on 19 May 1600. He sailed out again the following year in a combined fleet of thirteen ships with Admiral Wolphert Harmensz. The fleet split at the Azores, with Harmensz going to Mauritius and Heemskerck heading straight for the Moluccas. On 25 February 1603, three Dutch ships under Heemskerck's command attacked and captured a Portuguese merchant carrack, Santa Catarina, off the Eastern coast of Singapore. The Admiralty of Amsterdam's subsequent decision to take the ship and her cargo as a prize, despite Portugal's demands, became the casus belli for the Dutch–Portuguese War that lasted until 1663. J. K. J. de Jonge described Heemskerck as "less of a rough sailor, more of a Drake or a Cavendish, a gentleman adventurer, somewhat proud and lofty, but polished and afraid of naught." When reproached by a factor in Madura for risking the company's property, Heemskerck responded, "Where we risk our lives, the gentlemen of the Company must risk their ships and cargoes." He knew how to inspire his men with a blind confidence in himself. When Heemskerck was on board a vessel, the sailors felt safe. A battle they termed a "Heemskerck fight". Gibraltar Heemskerck later served as a vice admiral, protecting Dutch merchant shipping on voyages to China and the Dutch East Indies and taking part in the second Dutch expedition to Indonesia. He died as a result of leg wounds caused by a cannonball, during the Battle of Gibraltar, an engagement in which a Spanish fleet of 21 vessels was entirely destroyed. Heemskerck's body was returned to Amsterdam to be buried with full honours at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. His suit of armour—minus a thigh plate shattered by the fatal cannonball—is on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Notes External links 16th-century Dutch explorers 16th-century explorers 17th-century Dutch military personnel 1567 births 1607 deaths Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Burials at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam Dutch military personnel killed in action Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces) Dutch polar explorers Explorers of Svalbard Explorers of the Arctic Military personnel from Amsterdam