sh water, meat or
vegetables from reaching the Dutch garrison. They had to depend for the
necessaries of life upon stores sent to them in relief fleets from
Holland. It was a strange and grim struggle of endurance, in which both
Dutch and Portuguese suffered terribly, the one on the barren sea-shore,
the other in the pathless woods under the glare of a tropical sun, both
alike looking eagerly for succour from the Motherland. The Dutch
succours were the first to arrive. The first detachment under Marten
Thijssen reached the Reciff on December 18, 1630; the main fleet under
Adrian Jansz Pater on April 14, 1631. The whole fleet consisted of
sixteen ships and yachts manned by 1270 sailors and 860 soldiers. Their
arrival was the signal for offensive operations. An expedition under
Thijssen's command sailed on April 22 for the large island of Itamaraca
about fifteen miles to the north of the Reciff. It was successful.
Itamaraca was occupied and garrisoned, and thus a second and
advantageous post established on the Brazilian coast.

Meanwhile the Spanish government had not been idle. After many delays a
powerful fleet set sail from Lisbon on May 5 for Pernambuco, consisting
of fifteen Spanish and five Portuguese ships and carrying a large
military force, partly destined for Bahia, but principally as a
reinforcement for Matthias de Albuquerque. The expedition was commanded
by Admiral Antonio de Oquendo, and was accompanied by Duarte de
Albuquerque, the proprietor of Pernambuco. After landing troops and
munitions at Bahia, the Spaniards wasted several weeks before starting
again to accomplish the main object of blockading the Dutch in the
Reciff and compelling their surrender by famine. But Pater had learnt by
his scouts of the presence of Oquendo at Bahia, and though his force was
far inferior he determined to meet the hostile armada at sea. The
Spanish fleet was sighted at early dawn on September 12, and Pater at
once gave orders to attack. His fleet consisted of sixteen ships and
yachts, that of the enemy of twenty galleons and sixteen caravels. The
Dutch admiral had formed his fleet in two lines, himself in the _Prins
Willem_ and Vice-Admiral Thijssen in the _Vereenigte Provintien_ being
the leaders. On this occasion the sight of the great numbers and size of
the Spanish galleons caused a great part of the Dutch captains to lose
heart and hang back. Pater and Thijssen, followed by only two ships,
bore down however on the Spa