In 1598 the Dutch East India Company sent out six great ships and two yachts for India, under command of Cornelius Hemskike, which sailed out of the Texel on the 1st of May, "and coming to-gether to the Cape of Good Hope in August, were separated by a terrible storm. Four of them and a yacht put into the Isle of Maurice, east of Madagascar; the other two ships and yacht put into the Isle of St. Mary, to the east of Madagascar, where they made stay, but sailing thence, arrived on the 26th of November, 1598, before Bantam; and a month after them came the other four ships and yacht from the Island Maurice."
In 1614 Admiral Spilbergen, "a man of established reputation for his knowledge in maritime affairs" sailed in command of a fleet fitted out by the Dutch East India Company, composed of the Great Sun, Full Moon, Huntsman, and yacht Sea Mew, all of Amsterdam, and the Aeolus of Zeeland, and Morning Star of Rotterdam. They sailed out of the Texel, August 8th, with a strong gale from the southeast, and proceeded to the coast of South America, thence through the Straits of Magellan, capturing and plundering the Spanish ships that they fell in with, until July 10, 1615, when they sighted eight vessels which proved to be the Royal Fleet of Spain, commanded by Admiral Roderigo de Mendoza. A fierce battle ensued, in which the yacht Sea Mew, sunk the admiral's ship St. Francis, the remainder of the Spanish fleet, consisting of the Jesu Maria, St. Anne, Carmelite, St. James, Rosery, St. Andrew,
