Baltazar de Cordes

Who was Baltazar de Cordes?

Baltazar de Cordes, the brother of Simon de Cordez, was a Dutch corsair who fought against the Spanish during the early 17th Century.

Born in the Netherlands in the mid-16th century, Baltazar de Cordes began sailing for the Netherlands against Spain during the Eighty Years' War. Baltazar possibly arrived in the Pacific during the 1598 Magellano Company expedition attempting to circumnavigate South America. This expedition, under the command of Admiral Jacques Mahu, consisted of five ships. One of the vessels, the Liefde, reached Japan in 1600, pilot William Adams among the surviving crew. He succeeded Captain Jurriaan van Bokholt who died around August 23, 1599 shortly after crossing the Straits of Magellan.

In early 1600, Cordes occupied the Spanish colony of Castro, Chile. In April 1600, with combined Dutch and native forces, Cordez organized the capture of the island of Chiloé off the coast of Patagonia. However Cordez's forces suffered heavy losses upon the recapture of the city by the Spanish, executing all but 23 Dutch and over 300 natives. Cordes ship the Trouw sailed to the Portuguese colony of Tidore, an East Indies trading post, with the surviving sailors, where they were imprisoned in January 1601.