X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Spanish treasure fleet


Antonio de Oquendo

After a while Prince Philbert arranged his release; De Oquendo was then given command for a few years of the yearly Spanish treasure fleet, transporting the silver from the Andes to Spain.

Hendrick Lonck

Having made admiral by 1628, Lonck, in the service of the Dutch West Indies Company, joined Admiral Piet Hein in the Battle in the Bay of Matanzas, a naval battle during the Eighty Years' War in which a Dutch squadron was able to defeat and capture a Spanish treasure fleet.

Piet Pieterszoon Hein

In 1628, Admiral Hein, with Witte de With as his flag captain, sailed out to capture a Spanish treasure fleet loaded with silver from their American colonies and the Philippines.

Treasure fleet

Spanish treasure fleet, a convoy system in the Spanish Empire transporting treasure and other cargo from 1566 to 1790

Witte Corneliszoon de With

The same year De With, entering the service of the WIC, became flag captain on the Amsterdam to Admiral Piet Heyn during an expedition from 20 May to capture the Spanish treasure fleet.


Portobelo, Colón

From the 16th to the 18th centuries, it was an important silver-exporting port in New Granada on the Spanish Main and one of the ports on the route of the Spanish treasure fleets.


see also

Cornelis Jol

While attempting to capture the Spanish treasure fleet, he and Jan Lichthart engaged in a naval battle with Spanish admiral Don Carlos Ibarra off the coast of Cuba.