Jan Erasmus Reyning

Jan Erasmus Reyning (1640, Flushing, Dutch Republic – 2 February 1697, at sea in the Gulf of Biscay was a Dutch pirate, privateer and naval officer.

Jan Erasmus Reyning was born in Flushing in 1640 as the son of a Danish mariner and a Zeeland woman. As a boy, he went to sea with his father and he later started a seaman's career himself. He had to survive as a prisoner of war during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667) and later as an "engagé" (servant) on a French plantation on Hispaniola Island. Around 1667 he became a boucanneer, i.e. a hunter in central Hispaniola and around 1669 a he started a career as a pirate or flibustier.

Although documentary evidence is limited, we are sure that between 1669 and 1672 Reyning fought as a privateer captain with French or English letters of marque; his partner was one Jelle Lecat (probably born in Frisia as Jelle de Kat). Reyning must have co-operated with renowned pirates as Roche Braziliano and Henry Morgan. According to reliable Spanish documents, around January 1672 Reyning offered his services to his former Spanish enemies at Campeche. The Spanish and accepted him and he even took categisation lessons from a Catholic priest. When Reyning, later during that year 1672, heard that his homecountry was at war with England and France (in the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War), he went to the Dutch colony of Curaçao. He became a sort of Robin Hood for Curaçao that was threatened by too many enemies.

In his later years Reyning was a Dutch gentleman and marine officer who died at full sea in the Gulf of Biskay in a storm on 2 February 1697.

Reference
* Ritsema, Alex (2008): Pirates and Privateers from the Low Countries, Lulu.com, ISBN 978-1-4092-0171-7
* Snelders, S. (2005): The Devil's Anarchy. New York: Autonomedia, 2005. ISBN 1-57027-161-5