He served under Maarten Tromp in the First Anglo-Dutch War and was the rival of Cornelius Tromp in the Second and Third wars. His most daring coup was in 1667 when, knowing that the English fleet was laid up for lack of money, he sailed up the rivers Thames and Medway, remained in the Chatham dockyard for two days destroying many ships, and made off with the Royal Charles, the English fleet’s newest ship.