The man in question is Jan Janszoon. He started his career as a privateer, authorized by the Dutch crown to attack Spanish shipping. After being captured by North African pirates in 1618, he converted to Islam (possibly at gunpoint, or possibly because the pirate crew made some very insightful theological arguments) and joined their crew. After his captain was killed in battle the next year, he took control of the city of Salé on the Moroccan coast. Although nominally under the control of the Sultan of Morocco, the city was essentially a self-governing pirate lair. Jan (by then called Murat Reis) was elected their Grand Admiral, a position more commonly known as "Pirate King".
Using the Republic of Salé (also known as the Republic of Bou Regreg, a way better name) as his base of operations, he raided the shipping throughout the Mediterranean, as well as up the Atlantic Coast to England and Ireland. In 1627, he took a captured Danish sailor as his guide to Iceland, where he and his band of Moroccan pirates came upon the peaceful fishing village of Grindavík. As it turns out, peaceful Icelandic fishing villages are not rich with plunder, so the pirates decided to abscond with a few local families instead.
The Icelanders were sold into slavery back in North Africa, but a few of them were eventually rescued and returned to Iceland. For his part, Jan was eventually captured by the Knights of Malta, and imprisoned and tortured in their dungeons for five years. After his rescue by Tunisian corsairs, he returned to Morocco to a hero's welcome, and was granted governorship of a lavish fortress.
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