David Pietersen de Vries

Captain David Pieterszoon de Vries (c. 1593, La Rochelle – 13.9.1655, Hoorn) was a Dutch navigator from Hoorn, Holland.

In 1617 de Vries went on a whaling voyage to Jan Mayen. In 1620 he sailed to Newfoundland, and sold the dried fish in Italy. In Toulon he joined Charles, Duke of Guise. In 1624 he went to Canada again, still in French service. After returning in the Netherlands, the Dutch West India Company put an embargo on his ship. De Vries sold his ship and left for Bayonne.

In 1627 he sailed from Hoorn to Batavia. On board was Jan Pietersz Coen only recognized during the trip. From the Dutch Indies he sailed to Masulipatnam.

In 1629, twenty-eight colonists sailed to North America and planted the Swanendael Colony in Lewes, Delaware, organized for the Dutch West India Company by five merchants from New Amsterdam, who hoped to become patroons of the colony: Kiliaen de Rensselaer, Samuel Godijn, Samuel Blommaert, Albert Burgh, Joannes de Laet and De Vries. Upon visiting the colony in 1632, however, de Vries found that the settlers had been massacred, and their fort burned to the ground.

He returned to North America twice, eventually establishing a settlement on Staten Island (1639), and another, north of Pavonia, known as Vriessendael (1640). In 1636 de Vries built a blockhouse at Signal Hill on Staten Island.

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