From 1643 to 1656 we find many references to the Capetyn in the documentary history of the Colony,3 outstanding among which is when, in 1649, after peace was declared, he sailed into what is now New York harbor with the Spanish ship "Tabasco". This created quite a furor, even to the extent of the matter being aired before the High and Mighty Lords of the States General in the Nethertands.
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Ships:
Grace: frigate, 6 guns, 50 men
Tabasco, Spanish, unknown type
The name "Blauvelt": Blauvelt Family
To begin with, this pirate's full name was Capetyn Willem Albertse Blaeuvelt. From what we already know of patronymic practice that tells us that his father's name was Albert. We also find it stated that he was from Monnikendam, a small town less than ten miles f...
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To begin with, this pirate's full name was Capetyn Willem Albertse Blaeuvelt. From what we already know of patronymic practice that tells us that his father's name was Albert. We also find it stated that he was from Monnikendam, a small town less than ten miles from Amsterdam, and about twenty miles from Enkhuysen. In 1644 Willem had a wife named Dorothy, and a son Anthony, then living in London. We are also told that he was of fair complexion, with gentle eyes and high stature.
The Capetyn is supposed to have received a commission at the Hague to operate the privateer, "The Grace", a frigate of six guns and a complement of fifty men, out of the port of New Amsterdam, against the Spanish in the West Indies, the Netherlands than being at war with Spain.
From 1643 to 1656 we find many references to the Capetyn in the documentary history of the Colony,3 outstanding among which is when, in 1649, after peace was declared, he sailed into what is now New York harbor with the Spanish ship "Tabasco". This created quite a furor, even to the extent of the matter being aired before the High and Mighty Lords of the States General in the Nethertands.
If the Capetyn's deeds, at this stage of the game, were piratical, then others in high places were tarred with the same stick, for even Governor Kieft was at one time a co-partner in the "Grace", and in the final settlement of the 'Tabasco" affair, Cornelius Tienhoven, the Lords and the Director, (Pietrus Stuyvesant) and others, seem to have shared in the proceeds, when, in 1651, this, and other Spanish ships that had been brought in," were declared good prizes."
From then until 1656 we find many references to the Capetyn, some good, some not so good, ranging from his standing sponsor at the baptism of a child in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church, to standing into a rough and tumble fight with some of his crew, in which he drew his cutlass on them. It would seem too that he did not always pay his bills and finally he sailed away for parts unknown while there was an attachment against his ship.
After 1656 the Capetyn does not seem to appear in the records of the colony, but we are told that, in 1663, he was operating piratically off the Spanish Main, and to this day, so we are told, there is a town, a river and a bay in Nicaragua that bears the name of Bluefield because of his activities in that locality.
