 After the fleet was disbanded, De Ruyter returned to merchant service, which he undertook either as master of a Lampsins ship, or after buying his own ship, the "Salamander".Between 1642 and 1651, he made a number of profitable trading sailings to Morocco, Brazil and the West Indies, and by 1651, he had saved enough money to retire.In 1650, De Ruyter's second wife, who in 1649 had given him a second son named Engel, unexpectedly died.