a two-ship Honduran treasure fleet allowed Hendrick's fleet to capture a ship and contents worth 1.2 Million Guilders. Hendrick fought as brave as a lion, (according to surviving crewmen), and personally killed around ten enemy soldiers in close combat, before being hit by a bullet. He still continued his plundering, but another bullet hit him in the chest and he had to quit fighting. He made it back safely to his ship, and his crew finished up the last of the treasure fleet's sailors. Hendrick was mortally wounded. He gave the order to transfer the money to his ship, and to sail away with it. He than walked to his cabin. He slowly laid down to bed, saying he would go to rest, and then died as a result of wounds received during the encounter.^[2]