Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 174.

I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on January 19th, 2025, in Austin, Texas.

We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States from the beginning without intentional presentism.

With all the usual backing and filling, we have arrived at the Raid on America part of our series on the Dutch Raid on America of

1673. Having captured prizes through the Indies, the combined fleet of Cornelis Evertson

the youngest of Zeeland and Jacob Benkis of Holland, with several hundred Marines under the command of Anthony Culver,

departed Puerto Rico for the Chesapeake in its tobacco fleet on June 21, 1673.

This would not be the first time that Zeeland had gone after the tobacco crop from Virginia and Maryland, which, about 55 years

after John Rolfe figured out how to grow it and cure it, was a crucial source of revenue

for the English crown. In 1667, the Zealander commander Abraham Kreinson, fresh of having conquered Surinum in February of that year and having attacked English possessions in the West Indies in April, arrived with his fleet at the Chesapeake in early June.

There he quickly captured one armed English merchantmen and another ship that had sailed there from the Hudson River.

The merchant crew told him that there was a flotilla of 21 merchantmen loaded with tobacco up the James River, guarded by a single warship, the Elizabeth.

Crienson disguised his ships with English flags and had his crew call out soundings in English.

The ruse worked, and on June 5th, he attacked.

Over the course of the next few days, the Zealander sank the Elizabeth, captured between

12 and 19 of the merchant ships, accounts vary, and burned to the balance of them.

He sailed away on June 11th, undamaged.

Not a bad bit of work.

For this feat, and others, the Netherlands named at least one warship after Abraham Crenson,

a minesweeper launched in 1936 and decommissioned in 1961.

Now it's a museum ship in North Holland for those of you who want to go deeper.

One would think that the Battle of the James, as the encounter became known,

...