Dutch Captain: Pieter Corneliszoon de Sitter

Pieter Corneliszoon de Sitter served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. He first appears in Brandt's biography of De Ruyter in May 1667. He commanded the Amsterdam ship Jaarsveld (46 guns and a crew of 175 sailors and 30 soldiers). He was assigned to De Ruyter's squadron in the fleet. In June 1667, he was in the Thames, near Rochester, under Vice-Admiral Star. On 15 July 1667, he was in Lt.-Admiral van Nes's squadron. By May 1672, Captain de Sitter commanded the Agatha (50 guns). He was assigned to De Ruyter's squadron. He was at the Battle of Solebay, and his ship suffered 13 killed, 17 severely wounded, and 18 lightly wounded. He was also present for the Schooneveld battles in 1673, in the Van squadron under Banckert. At Schooneveld, the Agatha had a crew of 198 sailors and 47 soldiers. In August 1673, he was in Cornelis Tromp's squadron at the Battle of the Texel. In that battle, the Agatha had a crew of 180 sailors and 23 soldiers. In June 1674, Captain de Sitter commanded the Beschermer (50 guns and a crew of 188 sailors and 91 soldiers) on the expedition to Martinique. In July 1675, he was with De Ruyter, bound for the Mediterranean Sea. Captain de Bitter commanded the Zuiderhuis (46 guns and a crew of about 200 men). He was there for the battles in 1676, but I do not know his fate. He may have been killed at Palermo on 2 June 1676 (Andrew thinks that this may be the case). In any case, he died sometime in 1676. Many of the captains in De Ruyter's fleet were killed, as things went very badly for them, especially after De Ruyter's death.