Piet Hein

Dutch pirate. Captured the Silver Fleet, a Spanish fleet carrying an enormous famous treasure of silver robbed from America. The song celebrating this ('Heb je wel gehoord van de zilveren vloot, ...') is one of the best known popular songs in the Netherlands. Since WW II, we have become very hesitant to sing popular songs, especially songs of this nature.

Famous Dutch Privateer/Pirate.

In 1624, as a captain he led the attack on Sao Salvador (Bahia) in Brazil, for Holland, and raided it again in 1626.

In 1628 he captured the Spanish Treasure Fleet, for Holland, ruining the economy in Spanish held territory.

Piet Hein (Dec. 16, 1905 - Apr. 17, 1996) was a Danish poet, famous for his short poems that he called Grook (Gruk in Danish). He debuted with a book simply called "Gruk" in 1940 under the pseudonym Kumbel Kumbell. Throughout his life, he wrote many poem books and recieved several literature prizes.

Anyone not familiar with Piet Hein should read some of his poems, as they can be very funny with serious overtones. His excellence with the Danish language is unfortunately hard to appreciate in English. Nonetheless, Piet Hein learned several foreign languages, including English, with the sole purpose of translating his own poems.

Piet Hein was actually a descendant of the famous Dutch privateer.

The grave of (the Dutch) Piet Hein can still be found in the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Delft, the Netherlands. However, if you go look for it, bear in mind that the stone has his name in Latin: Petrus Heinius.