Moses Cohen Henriques (born c. 1595) was a Dutchpirate ofPortugueseSephardic Jewish origin. Operating in as apirate of the Caribbean, the total haul of his raids on the Spanish is estimated to be about 1 billion USD in today's value.[1][2][3]
Henriques was born in the late 16th century to a Portugueseconverso family (Jews who had undergone forced conversion to Catholicism during thePortuguese Inquisition).[3] To escapedreligious persecution his family immigrated at a certain stage to Amsterdam, whereupon they resumed the free practice of their Jewish faith.[3]
Henriques served underDutch naval officer and folk hero AdmiralPiet Pieterszoon Hein, of theDutch West India Company, rising in the ranks to become his right hand man. He aided in the capture of aSpanish treasure fleet in the battle of theBay of Matanzas off theCuban coast, during theEighty Years' War, in 1628.[1]
Part of the Spanish fleet inVenezuela had been warned because a Dutch cabin boy had lost his way onBlanquilla Island and was captured, betraying the plan, but the other half fromMexico continued its voyage, unaware of the threat. Sixteen Spanish ships were intercepted; one galleon was taken after a surprise encounter during the night, nine smaller merchants were talked into a surrender; two small ships were taken at sea fleeing; and four fleeinggalleons were trapped on the Cuban coast in the Bay of Matanzas. After some musket volleys from Dutchsloops their crews surrendered and the Dutch captured 11,509,524Dutch guilders of booty ingold,silver, and other expensive trade goods, such asindigo andcochineal, without any bloodshed. The Dutch did not take prisoners: they gave the Spanish crews ample supplies for a march toHavana.
After the war, Henriques scouted the Portuguese colony ofPernambuco on the Brazilian coast. He did this as a spy, in preparation for a Dutch invasion.[3]
Henriques then went on to lead aJewish contingent in Brazil as part of the Dutch invasion in 1630. He led a force of 3000 men, capturing the colony and turning it into a refuge for Jews during the subsequentDutch rule.
He was the uncle of Jocob Cohen, a financial adviser and personal secretary toCount Maurice of Nassau, and on the 9th February 1634 he wrote a letter to theDutch West India Company in Amsterdam applying for permission to bring the first large organised group of Sephardi colonists to the Dutch colony in Brazil.[4] The group arrived in 1635 and settled in Vila Velha on theisland of Itamaracá.[5]
Henriques was instrumental in bringing a rabbi to the Dutch colony (Isaac Aboab da Fonseca), as well as building amikvah and synagogue (theKahal zur Israel synagogue inRecife,Dutch Brazil) - all firsts for the New World. However, in 1654, the Portuguese recaptured the nascent colony in the northern coast of Brazil, forcing Henriques and other Jews to flee from religious persecution.[3] Aboab then returned to Amsterdam, but members of his community immigrated to North America and were among the founders ofNew Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement at the southern tip ofManhattan.[6] In 1655, Jocob Cohen lived in Manhattan.[5]
After thePortuguese Empire'srecapture of Northern Brazil in 1654, Moses Cohen Henriques fled South America and in order to survive difficult times ended up as a trusted advisor toHenry Morgan, the leading pirate of the time. He established his own pirate island off the Brazilian coast, in order to take revenge against the Spanish and the Portuguese.[2] Even though his role as a pirate was disclosed during thePortuguese Inquisition/Spanish Inquisition, as he was active in the Caribbean against Spain and in Brazil against Portugal. Moses Cohen Henriques was never caught and never faced trial.[1][2][3]
After theEnglish conquest of Jamaica, Henriques migrated to the island, where he helped to establish theJewish community in Jamaica. Morgan, who became the governor of Jamaica, gave Henriques a full pardon in 1681.[3]
Moses Cohen is a great-great-great-grandfather of Jamaican dancehall singerSean Paul.
