From Corsairs and Captives:
Simon Dancer was a Dutchman, likely born in Dordrecht, in the Netherlands, around 1570. By his thirties, he had become a privateer Captain. Such privateers received official letters of marque from the States General, the ruling body of the Republic of the Netherlands, authorizing them to harass Spanish shipping (the Republic of the Netherlands fought its own war for independence, against the Spanish, two centuries before the Americans fought theirs against the English). Each privateer expedition was financed by private backers who invested in the expedition in hopes of making a profit on the sale of any booty the privateer ship managed to acquire. So privateers were employed by the States General for a political end—helping to winning the war of independence against Spain—but they were also a species of entrepreneurial businessmen out to make their (and their backers’) fortune.
Simon Dancer was a particularly successful privateer Captain. He picked up the name “Dancer,” so the story goes, because he reliably returned to his home port at the end of each expedition (loaded with booty), and that sort of cruise—out and back again to the same port—was commonly referred to as a round dance.
Another Dutchman turned Corsair - Murad Reis earlier Jan Janszoon of Haarlem - Commander of the Sale Corsairs
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