c. 1580-Unknown
Provisional Director of New Netherland, 1625
Captain Cornelis Jacobson Mey was an experienced captain in the Dutch merchant service. He came from Hoorn in Holland and is said to have been born in 1580. Around 1614, Mey was captain of the Fortune, a ship that sailed along the coast of what is now New Jersey. Cape May is named to honor this voyage.
In 1625, Mey captained the ship the Nieu Nederlandt (New Netherland), that landed the first thirty Dutch settler families to New Netherland. Describing the early days of the colony, the contemporary Dutch chronicler Wassenaer noted that “Cornelis Mey of Hoorn was the first director there” followed by Willem van Hulst, and “the Honble Peter Minuit is director there at present.”