Jacques Colaert
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Jacques Colaert or Jacob Collaart (d. September 1600) was a Dutch renegade who sailed in the service of Spain during the Dutch War of Independence.
A privateer based out of Duinkerken, Colaert sailed under the name Jacob Collaart and, in August 1600, he sailed with a fleet under the command by the Vice Admiral Anton of Burgundy, Lord of Wacken. Consisting of six Spanish privateers six and six independent privateers, Collaart commanded the 6-gun vessel Crabbelcat with a crew of 43 sailors.
Leaving Duinkerken on the night of August 9th or 10th, the privateering expedition faced problems early on when two Dutch privateers Sibrant Pietersen and Rippert Rippertsen failed to rendezvouz with the fleet on August 11. Three days later, a fishing fleet under the protection of six warships were sighted near the coast of Scotland. Giving the order to attack, the warships eventually fled after a cannon shot hit the gunpowder room of the warship Den dolphijn, resulting its explosion killing its crew and commander Captain Willem Dirkszoon Cloyer. After the death of Captain Mahieu Jacobsen of the warship Parel, the fishing fleet was helpless against the privateers.
The fisherman, many of them Mennonites, were reportedly treated harshly in retribution for similar treatment of captured Spanish privateers (as described in 1661 by Van Meteren's In Historien).
Over the next several days, other fishing fleets were targeted by the privateers including a fleet of 13 vessels escorted by the Dutch warship De Victorie out of Maassluis. During the attack, the warship was destroyed due to a cannonball hitting the gunpowder room as well two fishing boats which were later sunk. The captured sailors were treated less severely, as privateers rescued six surviving crew members of the sunken De Victorie as well as allowing the fisherman to leave their boats as the privateers looted the remaining ships (although the steersman were held captive and later ransomed). During this time, several privateers left the expedition including Captain Willem Jansen who headed for Spain.
Several other fishing fleets were attacked and, on August 19, the privateers captured one fishing vessel which had attempted to resist the privateers and sank it while the crew were still onboard. While three other vessels were sunk in the attack, the crew men were saved.
Changing course the following day, the expedition sailed east in the hopes of targeting merchants traveling on the trading routes of Eastern Europe. Only a day into their journey, the privateers soon captured nine Dutch merchants on route to Danzig with a cargo of salt. During the next several days, the privateers experienced stormy weather and, prevented from attacking a merchant fleet of thirty merchant ships on August 22, Captain's Michiel Jacobsen and Frans Pleite became separated from the expedition.
Anthonie Sailly, an agent of the Staten-Generaal of the Republic at Calais, informed the Dutch government regarding the attacks by the privateering expedition and, by August 16, two fleets began to be organized to locate and take action against the privateers while all available vessels in Rotterdam were sent out in search of the privateering fleet.
The seven remaining privateers, eventually encountered one of the Dutch fleets sent out against them near the island of Vlieland. Commanded by Captain Arie Corneliszoon Cruyck, the privateers fled from Cruyck's forces reportedly dumping as much cargo overboard in an attempt to outrun the Dutch naval fleet. Although chased as far through the Noordzee, some of the privateers were able to escape to Dieppe or Spain.
Among those captured however, Colaert and his crew were forced to surrender after the Crabbelcat's masts were destroyed in a battle off near Duinkerken. Taken to the city of Vlissingen in Zeeland, he and thirty-seven of his crew (with the exception of six boys) were publicly hanged in September of 1600.
