Note 9 — Letter from Alonso Fajardo de Tenza to Felipe III

Jacques (Jakob) le Maire (Lemaire), the Dutch navigator, and the first to double Cape Horn, was born at Egmond, and died at sea, December 31, 1616. His expedition to the South Seas was undertaken at the instigation of his father, Isaac le Maire, a well-known merchant, and the ships were to reach the South Seas by Magalháes’s or any other route. The two vessels were placed in command of Wilhelm van Schouten, and Le Maire was chosen director-general. The ships were equipped at the port of Hoorn, and set sail June 14, 1615, from the Texel. Passing by the south-eastern corner of Tierra del Fuego, they entered and passed through the strait that now bears Le Maire’s name January 24–26, 1616. Between January 27 and 31, they doubled the Horn, which they named for the port of Hoorn. October 28 of the same year after various adventures among the East Indian Islands, they cast anchor at Jacatra in Java, where the “Concorde,” the only vessel left, was sequestered as not having been sent by the Dutch East India Company; while van Schouten and Le Maire were sent to Holland to be tried, Le Maire dying as above stated. A relation of the expedition was written by one of the participants. See vol. iv, pp. 531–618, Recueil des voyages ... de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales (Amsterdam, 1725).