Old Sails: Dunkirkers defeat the Dutch in 1626 (or did they?)

Several Dutch jettons show naval battle scenes. For the lover of old sails, these pieces offer more ships on a single coin, albeit smaller. I sometimes pass on wide-angle scenes, but this one features the ships prominently and is quite striking. Plus, the event commemorated is intriguing.

Seven galleons anchored off shore basking in the glow of victory.

   This piece is from Utrecht and is dated 1626. It is relatively scarce but obtainable with patience. I have seen at least two offered on EBay.
   On the obverse, there is a land battle, but the reverse (pictured) shows a squadron of seven ships. All of them appear to be fully-rigged galleons with their distinctive low forecastle and towering aft castle. The ships face to starboard with sails reefed and pendants flying. As such, the battle is over.
   But which battle?
   Mitchner takes a conservative stance by describing this piece as reflecting the conflict between the Dutch and occupying Spanish forces. Other descriptions are more specific and describe the ships as belonging to the Dunkirk Privateers who were allied with the Spanish and raided Dutch and English shipping. They were called the Dunkirkers since they often sailed from this captured port.
   Records show that between 1626 and 1634 about 180 Dutch ships were captured. English ships, too, were captured in large numbers. In April of 1626 the State Papers of Charles I in England described the Dunkirkers as "... taking a spoiling of our ships, to the utter undoing of merchants and masters, many of the latter being taken prisoners, and to the ruin of many thousand laboring people."
   These raiders were labeled as pirates by the Dutch in 1587 since they preyed on commercial shipping. Hence, Dunkirk was often referred to as the "Algiers of the North" -- a reference to the Corsairs of the Mediterranean. Dunkirk was captured in October of 1646 by French and Dutch forces, thus reducing the threat considerably.
   Several sources suggest that this jeton commemorates Dutch losses in 1626, both on the ground and at sea. One reference reported that a large fishing fleet had been captured in this year. However, there is mention of an alliance between the English, Dutch, and Danes as having been victorious over the Dunkirkers in 1626-27. It is a puzzle. Does anyone have more specific information?
   The reverse legend reads: CONFORTAMINI DEO CONFIDENTES. This translates as follows: Take Courage and Trust in God. Perhaps this is a rallying cry expressing hope that the pirates will be beaten. The obverse legend reads: IMMINENT VNDIQVE VSQVEQVOS HOSTES. This translates as follows: How long our enemies threaten on every side. Taken together, this jetton seems to support the fortitude of the Dutch forces despite setbacks.
   I wonder where this jeton has been all these years -- it is nearly 400 years old. It was well taken care of, as it has but a few decades of handling wear. It is lightly shadowed with dark corrosion products about the edges from storage -- the debris from eight or ten generations of collecting perhaps? Were they collectors of Old Sails, or were they jetton series collectors? Either way, this one appears to have been loved. And now, we get to contemplate it.