Cornelis Matelief de Jonge Cornelis Matelief ( f ) ( de Jonge ) ( c . 1569 – October 17 , 1632 ) , was a Dutch admiral who was active in establishing Dutch power in Southeast Asia during the beginning of the 17th century ( 1606 ) . His fleet was officially on a trading mission , but its true intent was to destroy Portuguese power in the area . The fleet had 1400 men on board , including 600 soldiers . Matelieff did not succeed in this . The Dutch would ultimately gain control of Malacca more than thirty years later , again joining forces with the Sultanate of Johor , and a new ally Aceh , in 1641 . He was born and died in Rotterdam . Account . Matelief was put in command of a fleet of eleven ships of the Dutch East India Company with the destination of Malacca . Malacca then was an inconvenient stronghold for non - Portuguese ships heading for the Indonesian Archipelago , China or Japan . The fleet set sail from Zeeland on May 12 , 1605 . It was the third ( ? ) such fleet from the Dutch East Indies Company to visit Malacca . Matelieff met with Steven van der Hagen on the island of Mauritius for a briefing in January 1606 . As one of the first , Matelieff described the Black Rat , the Dodo and the Macaque monkey . Also his description of the vegetation of the island are most important . He reached Malacca in April 1606 . In May Matelief de Jonge formed a formal pact with the ruler of Johor , Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah III , to expel the Portuguese . In exchange , the Dutch would get Malacca for themselves and would be able to conduct trade with Johor . The Dutch and the Malay also agreed to tolerate each other ' s religion . First battle of Malacca ( August 1606 ) . Matelief laid siege to the Portuguese - held Malacca for several months , but was repulsed on land by Portuguese troops under André Furtado de Mendonça and their allies , a contingent of Japanese " samurai " from Red seal ships . A very large Portuguese fleet under Dom Martim Afonso de Castro , the Viceroy of Goa , arrived on the scene with twenty Portuguese ships on August 14 , 1606 . The two fleets fought from August 17 . " Nassau " was boarded by " Santa Cruz " and " Nossa Senhora da Conceição . " Matelief , onboard " Orange " , went to the rescue but collided with another Dutch ship , " Middelburg " . These two ships were then attacked by " São Salvador " and Dom Duarte de Guerra ' s galleon . " Orange " manage to break free , but the two Portuguese ships and the " Middelburg " all caught fire and sank in the action . The " Santa Cruz " and " Conceição " eventually managed to set the " Nassau " on fire , leading to an explosion that sank her . Matelief decided to withdraw from the action , with 150 dead on the Dutch side , and around 500 on the Portuguese side . On August 19 , 1606 , he obtained permission from the Sultan of Johor to anchor his fleet for repairs in the Johor River . Second battle of Malacca ( Sept . 1606 ) . Matelief came back to the scene of the first battle about a month later . Castro had sailed away , leaving only ten Portuguese ships before Malacca . Matelief attacked the ships and managed to sink or burn every single one of them , on September 21 , 1606 . At the end of his trip Matelieff had lost six ships . Matelieff sailed in one ship from Ternate to Canton , and on June 4 , 1607 he captured a Chinese junk , loaded with spices from Banda . When six Portuguese ships under André Pessoa showed up in front of the Chinese coast , he went back , without an agreement with China or reaching Japan . Matelieff arrived unsuccessfully on Bantam on November 24 , 1607 , and sent Willem Jansz with secret instructions to Banda to forestall the English ships . He left Bantam on January 28 , 1608 Return to Europe with a Siamese embassy ( 1608 ) . Matelieff returned to Europe in 1608 with Cornelius Specx , a Dutchman who had established a factory in Ayutthaya in 1604 . Together with them was an embassy of 16 peoples from the Kingdom of Siam sent by the Siamese ruler Ekathotsarot . The embassy was brought to Holland by Matelief onboard " Orange " . They arrived in The Hague on September 10 , 1608 . There the embassy met with Maurice of Nassau , Prince of Orange . Following this , a treaty was concluded between the Dutch Republic and Siam in 1617 . In 1618 Matelieff was appointed in the vroedschap of Rotterdam , later as a burgemeester of the city . In 1625 he lost his function as a deputy in the States - General when staying too long in Warsaw .