Verhoeff was in the service of the
Dutch East India Company. In 1601, he was involved in the
Siege of Ostend as part of the
Eighty Years' War. During the
Battle of Gibraltar in 1607, he was the
flag captain of the
Aeolus, the
flagship of Admiral
Jacob van Heemskerk. A fleet of 13 ships commanded by him left
Texel in December 1607, with secret orders to capture
Malacca from the Portuguese. He arrived in the
Strait of Malacca in 1608, and then retreated after a series of unsuccessful attempts to capture the city.
Death In early April 1609, a Dutch fleet commanded by Verhoeff arrived at
Banda Neira and wanted to force the establishment of a fortress. The Bandanese preferred
free trade so that they could play off the various European countries' merchants against each other and sell their products to the highest bidder. However, the Dutch sought to establish a monopoly on the spice trade so that the Bandanese could sell their products only to the Dutch. Negotiations were arduous, and, at a certain point in late May 1609, the chieftains lured Verhoeff and two other commanders who had left their fleet to negotiate on the beach, into the woods into an ambush and killed them. This was a direct cause of the
Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands (1609–1621). == References ==