Captain Jan Jasperz de Laet of West…
October 1631 CE
Captain Jan Jasperz de Laet of West Kappel exits San Juan harbor on October 1 to chase away a Spanish ship arriving with supplies, and on the night of Friday, October 3–4, the Spaniards sally out of their citadel in two companies of 40 men apiece under Capts.
Sebastián de Avila and Andrés Botello, accomplishing little.
They enjoy better fortune at noon on October 5, when fifty men under Captain Juan de Amézquita y Quixano destroy the advance Dutch works, killing a captain, a sergeant, and eight sappers.
Guerrillas from the interior under Captain Andrés Vázquez Botello de Carrera also begin plaguing the besiegers.
On the night of 5 October they slay Nieuw Nederlandt’s captain and a twenrty-man boat party in the harbor; ten days later they destroy a similar force up Bayamón River.
The guerrillas have by October 16 grown so bold as to reconquer Cañuela Fortress, using two launches and thirty men to kill two of its Dutch occupiers, capturing another 14.
Hendricksz, faced with this increased pressure, finds himself trapped inside the harbor.
Once more he calls upon de Haro to capitulate on October 21, threatening to burn the city, but he is rebuffed.
San Juan is therefore put to the torch, and the Dutch reembark at 10:00 A.M. the next day, hotly pursued by Puerto Rican units.