Image of a surgeon in 17th century Holland (c.1690), Jan en Caspar Luyken, wikimedia commons, public domain
A surgeon was a medical professional who was essential to the survival of the settlement. The Dutch West India Company always included one in the roster of important positions. Dr. Hans Kierstede was among them, and he lived near the docks on Pearl Street where access to incoming ships that carried remedies and potentially sick people was easy.
Surgeons often had to perform bleedings and amputations in a time when antibiotics did not exist to stop infections.
For more information on surgeons, see Peter R. Cristoph, "Barber-Surgeons in New Netherland and Early New York," in Explorers, Fortunes & Love Letters, ed. Martha Dickenson Shattuck (Albany, 2009), pp. 59-71.
The illustration above:
Surgeon
Jan Luyken
1694
Plate