During the same year, van Dyk lent some limited (non-military) support to the Dutch Admiral Boudewijn Hendricksz, who sacked San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In September 1625, in retaliation, the Spanish led a full assault on the island of Tortola, laying waste to its defences and destroying its embryonic settlements.

He also constructed a wooden stockade to act as a lookout post above Road Town on the site that would eventually become Fort Charlotte, Tortola.

The settlements were not ultimately an economic success, and the evidence suggests that the Dutch spent most of their time more profitably engaged in privateering than trading.

The company changed its policy, and it sought to cede islands such as Tortola and Virgin Gorda to private persons for settlement, and to establish slave pens.

The island of Tortola was eventually sold to Willem Hunthum at some point in the 1650s, at which time the Dutch West India Company's interest in the territory effectively ended.

In 1665, the Dutch settlers on Tortola were attacked by a British privateer, John Wentworth, who is recorded as having captured 67 slaves which were removed to Bermuda.