 Chapter 4 of The Golden Book of Dutch Navigators by Hendrik Villen van Lund This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. According by Jane Bennett, Melbourne, Australia. Chapter 4 The First Voyage to India It was no mean expedition which set sail for the Indies on the 2nd of April of the year 1595, with four ships, 284 men, and an investment of more than 300,000 guilders. Amsterdam merchants had provided the capital and the ships. The estates of Holland and a number of cities in the same province had sent cannon. With large cannon and small Hakebus, 64 in number, they were a fair match for any Spaniard or Portuguese who might wish to defend his ancient rights upon this royal Indian route, which ran down the Atlantic, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and then made a straight line from the southernmost tip of Africa to Cape Kamoran on the Indian Peninsula in Asia. A few words should be said about the ships, for each was to experience adventures before reaching the safe harbour of home, or disappearing silently in a lonely sea. There were the Holandia, proudly called after the newly created sovereign republic of the Seven United Netherlands, the Mauritius, bearing the name of the eminent general, whose scientific strategy was forcing the Spanish intruder from one province after the other. The Amsterdam, the representative of a city which in herself was a mighty commonwealth, and lastly a small and fast ship called the Pigeon. Also, since there were four ships, there were four captains, and thereby hangs a tale. This new Dutch republic was a democracy of an unusually jealous variety, which is saying a great deal. Its form of government was organised disorder. The principle of divided power and governmental wheels within wheels at home was maintained in a foreign expedition, where a single autocratic head was a most imperative necessity. What happened during the voyage was this. The four captains, mutually distrustful, each followed his own obstinate will. They quarreled among themselves. They quarreled with the four civil directors who represented the owners and the capitalists in Holland, and who together with the captains were supposed to form a legislative and executive council for all the daily affairs of the long voyage. Finally, they quarreled with the chief representative of the commercial interests, Cornelius Hootman, a cunning trader and commercial diplomatist who had spent four years in Lisbon trying to discover the secrets of Indian navigation. Indeed, so great had been his zeal to get hold of the information hidden in the heads of Portuguese pilots and the cabalistic meaning of Portuguese charts, that the authorities, distrustful of this too generous foreigner with his ever-ready purse, had at last clapped him into jail. Then there had been a busy correspondence with the distant employers of this distinguished foreign gentleman. Amsterdam needed Hootman and his knowledge of the Indian route. The money which in the rotten state of Portugal could open the doors of palaces, as well as those of prisons, brought the indiscreet pioneers safely back to his fatherland. Now, after another year, he was appointed to be the leading spirit of a powerful small fleet, and the honourable chairman of a complicated and unruly council of captains and civilian directors. That is to say, he might have been their real leader if he had possessed the necessary ability, but the task was too much for him. For not only was he obliged to keep the peace between his many subordinate commanders, but he was also obliged to control the collection of most undesirable elements who made up the crews of this memorable expedition. I am sorry that I have to say this, but in the year 1595, people did not venture upon a fantastical voyage to an unknown land along a highly perilous route, unless there was some good reason why they should leave their comfortable native shores. The commanders of the ships and their chief officers were first class sailors. The lower grades too were filled with a fairly sober crowd of men, but the common sailor, almost without exception, belonged to a class of worthless youngsters who left their country for their country's good and for the lasting benefit of their family's reputation. There was, however, a saving grace, and we must give the devil his due. Many of these men were desperately brave. When they were well commanded, they made admirable sailors and excellent soldiers. But the moment discipline was relaxed, they ran amok, killed their officers, or left them behind on uninhabited islands, and lived upon the fat of the commissary department until the last bottle of gin was emptied and the last ham was eaten. In most cases, their ship then ran on a hidden cliff, whereupon the democratic sea settled all further troubles, with the help of the ever-industrious shark. When we realised that the Dutch colonial empire was conquered with and by such men, we gained a mighty respect for the leaders whose power of will turned these wild bands of adventurers into valiant soldiers. And when we studied the history of our early colonial system, we no longer wonder that it was so bad. We are gratefully astonished that it was not vastly worse. On the 10th of March of the year 1595, the crews had been mustered, the last provisions had been taken on board. Everything was ready for the departure. The riot act was read to the men, for discipline was maintained by means of the gallows and the flogging pole, and after a great deal of gunpowder had been wasted upon salutes, the ships sailed to the taxel. Here they waited in the roads for two weeks, and then with a favourable wind from the north set sail for the English Channel. All this, and the rest of the story which is to follow, we have copied from the diary of Frank van der Doos, who was on board the Hellandia, and who was one of the few officers who got safely home. During the first three weeks it was plain sailing. On the 26th of April a fleet reached one of the Cape Verde Islands. Some of the wild goats of the islands that had so greatly impressed Linschoten were caught and divided among the sailors, making a very welcome change in their eternal diet of salted meat. Another week went by and two Portuguese freighters, loaded to the gunnels, appeared upon the horizon. Kindly remember that this was only a few years after the desperate struggle with Spain, and while yet any ship that might be considered popish was a welcome prize. Therefore the instinct of all the Hollanders on board demanded that this easy booty be captured. These ships, so the men reasoned, would provide more profit than an endless dreary trip to an unknown Indian sea. But for once discipline prevailed. The commanders were under strict order not to do any free booting on their own account. On the contrary they must make friends wherever they could. Accordingly the Dutch Admiral gave the Portuguese a couple of hams, and the Portuguese returned the favour with a few jars of preserved fruit. Then the two squadrons separated and the Dutch fleet went southward. In the end of June the ships passed the equator, and Scurvy made its customary appearance among the men. The suspicion that Scurvy might have something to do with the lack of certain elements in the daily food had begun to dawn upon the sailors of that time. Of course it was quite impossible for them to carry fresh solid food in their little ill ventilated ships, but they could take fluids. Water was never drunk by sailors of that day. It spoiled too easily in the primitive tanks. Beer was the customary beverage. This time however a large supply of wine had been taken along. And when they reached the tropics each of the sailors got a pint of wine per day as a remedy or rather a preventive of the dreaded disease. But it increased rapidly, and with a feeling of deep relief the sailors welcomed the appearance of wild birds, which indicated that the Cape of Good Hope must be near. Early in August they sailed past the southern point of the African continent and dropped anchor in a small bay near the spot where now the town of Port Elizabeth is situated. Here our friend Van de Doos was sent on shore with two boats to find fresh water. His first attempt at a landing did not succeed. The boats got into a very heavy surf. They were attacked by a couple of playful whales, and on the shore excited natives, reputed to be cannibals, danced about in gleeful anticipation. A storm broke loose and for almost an entire day the men floated helplessly on the angry waves. When at last they returned to the ship the other sailors had already given them up as lost. The next day the weather was more favourable, and they managed to reach the shore where they made friends with the natives. According to the description these must have been hotentots. They made a very bad impression. The hotentot then as now was smallish and very ugly, with a lot of black hair that looked as if it had been singed. In short, in the language of the 16th century they looked like people who had been hanging on the gallows for a long time and had shriveled into the leather caricature of a man. A dirty piece of skin served them as clothing, and their language sounded to the Dutch sailors like the cackling of a herd of angry turkeys. As for their manners they were beastly. When they killed an animal they ate it raw both insides and outsides. Perhaps they stopped long enough to scrape some of the dirt off with their fingers, but usually they didn't take the trouble to cook their food. Furthermore, this however so far was only a suspicion, they were said to be cannibals and ate their own kind. The happy hotentots still lived in the Stone Age, and these first European traders were a veritable godsend to a people obliged to hunt with stone arrows. The expedition didn't fail to discover this, and for a few knives and a few simple iron objects they received all the cows and sheep they wanted. And to our great joy we get our first glimpse of that most amusing and clownish of all living creatures, the penguin. The penguin has risen in the social scale of wild birds since he has become one of the chief attractions of the moving pictures. In the year 1595 he was every bit as silly and absurd an animal as he is now, when he wanders forth to make friends with the sailors of our South Polar expeditions. Bandidos hardly knew what to make of this strange creature, which has wings yet cannot fly, and whose feathers look like the smooth skin of a seal. Strangest of all, this wild animal was found to be so tame that the sailors had to box their ears before they could force a narrow path through the dense crowds of excited birds. On the 11th August the ships left the safe harbour. Their original plan had been to cross the Indian Ocean from this point and to make directly for the Indian islands. But there had been so much illness among the crew that the plan had to be given up. They decided to call it Madagascar first of all. There they hoped to find an abundance of fresh fruit and to spend some weeks in which to allow the sick people to recover completely before they ventured into the actual domains of the Portuguese. Unfortunately, the navigating methods of that day were still very primitive. A profound trust in the Lord made up for a lack of knowledge of the compass. The good Lord in his infinite mercy usually guided the ship until it reached some shore or rubber. Then the navigator set to work and wormed his way either upward or downward until at last he struck the spot which he had been trying to reach all the time and thanked divine providence for his luck. The particular bay renowned for its fresh water and vegetables that the expedition hoped to reach was situated on the east coast of Madagascar, but a small gale blew the ships to the westward. They could not reach the southern Cape and were forced to take whatever the western coast could provide. That was little enough. It was an abundance of wild natives. Upon one occasion the natives caught a landing party and stripped them of all their arms and clothes before they allowed them to return to their ships. But there were no wild fruit trees and upon these now depended the lives of the members of the expedition. Seventy sailors were dead. Worst of all, the captain of the Holandia, Jan de Nunes by name, the most energetic of the leaders and famous for his discipline, had also died. A small island was used as a cemetery and was baptised dead men's land where rested one quarter of the men who had left Holland. The situation was far from pleasant when the pigeon, which had been sent out to reconnoiter, came back with good tidings. A tribe of natives had been found that was willing to enter into peaceful trade with the Holandias and to sell their cattle in exchange for knives and beads. It was almost too good to be true. For a single tin spoon these simple people would give an entire ox or four sheep. A steel knife induced them to offer one of their daughters as a slave. At this spot the sick people were landed to be tended on shore. Soon the misery was forgotten in the contemplation of an abundance of wild monkeys which competed with the natives in the execution of wild and curious dances and which when roasted on hot coals made a fine dish. His idol however did not last long. The pious life of the sailors and their attitude towards the natives soon caused considerable friction. One night the natives attacked the camp where the sick men slept. The Holandias from their side took four young natives to their ships and kept them there as prisoners. The four of course tried to escape. One was drowned, pulled down by his heavy chains. Two others hid themselves in a small boat and were recaptured the next day. A few days after this event the mate of one of the ships and another sailor went on shore and tried to buy a cow. They were attacked. The sailor was mortally wounded and the mate had his throat cut. In revenge the Holandias shot one of the natives and burned down a few villages. It is a sad story but we shall often have to tell of this sort of thing when the white man made his first appearance among his fellow creatures of a different hue. After this adventure the council of captains decided to proceed upon the voyage without further delay. On the 13th of December the fleet started upon the last stretch of water which separated it from the island of Java. After two weeks however Scurvy once more played such havoc among the sailors that the ships were obliged to sail back to Madagascar. They found the small island called Santa Maria on the east coast. The natives here were more civilised, there was an abundance of fresh food and the sick people recovered in a short time. Except for a sufficient supply of water the expedition was ready for the last thousand miles across the Indian Ocean. Santa Maria however did not provide enough water. Once more a sloop was sent out to Reconyta. In the bay of St Antonjilpe on the main island they discovered a small river and on the 25th of January the four ships reached this bay. They started filling their water kegs when on the 3rd of February a terrible storm drove the Holandia on a shoal and almost wrecked the ship. During the attempts at getting her afloat two of her boats were swept away and washed on shore. The next morning a sloop was sent after these boats but during the night the natives in their desire for iron nails had hacked the boats to pieces. When there upon the boat with sailors approached the village the natives expecting a punitive expedition attacked the men with stones. The Holanders fired their muskets the power of which seemed unknown to these people for they gazed at the murderous arms with great curiosity until a number of them had been killed when they ran away and hid themselves. After the fashion of that day the Dutch crew then burned down a few hundred native huts. Such was the end of the first visit of Holanders to Madagascar. On the 13th of February the ships left for the Indies but before they got so far the long expected internal disorder had broken loose. I have mentioned that the captain of the Holandia had died on the west coast of Madagascar. The owners of the ships not wishing to leave anything to luck had provided each ship with sealed instruction telling the officers who should succeed whom in case of just such an accident. These letters were to be opened in the full council of captains. Instead of doing this the civil commissioner on the Holandia had opened his letter at once and had read therein that the office of captain should be bestowed upon the first mate, de Kezer by name and a personal friend of the commissioner. It is difficult of this late day to discover what caused all the trouble which followed. De Kezer was a good man, the most popular officer of the fleet. While Hotman, the civilian commander of the expedition, was very much disliked by all the officers of all the ships. There's nothing very peculiar in this. Civilians are never wanted on board a fleet, least of all when they have been sent out to control the actions of the regular seafaring people. It's not surprising therefore to find the officers taking the side of de Kezer and turning against the civilians. Hotman, in his high official altitude and in a very tactless way, declared that he would not recognise de Kezer. De Kezer, to avoid friction, then declared that he would voluntarily resign, but the other officers declared they would not hear of such a thing. Thereupon Hotman insisted that he, as civilian commander, had a right to demand the strictest obedience to the orders of the owners. The officers told Hotman what they would be before they obeyed a mere civilian. Hotman stood his ground. The council of the captains broke up in a free-for-all fight, and the most violent backers of de Kezer declared that they would shoot Hotman rather than give in. Thus far the quarrel had been about the theoretical principle whether the actual sailors or the civilian commissioners should be the masters of the fleet. But when the man who had started the whole trouble by opening the sealed letter against orders proposed to desert the fleet with the Hulandia, he committed a breach of etiquette which at once made him lose the support of the other regular officers. Discipline was discipline. The mutineer was brought before a court-martial, and was ordered to be put in Irons until the end of the voyage. He actually made the remainder of the trip as a prisoner. The suit against him was not dropped until after the return to Huland. It was a storm in a tea kettle. Or rather, it was a quarrel between a few dozen people, most of the mill, who were cooped up in four small and ill-smelling vessels and who had got terribly on one another's nerves. It's needless to say that these official disagreements greatly entertained the rough elements in the focus hall who witnessed this commotion with hidden glee and decided they would have some similar fun of their own as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the wind had been favourable, and on the fifth of June, after a long but uneventful voyage, an island was seen. It proved to be a small island off the coast of Sumatra. Sumatra itself was reached two days later, and on the eleventh of the same month, the Sunder archipelago between Sumatra and Java was reached. In this part of the Indies, the white man had been before. The natives, therefore, knew the power of firearms, and they were accordingly cautious. One of them, who was familiar with the straits between the islands, offered to act as pilot on their further trip to Bunton for eight rails in gold. He promised to guide them safely to the north shore of Java. The amount was small, but the distance was short. On the 23rd of June of the year 1596, four Dutch ships appeared for the first time in the roads of Bunton and were welcomed by the Portuguese with all the civility which the site of 64 cannon demanded. At that time, Bunton was an important city, the most important trading centre of the western part of the Indian islands. It was the capital of the Mohammedan Sultan, and for many years it had been the resonance of a large Portuguese colony. Besides Javanese natives and Portuguese settlers, there were many Arab traders and Chinese merchants. All of these hastened forth to inspect the ships with the strange flag and have a look at this new delegation of white men who were blonde, not dark like the Portuguese, and who spoke an unknown language. The fleet had now reached its destination, and the actual work of the commercial delegates began. It was their business to conclude an official treaty with the native authorities and to try to obtain equal trading rights with the Portuguese. Huffman was of great value in this sort of negotiation. As representative of the mighty Prince Maurice of Nassau, who for the benefit of the natives was described as the most high potentate of the most powerful Dutch Commonwealth, he called upon the regent who was governing the country during the minority of the actual Sultan. He made his visit in great state, and through a number of presence he gained the favour of the regent. On the 1st of July he obtained the desired commercial treaty. The Hollanders were allowed to trade freely, and a house was put at their disposal to serve as a general office and storeroom. Two of the civilian directors were allowed to live on shore, and everything was ready for business. Thus far, things had gone so well that Huffman decided to perform his task leisurely. The new pepper harvest was soon to be gathered, and he thought it well to wait until he had a chance to get fresh spices. What was left of last year's crop was offered for a very low price, but as there was no hurry, no supply was bought. Unfortunately, this time of waiting was utilised by the Portuguese for a campaign of underhand agitation against their unwelcome rivals. They did not accuse the Hollanders directly of any evil intentions, but did the regent know who those people were? Is it true that they claimed to be the representatives of a certain prince of Nassau? Was there such a prince? They might just as well be common buccaneers. It would be much safer if the regent would order his soldiers to take all the Hollander people prisoner and to surrender them to the Portuguese to be dealt with according to their desserts. The regent, who knew nothing about his new guests except that they were white and had come to him in wooden ships, listened with an attentive ear. At first he did not act, but the Hollanders soon noticed that whereas they found it difficult to buy anything at all in Bantam, Portuguese vessels left the harbour every week with heavy cargoes. At last, when the commissary department of the Dutch fleet sent on shore for provisions, they were refused all further supplies. Evidently, something was going to happen. To be well prepared against all eventualities, the Dutch captains began to chart the harbour. With the small guns of that age it was necessary to know exactly how near shore one could get in order to bombard the enemy. The natives saw the manoeuvring and wondered what it was all about. From that moment on there was suspicion on both sides and at last the tension between them grew so serious that the Hollanders decided to remove their goods from the storehouse and bring them on the ships. But while they were loading their possessions into the boats, Houtman and another civilian by the name of Willem Lodovick were suddenly taken prisoner and brought to the castle of the regent. This dignitary, afraid of the Portuguese whose power he appreciated and yet unwilling to act openly against some newcomers who might be far more dangerous, wanted to keep the leader of the Dutch expedition and one of his officers as hostages until the Dutch ships should have left the port without doing him or his people any harm. The Hollanders however who knew that the Portuguese were responsible for this action at once attacked the Portuguese ships. Both parties however proved to be equally strong and having fired several volleys at one another both sides gave up their quarrel and waited until they should be reinforced. Houtman and his companion were set free after the Hollanders had paid a heavy ransom. All this took place in the month of October. Even then Houtman hoped that the interrupted trading might be resumed. Meanwhile however the Portuguese had asked for reinforcements to be sent from their colony in Malacca and a high Portuguese official was already on his way to Bantam to offer the regent ten thousand rails for the surrender of the entire Dutch fleet. Of these negotiations the Dutch commander obtained full details through a friendly Portuguese merchant. Since everybody spied upon everybody else this merchant's secret correspondence was soon detected and the culprit was sent to Malacca. As there was now no longer any hope for profitable business the Dutch fleet made ready to depart. A Chinaman got on board the Admiral's ship and made him the following offer. He would load two vessels with spices and would leave the port. The Hollanders would attack his vessels and would capture both ship and cargo. Of course they must pay cash and must deposit the money beforehand. This was done and in this way Houtman got several thousand guilders worth of nutmeg and mace. Thereupon the Hollanders left Bantam and tried their luck in several other cities on the Javanese coast. But everywhere the people had been warned by the Portuguese against ungodly pirates who were soon to come with four big ships and everywhere the ships were refused water and were threatened with open hostilities if they should attempt to buy anything from the natives. One little king however appeared to have more friendly feelings. That was the king of Sidayu on the strait of Surabaya. He was very obliging indeed and volunteered to pay the first call upon his distinguished visitors. At the hour which had been officially announced his majesty with a large number of well-armed canoes paddled out to the Dutch ships. The Hollanders, glad at last to find so cheerful a welcome had arranged everything for a festive occasion. The ships had hoisted their best array of flags and the trumpeters, it was a time when signals on board were given with a trumpet, bellowed forth her welcome. The Amsterdam was the first ship to be reached. The captain stood ready at the gangway to welcome the dusky sovereign but suddenly his ship was attacked from all sides by a hoarded small brown mint. They swarmed over the bullhawks and hacked a dozen Hollanders to pieces before the others could defend themselves. These in turn gave fighters best they could with knives and wooden bars but many more were killed. At last however the other ships managed to come to the relief of the Amsterdam and they destroyed the fleet of war canoes with a few bollies from their cannon. It was a sad business. Several of the officers had been killed. What with the illness of many of the men there were hardly sailors enough to man the four ships. The Amsterdam looked like a butcher shop. It was cleaned thoroughly. The dead people were given Christian burial in the open sea and the voyage was continued to the island of Madura. Here they arrived on the 8th of December and were once more met by a large fleet of small craft. In one of these there was a native who knew a little Portuguese. He asked to speak to the commander who at that moment was on the Amsterdam. Houtman told the native interpreter to row to the Mauritius where he would join him in a few minutes. It was a good idea for the people on the Amsterdam who had just seen the massacre of their comrades were very nervous and in no condition to receive another visit of natives however friendly they intended to be. But through a mistake the boat of the interpreter did not turn towards the Mauritius but returned once more to the Amsterdam apparently to ask for further instructions. Then one of those horrible accidents due entirely to panic happened. The sailors of the Amsterdam opened fire upon the natives. The other ships thought that this was the sign for a new general attack and they got out their cannon. In a moment a score of well-intentioned natives and among them their king had been killed or were drowning. After this it could not be expected that the island of Madura would sell Houtman anything at all. There was only one chance left if the expedition was to be a financial success. This was a trip to the Malacca Islands but for this forage the 94 sailors who were still alive all the others who had left Holland the year before were dead hardly sufficed. Furthermore the Amsterdam was beginning to show such severe leaks that the Carpenters could not repair the damage. The ship was therefore beached and burned. The crew was divided among the three other ships and they set sail for the Malacca's. Before they reached these islands a formal mutiny had broken out on board the Mauritius. Suddenly during the afternoon meal the captain of the ship had died. He had fainted, turned blue and black and in less than an hour he was dead after suffering dreadful pains. Healthy people, so the sailors whispered did not die that way and they accused Houtman who did not like this particular captain of having put poison into his food. Houtman was attacked by his own men and he was put in ions. A formal tribunal then was called together. It investigated the charges but nothing was found against the accused commissioner. Therefore Houtman was released and the topsy-turvy expedition once more continued its voyage. But it never reached the Malacca Islands. For before they got to these they found the island of Bali. This proved to be governed by a well-disposed monarch. The influence of the Portuguese was less strong in this island than it had been on Java. The Hollander's too had learned their lesson and they refrained from the naval swashbuckling and had often characterised their conduct on Java. On the contrary they gave themselves every possible trouble to be very pleasant to His Majesty the Sultan. They made him fine presence and they produced their maps of the Fatherland and made a greater do about their official documents. The Sultan wished to know who they were. They told him that they came from a country which was situated in the northern part of Europe where the water turned into a solid mass across which you could drive a horse every winter. This country, according to their descriptions, covered a region occupied by Russia, France and Germany. There was but little truth in these grand deliquent stories but they were dealing with an innocent native who must be duly impressed by the great power and the enormous riches of the home of ninety odd, ragged and much-travelled Dutch sailors. The account which the sailors gave of their country so deeply impressed the King that he allowed them to buy all the spices they wanted and to collect the necessary provisions for the long return voyage. On February 26 in the second year of their voyage the three ships got ready to sail back to Holland. One of the civilian directors with his masterful fibbing had brought himself more particularly to the attention of his Majesty was left behind, together with one sailor. They were to act as councillors to the court, an office which they held for four years when they returned to Amsterdam. Of the 284 men who had left Holland in 1595 only 89 returned after an absence of two years and four months. That was the end of the first trip. It had not been profitable. The sale of the pepper and nutmeg bought in Bali saved the expedition from being a total loss to the investors but there were not nearly such large revenues as were to follow in the succeeding years. Furthermore, Houtman had not been able to establish any lasting relations with any of the native princes of India. Neither could he report that the first Dutch expedition had been a shining example of tactful dealing with or kind treatment of the people of the Indies. But this was really a detail. It was an unfortunate incident due to their own lack of experience and to the intrigues of the rival Portuguese merchants. From a commercial point of view this expedition was a failure yet it brought home a large volume of negative information which was of the utmost importance. It showed that the direct route to India was not an impossible achievement to anybody possessed of energy and courage. It showed that the power of the Portuguese in India was not as strong as had been expected. It showed that the dream of an independent colonial empire for the new Dutch Republic in the Indian islands was not an idle one. In short, it proved that all the fears and misgivings about Holland's share in the development of the riches of Asia had been unnecessary. The thing could be done. Chapter 5 of the Golden Book of Dutch Navigators by Hendrik Villum van Luten. This is a LibreVox recording. All LibreVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibreVox.org recording by Jane Bennett. Chapter 5, The Second Voyage to India, Success. There was now a great boom in the Indian trade whosoever could beg, borrow or steal a few thousand guilders whoever possessed an old scour which could perhaps be made to float. Whoever was related to a man who had a cousin who had some influence on the exchange suddenly became an Indian trader. Equipped a ship, hired sailors, had mysterious conferences with nautical gentlemen who talked about their great experience in foreign waters and then waited for the early days of spring to bid Godspeed to his little expedition. Every city must have its own Indian fleet. Companies were formed. Stockholders quarreled about the apportionment of unnecessary capital, and at once they split up into other smaller companies. There was an old Indian trading company. The next day there was a rival called the New Indian Trading Company. There was an Indian company which was backed by the province of Zealand. There was a private enterprise of the city of Rotterdam. To be honest, there were too many companies for the small size of the country. Before another dozen years had passed they were all amalgamated into one strong commercial body, the great Dutch East India Company. But during the first years hundreds of ships stampeded to the promised land of Java and Bali and the Malakas. And for one fleet of small vessels which came home with a profit, there were a dozen which either were shipwrecked on the way or which had ruined their shareholders before they had passed the equator. Amsterdam, as always, was the leader in this activity. It was not only a question of capital. There had to be men of vision, merchants who were willing to do things on a large scale before such a venture could return any profit. And while the ships of the Zealand Company were hurried to sea and left long before the others and incidentally came back a few years later, Amsterdam quietly collected 800,000 guilders and advertised for competent officers and willing men for a large expedition. This time it was decided everything was to be done with scientific precision and nothing must be left to chance. The commander-in-chief of the 560 men who were to take part in the expedition was Jakob van Niek, a man of good birth, excellent training and well-known in the politics of his own city. His most important advisor was Jakob van Hiemskjadek, fresh from his adventures in the Arctic Sea and ready for new ones in the Indian Ocean. Several of the officers who had been to Bandham with Hultman were engaged for this second voyage. Among them are friend van de Deus, out of whose diary we copied the adventures of the first voyage to the Indies. Even the native element was not lacking. You will remember that the Hollanders had taken several hostages in Madagascar when they visited the east coast of that island in the year 1595. Two of these had been tamed and had been taken to Holland. After a year in Amsterdam, they were quite willing to exchange the uncomfortable gluminates of the Dutch climate for a return to their native sunny shores. Also, there was a Mohammedan boy by the name of Abdul, whom curiosity had driven from Bali to Holland on board the ship of Hultman. The fleet of eight vessels left the roads of Texel on the 1st of May of the year 1598 and with a favourable wind reached the Cape Verde Islands three weeks later. There, a general counsel of the different captains was asked to decide upon the further course. For with each expedition, the knowledge of what ought to be done and what ought to be omitted increased and the experiences of Hultman on the coast of Africa where his entire crew had been disabled through scurvy must not be repeated. The fleet must either follow the coast of Africa to get fresh food and water whenever necessary or the ships must risk a more western course which would take them a far distance away from land but would bring them into currents which would carry them to the Indies in a shorter while. They decided to take the western course. It was a very tedious voyage except for the flying fishers which sometimes accompanied the ship. Luck was with the expedition and on the 9th of July the ships passed the equator. The little island of Trinidad off the coast of Brazil was soon reached and an inquisitive trip in an open boat to explore this huge rock almost ended in disaster. But such small affairs as a night spent in an open boat in a stormy ocean were all in the day's work and gave the sailor something to talk about. Within a remarkably short time the lonely island of Tristan de Kunha was passed and from there the current and the western winds carried the ships to the Cape of Good Hope but near this stormy promontory a small hurricane suddenly fell upon the fleet and after a night of very heavy squalls one of the eight ships had disappeared. It was never seen again. A few days later, this time through carelessness and observing signals four other ships were separated from their admiral. Several days were spent in coursing about in the attempt to find them. The sea however is very wide and ships very small and Van Neck with two big and one small vessel at last decided to continue the voyage alone. He was in a hurry. There were many rivals to his great undertaking and when he actually met a Dutch ship sent out by the province of Zeeland he insisted that there must be no delay of any sort. The Zeeland ship however was not a dangerous competitor. Nine members of its crew of seventy-five had died. Among the others there was so much scurvy that only seven men were able to handle the helm. Only two could climb aloft. The Amsterdam ships ought to have helped their fellow countrymen but in the Indian spice trade it was a question of first come, first served. Therefore they piously commended their Zeeland brethren to the care of the good Lord and hastened on. A short stay in Madagascar was necessary because the water in the tanks was of such abominable taste and smelled so badly that it must be replenished. The ships sailed to the east coast of the island stopped at Santa Maria well known from the visit of Huggman's ships three years before and then made a short trip in search of fresh fruit to the Bay of Antongel. On the island of Santa Maria they had found a happy population well governed by an old king and spending their days in hunting wild animals on land or catching whales at sea. But in the Bay of Antongel things had greatly changed since Huggman had left a year before. There had been a war with some of the tribes from the interior of the island. The villagers along the coast had been burned and all the cattle had been killed. Men and women were dying of starvation right in the midst of the lovely tropical scenery there lay the decaying corpses of the natives a prey to vultures and jackals. The expedition of Van Neck however had been sent out to buy spices in India and not to reform the heathen inhabitants of African islands. The water tanks were hastily filled and on the 16th of September the island was left to its own fate. For two months the ships sailed eastward. There were a few sick men on board but nobody died which was considered a magnificent record in those days for so long a voyage. On November the 19th the high mountains of the coast of Sumatra appeared upon the horizon. From there Van Neck steered southward and near the Sunder Islands he at last reached the dangerous domains of the Portuguese. The cannon were inspected the mechanism of the guns was well oiled and everything was made ready for a possible fight. Before the coast of Java was reached one of the islands of the Sunder archipelago was visited. Could the natives tell them anything about the Portuguese and their intentions? The natives could not do this but in return asked the men whether they perhaps knew anything about a foreign expedition which had been in those parts a few years before. That expedition it appeared had left a very bad reputation behind on account of its cruelty and insolence. Van Neck decided not to remain in this region where his predecessor had made himself too thoroughly unpopular and sailed direct for Bantam. He would take his risks. On November the 26th while the sun was setting the three ships dropped anchor in that harbour. They spent an uncomfortable night for nobody knew what sort of reception would await them on the next day. Harpment had been in great difficulty with both the Sultan and the Portuguese. Very likely the ships flying the Dutch flag would be attacked in the morning but when morning came the ubiquitous Chinaman who in the far Indies serves foreign potentates as money changer, merchant, diplomatic agent and handyman in general came rowing out to Van Neck's ship. He told the admiral that the Sultan sent the Hollanders his very kind regards and begged them to accept a small gift of fresh fruit. The Sultan was glad to see the Hollanders. If they would only send a messenger on shore the Sultan would receive him at once. Meanwhile, as a sign of good faith the Chinese intermediary was willing to stay on board the ship of the Hollanders. Nobody in the fleet, least of all the officers and sailors who remembered what had happened two years before had expected such a reception. They were soon told the reason of this change in attitude. After Harpment and his ships left in the summer of 1596 the Portuguese government had sent a strong fleet to punish the Sultan of Bantam for having been too friendly to the Hollanders. This fleet had suffered a defeat but since that time the people in Bantam had feared the arrival of another punitive expedition. The Hollanders therefore came as very welcome defenders of the rights of the young Sultan. It was decided that their services should be used for the defence of the harbour if the long expected Portuguese fleet should make a new attack. It was in this role of the lesser of two evils that the Hollanders finally were to conquer their Indian Empire from the Portuguese. Van Neck was the first Dutch captain to use the local political situation for his own benefit. He sent his representative on shore who was received with great ceremony. He explained how this fleet had been sent to the Indies by the mighty Prince of Orange and he promised that the Bantam government would be allowed to see all the official documents which the Admiral had brought if they were deigned to visit the ships. This invitation was not well received. The Bantam people had been familiar with the ways of white men for almost a hundred years. They distrusted all cordial invitations to come on board foreign ships and they asked that the Hollanders send their papers ashore. No, Van Neck told them through his envoy, a document given to me by the mighty Prince of Orange is too important to be allowed out of my immediate sight. In the end the Sultan curious to see whether these letters could perhaps tell him something of further ships which might be on their way agreed to make his appearance upon the ship of the Admiral where he was received with great courtesy. Then after the fashion of the Indian ruler of his day and of our own, he demanded to know what his profits were to be in case he allowed the Hollanders to trade in his city. Van Neck began negotiations about the bribe which the different functionaries were to receive. For a consideration of 3,200 rails to the Sultan and the commander of the harbour, the Dutch ships were at last given permission to approach the shore and buy whatever they wanted. For ten days long canoes filled with pepper and nutmeg surrounded the ships. The pepper was bought for three rails a bag. Everything was very pleasant. But one day Abdul, the native who came from Bali got on shore and visited the city. Here among his own people he cut quite a dash and bragging about the wonders of the Great Dutch Republic. He volunteered the information that on the Amsterdam market he had seen how a bag of pepper was sold for a hundred rails. That sum therefore was just 97 rails more than the people in Bantam received for their own raw product. Of course they did not like the idea of getting so little and at once they refused to sell to Van Neck at the old rate. It was a great disappointment. He tried to do business with some Chinaman but they were worse than the Javanese. They offered their pepper to the Hollanders at a ridiculously low price but after the bags had been weighed they were found to be weighted with stones and sand and pieces of glass. There was no end to all the small annoyances which the Dutch Admiral was made to suffer. There were a number of Portuguese soldiers hanging about the town. They had been made prisoners during the last fatal expedition against Bantam and they suffered a good many hardships. One day they were allowed to pay a visit to the Dutch ships and the tales of their misery were so harrowing that the Admiral had given them some money to be used for the purpose of buying food and clothes. No sooner however were the prisoners back on dry land than they started the rumour that the Hollanders were dangerous pirates and ought not to be trusted. Van Neck vowed that he would hang his ungrateful visitors if ever they came to him again with their tales of woe Meanwhile, in order to stop further talk he promised to raise the price of pepper to Ray Arles. For five Ray Arles a bag his ships were now filled with a cargo of the costly spice. In a peaceful way the month of December went by. It was the last day of the year 1598 when quite unexpectedly the lost ships that had been driven away from their admiral near the Cape of Good Hope appeared at Bantam. They had passed through many exciting adventures after they lost sight of the commander-in-chief. They had first spent several days trying to discover his whereabouts, then they had continued their way to get fresh water in Madagascar. They had reached the coast of the island safely but just before they could land a sudden storm had driven them eastward. On the 17th of September they had again seen land and dropped their anchors to discover to what part of the world they had been blown by the wind. The map did not show that there was any land in this region. Therefore on the 18th of September of the year 1598 they had visited the island which lay before them and they found that they had reached paradise. All the sailors had been taken ashore it being Sunday and the ship's pastor had preached a wonderful sermon. So eloquent were his words that one of the Madagascar boys who was on the fleet had accepted Christian baptism then and there. After that for a full month officers and men had taken a holiday. Whatever they wished for the island provided in abundance. There was fresh water. There were hundreds of tame pigeons. There were birds which resembled an ostrich although they were smaller and tasted better when cooked. There were gigantic bats and turtles so large that several men could take a ride on their back. Fish abounded in the rivers and the sea around the island and it was thickly covered with all sorts of palm trees. Indeed it looked so fertile that it was decided to use it as a granary for future expeditions. Grain had been planted and also beans and peas for the use of ships which might come during the next years. Then the island had been officially annexed for the benefit of the Republic. It had been called Mauritius after Prince Maurice of Nassau the Stad holder of Holland. Finally after a rooster and seven chickens had been given the freedom of this domain to assure future travellers of fresh eggs the four ships had hoisted their sails and had come to Bantam to join their admiral. Bantam now commanded several ships which were loaded but the others must await the arrival of a new supply of pepper which was being brought to Bantam from the Malochas by some enterprising Chinaman. This would take time and Bantam was still in a great hurry. He refused to consider the tempting offers of the Sultan of Bantam who still wanted his help against his Portuguese enemies. Instead he entered into negotiations with a Hindu merchant who offered to bring the other ships directly to the Malochas where they would be in the heart of the spice growing islands. The Hindu was engaged and navigated the ships safely to their destination. Here through their good behaviour the Hollanders made such an excellent impression upon the native ruler that they were allowed to establish two settlements on shore and leave a small garrison until they should return to buy more mace and nutmeg at incredibly reasonable terms. As for Van Nick having saluted his faithful companions with a salvo of his big guns which started a panic in the good town of Bantam where the people still remembered the departure of Houtman he sailed for the coast of Africa. He had every reason to be contented with his success. In a final audience with the governor of the city of Bantam he had promised this dignitary that the Hollanders would return next year because that was the will of their mighty ruler. The governor from his side who upon this occasion had to deal with a much better class of men than Houtman and his crew of mutinous sailors had decided that the Hollanders were preferable to the Portuguese and he assured Van Nick of a cordial reception. The return voyage was not as prosperous as the outward trip had been. Dissentry attacked the fleet and many of the best officers and men had to be sewn into their hammocks to be dropped into the ocean where they found an honourable burial. St Helena, with its fresh water and its many wild animals was reached just when the number of healthy men had fallen to 30. A week of rest and decent food was enough to cure all the men and then they sailed for home but so great was the hurry of this rich squadron to reach the markets of Amsterdam that Van Nick's ship was almost destroyed when it hoisted too many sails and when the wind broke two of the masts. It wasn't easy to repair this damage in the open sea. After several days some sort of jury rig was equipped. The big ship with its short stubby mast then looked so queer that several Dutch vessels which saw it appear upon the horizon off the gulf of Biscay, a beta-hasty retreat. They feared that they had to do with a new sort of pirate sailing the seas in the most recent peratical invention. On the 19th of July after an absence of only one year and two months the first part of Van Nick's fleet returned safely to Holland. The cargo was unloaded and was sold on the Amsterdam exchange. After the full cost of the expedition had been paid each of the shareholders received a profit of just one hundred percent. Van Nick, who had established the first Dutch settlement in the Indies was given a public perception by his good city and was marched in state to the town hall. End of chapter 5 Section 8 of the Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Piotr Natter. The Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators by Hendrik Van Loon. Chapter 6 Van Noord Circumnavigates the World Part 1 Oliver Van Noord was the first Hollandair to sail around the world. Incidentally he was the fourth navigator to succeed in this dangerous enterprise. Since in the year 1520 the little ships of Magellan had accomplished the feat of circumnavigating the globe. Of the hero of this memorable Dutch voyage we know almost nothing. He was a modest man and except for a few lines of personal introduction which appear in the printed story of his voyage which was published in Rotterdam, his hometown in the year 1620 in which he tells us that he had made many trips to different parts of the world. His life to us is a complete mystery. He was not like Jakob van Heemskerk and van Neck, a man of education. Neither was he of very low origin. He had picked up a good deal of learning at the common schools. Very likely he had been the maid or perhaps the captain of some small schooner had made a little money and then had retired from the sea. Spending once days on board a ship in the latter half of the 16th century was no pleasure. The ships were small, the cabins were uncomfortable and so low that nowhere one could stand up straight. Cooking had to be done on a very primitive stove which could not always be used when the weather was bad. The middle part of the deck was apt to be flooded most of the time and the flat-bottomed ships rolled and pitched terribly. Therefore, as soon as a man had made a little competency as the master of a small craft he was apt to look for some quiet occupation on shore. He had not learned a regular trade which he could use on shore. Very often, therefore, he opened a small hotel or an inn or just an alehouse where he could tell yarns about whales and wild men and queer countries which he had seen in the course of his peregrinations. And when the evening came and the tired citizens wanted to smoke a comfortable pipe and discuss the politics of the pope, the emperor, kings, dukes, bishops and their mightinesses, his own older men, he liked to do so under the guidance of a man who knew what was what in the world and who could compare the statholders' victories over the Spaniards with those which King Wunga Wunga of Mozambique had gained over his hot and taut neighbors and who knew that the wine of a porto sold in Havana for less than the vinegar from Danzig and the salted fish from Arkhangel. Therefore, we are not surprised when in the year 1595 we find Oliver van Nord described as the owner of the double white keys an alehouse in the town of Rotterdam. He might have finished his days there in peace and prosperity, but when Hothman returned from his first voyage and the craze for the riches of the Indies or at least a share thereof struck the town of Rotterdam, van Nord together with everybody else who could borrow a few pennies began to think of new ways of reaching the marvellous island of Java made of gold and jewels and the even more valuable pepper and nutmeg. Van Nord himself possessed some money and the rest he obtained from several of his best customers. With this small sum he founded a trading company of his own. He petitioned the estates general of the Republic and the estates of his own province of Holland to assist him in an expedition towards the quote-unquote Kingdom of Chile, the west coast of America and if need be, the islands of the Moluccas. To make this important enterprise successful the estates general were asked to give van Nord and his trading company freedom of export and import for at least six voyages and to present it with ten cannon and 12,000 pounds of gunpowder. He asked for much in the hope of obtaining at least part of what he desired. In the winter of 1597 his request was granted. He received four guns, 6,000 pounds of bullets, 12,000 pounds of gunpowder and a special grant which relieved him of the customary export tax for two voyages. This demand for cannon, gunpowder and bullets gives us the impression that the expedition expected to meet with serious trouble. That was quite true. The southern part of America was the private property of the Spaniards and the Portuguese. Anybody who ventured into those regions flying the Dutch colors did so at his own peril. Among his fellow citizens van Nord had the reputation of great courage. Nobody knew any precise details of his early life and his desperate, although never proved, that many years ago, long before the days of Hauptmann he had tried to reach the Indies all alone but that he had preferred the more lucrative profession of pirates to the dangerous calling of the pioneer. Since, however, all his privateering had been done at the expense of the Spaniards nobody minded those few alleged irregularities of his youthful life and the merchants who drank their pot of ale at his inn willingly provided him with the money which he needed, bait him, go ahead and helped him when during the winter of the year 1597 he was getting his two ships ready for the voyage. Now it happened that at the time a number of merchants in Amsterdam were working for the same purpose. They, too, wanted to sail to the Moluccas by way of the Strait of Magellan. For the sake of greater safety the two companies decided to travel together. In June of the year 1597 their fleet composed of four ships was ready for the voyage. Van Nord was to command the biggest vessel the Moritus while the commander of the Amsterdam Company was to be Vice Admiral of the fleet on board the Henrik Frederick. The name of the Vice Admiral was Jakob Kles. We know nothing about his early career but we know all the details of his tragic end. There were two other small ships there was a yacht called the Endrecht and there was a merchant man called the Hope. The tonnage of the ships is not mentioned but since there were only 248 men on the four ships they must have been small even for that time. In a general way our meager information about the invested capital the strange stories of the early lives of the commanders and the very rough character of the crew showed that we have to do many mushroom companies an enterprise which was not based upon very sound principles but was of a purely speculative nature. During the earliest days of Indian trading however all good merchants were in such a hurry to make money to get to Java long before anybody else and to reach home ahead of all competitors that there was no time for the promoting of absolutely sound companies. On the other hand the men who commanded those first expeditions had all been schooled in the notable art of self-reliance during the first 20 terrible years of the war against Spain. They were brave they were resourceful they succeeded where others, more careful would have failed. On the 28th of June of the year 1597 Van Nord left Rotterdam to await his companions from Amsterdam and the Downs England. He waited for several weeks but did not appear so he went back to Holland to find out what might have become of them. He found them lying at Angkor in one of the Zeeland's streams. Evidently there had been a misunderstanding as to the exact meeting place of the two squadrons. Together they then began the voyage for a second time. They had lost a month and a half in waiting for each other but at that date 45 days more or less did not matter. First of all Van Nord went to Plymouth where he had arranged to meet a British sailor commonly referred to as Captain Melis a man who had been around the world with Captain Cavendish in 1588 and who was familiar with the stormy regions around the southern part of the American continent. In exchange for one Englishman Van Nord lost several good Dutchmen. Six of his sailors deserted and could not be found again. The first part of the trip was along the coast of Africa a road which we know from other expeditions. Then came a story with which we are only too familiar from previous accounts for the much-dreaded scurvy appeared among the men. When the fleet passed the small island of Plíncipe in the Gulf of Guinea it was decided to land there and try to obtain fresh water and fresh food. Unfortunately this island was within the established domain of the Portuguese and the Hollanders must be careful. Early in the morning of the day on which they intended to look for water they sent three boats ashore flying a white flag as a sign of their peaceful intentions. The inhabitants of the island came near the boats also carrying a white flag. They informed the Hollanders that if they would kindly visit the nearby villages the natives would sell them everything they wanted provided the Hollanders paid cash. The men were ordered to stay near the boats but four officers went farther inland. They were asked to come first of all to the Portuguese castle that was on the island. They went, but once inside they were suddenly attacked and three of them were murdered. The fourth one jumped out of the gate just in time to save his life. He ran to the shore. This was a great loss to the Hollanders for among the men who had been killed by the Royal Van Nord and the English pilot upon whom they depended to guide them through the difficult strait of Magellan. To uphold the prestige of the Dutch Republic Van Nord decided to make an example the next day after he landed with one hundred of his men and entrenched himself near the mouth of the river so that he might fill his water tanks at leisure. Then following this river he went into the interior of the country and burned down all the plantations and houses he could find. Well provided with fresh water he then upon crossed the Atlantic Ocean and steered for the coast of Brazil. On the 9th of February he dropped anchor in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro which was a Portuguese town. He carefully kept out of reach of the menacing guns of the fortification. The reception in Brazil was little more cordial than it had been on the other side of the ocean. The Portuguese sent a boat to the Dutch ships to ask what they wanted. The answer was that the Hollanders were peaceful travelers in need of fresh provisions. The provisions were promised for the next day but Van Nord who had heard similar promises before was on his guard and for safety's sake he kept a few Portuguese sailors on his ship as hostages. On the morning of the next day he sent several of his men to the shore to get the supplies. One of the men arrived near a mountain called Sugarloaf. Once more the Portuguese did not play the game fairly. They had posted a number of their soldiers in a well hidden ambush near the Sugarloaf. These soldiers suddenly opened fire, wounded a large number of the Dutch seamen and took two of them prisoners. A little later a shot fired from one of the cannon of the castle killed the men on board the endracht. The two Dutch prisoners were safely returned next day in exchange for the Portuguese hostages but Van Nord was obliged to leave the town without getting his provisions. Therefore a few days later he landed on a small island near the coast where he found water and fruit and his men caught fish and wild birds and were happy. Again the Portuguese interfered. They had ordered a number of Indians to follow the Dutch fleet and do whatever damage they could. When a Dutch boat with six men came rowing to the shore it was suddenly attacked by a large number of Indians in canoes. Two of the six men were killed. The other four were taken prisoner and never seen again. Of course adventures of this sort were not very encouraging. Some of the officers suggested that after all it might be a better idea to discontinue the voyage around the South American coast before it was too late. They proposed that the ships should cross the Atlantic once more and should either go to San Helena and wait there until the next spring or should sail to India by way of Cape of Good Hope for it was now the month of March and in that part of the world our summer is winter and our winter is summer. Wherefore they greatly feared that the ships could not reach the Strait of Magellan before the winter storms of July should set in. It was upon such occasions that they felt his courage and his resolute spirit. His expedition was in bad shape. One of the ships, the Andraht was leaking badly. Through the bad water, the hard work and the insufficient food a large number of sailors had fallen ill and every day some of them died. Wherever the expedition tried to land on the coast of Brazil to get water and supplies they found strong Portuguese detachments which drove them away. There did one not dream of giving up his original plans. At last, after many weeks and by mere chance he found a little island called Santa Clara where there were no Portuguese and no unfriendly natives and where he could build a fort on shore to land the sick men and cure them of their scurvy with fresh herbs. The expedition remained on Santa Clara for three weeks. Gradually the strength of the men returned but they were still very weak and it was now necessary that they should get plenty of exercise in the open air. Therefore the admiral ordered the kitchens to be built at a short distance from the fort. Those men who walked out to the kitchen got more dinner than those who demanded that their food be brought to them. Soon they all walked and they greatly benefited by this little scheme of their commander. On June 28 they were able to go back to the ship and then they set sail for the south. Two men, however, who had caused trouble since the beginning of the voyage and who seemed to be incorrigible were left behind on the island to get home as best they could. They never did. Even such a severe punishment was not a deterrent. A few days later a sailor attacked and wounded one of the officers with a knife. He was spiked to the mast with the same knife stuck through his right hand. Then he was left standing until he had pulled the knife out himself. It was a very rough crew and only a system of discipline enforced in this cruel fashion saved the officers from being murdered and thrown overboard so that the men might return home or become pirates. I have just mentioned the bad condition on the Andracht. The ship was so unseaworthy and so great was the danger of drowning all on board that Van Nord at last decided to sacrifice the vessel. The sailors were divided among the other ships and the Andracht was burned off the coast of Brazil. Van Nord now reached the southern part of the American continent. The Strait of Magellan had been discovered in 1530 but even in the year 1598 it was little known. The few mariners who had passed through had all told of the difficulty of navigating these narrows with their swift currents running from ocean to ocean and their terrible storms not to speak of the fog. Crossing from the Atlantic into the Pacific was therefore something which was considered a very difficult feat and Van Nord did not dare to risk it with his ships in their bad condition. He made for the little island of Porto de Sealo which Cavendish had discovered only a few years before. There was a sandbank near the coast where the ships were tied-tied. Then when the tide fell the ships were left on the dry sand and the men had several hours in which to clean, tar and cog them and generally overhaul everything that needed repairing. On the shore of the island a regular smithy was constructed. For three months everybody worked hard to get the vessels in proper condition for the dangerous voyage. While they were on the island the captain of the Hope died. He was buried with great solemnity and the former captain of the Endrecht was made commander of the Hope which was rebaptised the Endrecht. This word means harmony in Dutch and the good lord knows that they needed harmony during the many difficult months that were to follow. On November 5, 14 months after Van Nord left Holland and when the number of his men had been reduced to 148 he at last reached the Strait of Magellan. The ship of the admiral entered the Strait first and was followed by the new Endrecht. The Henrik Frederik however commanded by Jakob Klass the vice admiral went her own way. Van Nord signalled to this ship to keep close to the Mauritius but he never received an answer. Van Nord then ordered Klass to come to the admiral's vessel and give an account of himself. The only answer which he received was that captain Klass was just as good as admiral Van Nord and was going to do just exactly what he pleased. This was a case of open rebellion but Van Nord was so busy navigating the difficult current that he could not stop to make an investigation. Four times his ship was driven back by the strong wind. At the fifth attempt the ship at last passed the first narrows and anchored well inside the Strait. The next day they passed a high mountain which they called Cape Nassau and where they saw many natives running toward the shore. The natives in the southern part of the continent were not like the ordinary Indian with whom the hollanders were familiar. They were very strong and brave and cost the hollanders much difficulty. They handled bows and arrows well and their coats, made of skin gave them a general appearance of greater civilization than anybody had expected to find in this distant part of the world. When the Dutch sailors rode to the shore of the Strait the Indians attacked them at once. It was an unequal battle of arrows against bullets. The natives were driven back into their mountains where they defended themselves in front of a large hollow rock. At last however all the men had been killed and then the sailors discovered that the grotto was filled with many women and children. They did not harm these four small boys and two little girls to take home to Holland. It seems to have been an inveterate habit of early expeditions to distant countries to take home some natives as curiosities. Beginning with Columbus every explorer had brought a couple of natives with him when they returned home. The poor things usually died of smallpox or consumption or some other civilized disease. In case they kept alive a sort of nondescript town curiosity. What Van Nord intended to do with little Patagonians in Rotterdam I do not know but he had half a dozen on board when on November 28 his two ships reached the spot where they expected to find a strong Spanish castle. This fortress so they knew had been built after the attack of Drake on the west coast of America. Drake's expedition had caused a panic among the Spanish settlements of Chile and Peru. Orders had come from Madrid to fortify the strait of Magellan and close the narrows to all foreign vessels. A castle had been built and a garrison had been sent. Then however, as happened often in Spain, the home government had forgotten all about this isolated spot. No provisions had been forwarded. The country itself being barren and cold did not raise anything which a Spaniard could eat. For two years the castle had been deserted. When Cavendish sailed through the strait, he had taken the few remaining cannon out of the ruins. Van Nord did not even find the ruins. Two whole months Van Nord spent in the strait. He took his time in this part of the voyage. He dropped anchor in a bay which he called Oliver's Bay and there began to build some new lifeboats. End of section 8 Part 9 of the Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Piotr Natter The Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators by Hendrik Van Loon Chapter 6 Van Nord Circumnavigates the World Part 2 After a few days the mutinous Hendrik Frederik also appeared in his bay. Van Nord asked class to come on board his ship and explain his strange contact. The vice admiral refused to obey. He was taken prisoner and brought before a court marshal. We do not know the real grounds for the strange conduct of class. He might have known that discipline in those days meant something brutally severe and yet he disobeyed his admiral's positive orders and when he was brought before the court marshal he could not defend himself. He was found guilty and he was condemned to be put on shore. He was given some bread and some wine and when the fleet sailed away he was left behind all alone. There was of course a chance that another ship would pick him up. A few weeks before other Dutch ships had been in the strait but this chance was a very small one and the sailors of Van Nord knew it. They set a prayer for the soul of their former captain who was condemned to die a miserable death far away from home yet no one objected to this punishment. Navigation to the Indies in the 16th century was as dangerous as war and in subordination could not be tolerated. Not even when the man who refused to obey orders was one of the original investors of the expedition and second in command. On the 29th of February Van Nord reached the Pacific. The last mile from the strait to the open sea took him four weeks. He now sailed northward along the coast of South America. Two weeks later, during a storm, the Henry Frederick disappeared. Such an occurrence had been foreseen. Van Nord had told his captains to meet him near the island of Santa Maria in case they should become separated from him during the night or in a fog. Therefore he did not worry about the fate of the ship but sailed for the coast of Chile. After a short visit and a meeting with some natives who told him that they hated the Spaniards and welcomed the Hollanders as their defenders against the Spanish oppressors Van Nord reached the island of Santa Maria. In the distance he saw a ship. Of course he thought that this must be his own lost vessels waiting for him but when he came near the strange ship hoisted her sails and fled. It was a Spaniard called the Buen Jesús. The Dutch admiral could not allow this ship to escape. It might have warned the Spanish admiral in Lima and then Van Nord would have been obliged to fight the entire Spanish Pacific fleet. The andracht was ordered to catch the Buen Jesús. This she did, for the Dutch ships could sail faster than the Spanish ones though they were smaller. Van Nord had done wisely. The Spaniard was one of a large fleet detailed to watch the arrival of the Dutch vessels. The year before another Dutch fleet had reached the Pacific. It suffered a defeat at the hands of the Spaniards. This had served as a warning. The Hollanders did not have the reputation of giving up an enterprise when once they had started upon it and the Spanish fleet was kept cruising in the southern part of the Pacific to destroy whatever Dutch ships might try to enter the private domains of Spain. From that moment Van Nord's voyage and his ships in the Pacific were as safe as a man smoking a pipe in a powder magazine. They might be destroyed at any moment. As a best means of defence the Hollanders decided to make a great show of strength. They did not wait for the assistance out of Henrik Frederik, but sailed at once to Valparaiso, took several Spanish ships anchored in the roads and burned all of the others except one which was added to the Dutch fleet. From the captain of the Buen Jesús Van Nord had heard that a number of Hollanders were imprisoned in the castle of Valparaiso. He sent a shore asking for information and he received letters from a Dutchman asking for help. Van Nord however was too weak to attack the town, but he thought that something might be done in this case through kindness. So he said all the crew of the Buen Jesús except the mate free and him he kept as a hostage and sent the man to the Spanish commander for his compliments. Thereupon he continued his voyage but was careful to stay away from Lima where he knew there were three large Spanish vessels waiting for him. Instead of that he made for the Cape of San Francisco where he hoped to capture the Peruvian silver fleet. Quite accidentally however he discovered that he was about to run into another trap. Some negro slaves who had been on board the Buen Jesús and who were now with Van Nord rumour that more than 50.000 pounds of gold which had been on the Buen Jesús had been thrown overboard just before the Hollanders captured the vessel. The mate of the ship was still on the Mauritius and he was asked if this was true. He denied it, but he denied it in such a fashion that it was hard to believe him. Therefore he was tortured, not very much but just enough to make him desirous of telling the truth. He then told that the gold had actually been on board the Buen Jesús and since he was once confessing he volunteered further information and now told Van Nord that the captain of the Buen Jesús and he had arranged to warn the Spanish fleet to await the Hollanders near Cape San Francisco and to attack them there while the Hollanders were watching the coast of Peru for the Peruvian silver fleet. No further information was wanted and the Spaniard was released. He might have taken this episode in the morning to be on his good behavior. Thus far he had been well treated. He slept and took his meals in Van Nord's own cabin but soon afterward he tried to start a mutiny among Negro slaves who had served with him on the Spanish men of war. Without further trial he was then thrown overboard. The expedition against the silver fleet however had to be given up. It would have been too dangerous. It became necessary to leave the eastern part of the Pacific and to cross to the Indies as fast as possible. The Spanish ship which had been captured in Valparaiso proved to be a bad sailor and was burned. The two Dutch ships with a crew of about a hundred men sailed alone from the Mariana Islands. Some travelers have called these islands the Ladrones. This means the Islands of the Thieves and the natives who came flocking out to the ships showed that they deserved this designation. They were very nimble fingered and they stole whatever they could find. They would climb on board the ships of Van Nord, take some knives or merely a piece of old iron and before anybody could prevent them they had dived overboard and had disappeared underwater. All day long their little canoes swarmed around the Dutch ships. They offered many things for sale but they were very dishonest in trade and the rice they sold was full of gold stones and the bottoms of their rice baskets were filled with coconuts. Two days were spent getting fresh water and buying food but then Van Nord sailed for the Philippine Islands. On the 14th of October of the year 1600 he landed on the eastern coast of Luton. By this time the Dutch ships were in the heart of the Spanish colonies and it was necessary to be very careful not to be detected as hollanders. The natives on shore who had seen them in the distance warned the Spanish authorities and early in the morning a sloop rode by the natives brought a Spanish officer. Van Nord arranged a fine little comedy for his benefit. He hoisted the Spanish flag and he dressed a number of his men in cows so that they would look like monks. These peeped over the bulwark when the Spaniard came here mumbling their prayers with great devotion. Van Nord himself with the courtesy of the professional innkeeper received his guests and Influent French told him that his ship was French and that he was trading in this part of the Indies with the special permission of his Majesty the Spanish King. He regretted to inform his visitor that his first mate had just died and that he did not know exactly in which part of the Indies his ship had landed. Furthermore he told the Spaniard that he was sadly in need of provisions and this excellent boarding officer was completely taken in by the comedy and that once gave Van Nord Rice and a number of live pigs. The next day a higher officer made his appearance. Again that story of being a French ship was told and what is more was believed Van Nord was allowed to buy what he wanted and to drop anchor on the coast. To expedite his work he sent one sailors who spoke Spanish fluently to the shore. This man reported that the Spaniards never even considered the possibility of an attack by Dutch ships so far away from home and so well protected by their fleet in the Pacific. Everything seemed safe. But at last the Spaniards who had heard a lot about the wonderful commission given to this strange captain by the King of France and the King of Spain but who had never seen it became curious quite suddenly they sent the captain accompanied by a learned priest who could verify the documents. It was a difficult case for the Dutch Admiral. His official letters were all signed by the man with whom Spain was in open warfare Prince Maurice of Nassau. When this name was found at the bottom of Van Nord documents his little comedy was over nobody thereafter was allowed to leave the ship and the natives were forbidden to trade with the other. Van Nord however had obtained the supplies he needed he had an abundance of fresh provisions and two natives had been hired to act as pilot in the straits between the different Philippine islands. The next few weeks Van Nord actually spent among those islands and with his two ships terribly battered after a voyage of more than two years of travel he spread terror among the Spaniards. Many ships were taken and many parties destroyed villages and houses. Finally he even dared to sail into the bay of Manila. Under the guns of the Spanish fleet he set fire to a number of native ships and then spent several days in front of the harbor taking the cargo out of the ships which came to the Spanish capital to pay tribute. As a last insult he sent a message to the Spanish governor to tell him that he intended to visit his capital shortly and that he was ready to depart for further conquest. He had waited just a few hours too long and he had been just a trifle too brave for before he could get ready for battle his ships were attacked by two large Spanish men of war. The Mauritius was captured that is to say the Spaniards drove all the Hollanders from her deck and jumped on board. But the crew fought so bravely from below with guns and spears and small cannon that the Spaniards were driven back to their own ship. It was a desperate fight. If the Hollanders had been taken prisoner they would have been hanged without trial. Van North encouraged his men and told them that he would blow up the ship before he would surrender. Even those who were wounded fought like angry cats. At last a lucky shot from the Mauritius hit the largest Spaniard beneath the waterline. It was the ship of the admiral of Manila and at once he began to sink. There was no hope for anyone on board her. In the distance Van North could see that the Andracht which had only 25 men had just been taken by the other Spanish ship. With his own wounded crew he could not go to her assistance. To save his own vessel he was obliged to escape as fast as possible. He hoisted his sails as well as he could with the few sailors who had been left unharmed. Of 50 men five were dead and 26 were badly wounded. Right through the quiet sea strewn with pieces of wreckage and scores of men clinging to masts and boxes and tables the Mauritius made her way. With cannon and guns and spears the survivors on the Mauritius killed as many Spaniards as possible. The others were left to drown. Then the ship was cleaned the dead Spaniards were thrown overboard and piloted by two Chinese traders who were picked up during the voyage Van North safely reached the coast of Borneo. Here the natives almost succeeded in killing the rest of his men. In the middle of the night they tried to cut the cables of the last remaining anchor. The Mauritius would have been driven on shore and the natives could have plundered her at leisure but their plan was discovered by the Hollanders. A second attempt to hide 80 well armed men in a large canoe which was pretending to bring a gift of several oxen came to nothing when the natives saw that Van North's men made ready to fire their cannon. Another year had now gone by. It was January of 1601 and Van North's condition was still very dangerous. There were no supplies on board. The Chinese pilots did not know the coast of Borneo. There were many islands and many straits Van North had lost all idea as to his exact position. When he met a Chinese vessel on the way to India he forced it to heave to and stole the mate who was an experienced sailor. Then the wind suddenly refused to blow from the right direction and it was many weeks before the Mauritius reached the harbor of Haribon in the central part of Java many miles away from Bantam. Van North called upon his few remaining officers to fight what they ought to do. If his expedition were to be a financial success he must find some place where he could buy spices. Bantam was nearby but according to the stories of Houtman and his expedition the people in Bantam went very unfriendly. With his 23 men the Dutch commander did not dare to risk another battle. It is true that since the visit of Houtman his successor Van Neck had established very good relations Van North had been away from home for over 3 years and knew nothing of Van Neck's voyage. He might have guessed that there were hollanders in Bantam when he found that there were no spices to be had in any of the other Japanese ports. Wherever he went he heard the same story all the spices were now being sent to Bantam where the hollanders paid a very good price for them. But Van North distrusted this report it might be another plot to catch him and to keep out of harm's way he sailed through the Straits of Bali, avoided the north coast of Java and went to the Cape of Good Hope. The home trip was the most successful part of the entire voyage. It is true that without good instruments the Dutch ships once more lost their bearings. They thought that they were 200 miles away from the coast of Africa when they had already passed the Cape. On the 26th of May Van North landed at St Helena. Three weeks later he met a large fleet. The ships flew the Dutch flag. They were part of a squadron commanded by Jakob Van Hemskerk outward bound for their second voyage to India. From them the hollanders got their first news from home. How Van Neck's expedition had been a great success and how Bantam which had been carefully avoided was now a Dutch settlement. Van North told them of his fight with the Spanish fleet in different parts of the Pacific and in turn he was informed of the great victory which Prince Maurice had just won over the Spaniards near Newport which had assured the Dutch Republic its final liberty. Then both fleets continued their voyage. On the 28th of August Van North and 44 out of the 248 who had sailed away with him three years before came back to Rotterdam. The next year a few other men who had belonged to the expedition reached Holland. They had served on the Henryk Frederick which had disappeared just after Van North had left the Strait of Magellan. They had waited for their commander near the island of Santa Maria but the arrival of the Spanish men of war had spoiled all idea of meeting each other on that spot. The Henryk Frederick had crossed the Pacific alone. Many of her men had died and the others were so weak that when they reached the Moluccas they could no longer handle the ship. They had sold it to the Sultan of Ternate for some bags of nutmeg and with a small sloop of their own construction they had reached the Bantam in April of the year 1602. There they had found a part of the same fleet of Hemskerk which Van North had met on the coast of Africa. On one of the ships many sailors had just died. Their place had been offered to the men of the old Henryk Frederick. In the winter of 1602 they returned to their home city. That ended one of the most famous of the expeditions which tried to establish for the Hollanders a new route to the Indies through the Strait of Magellan. But while Van North was in the Pacific the route of the Cape had proved to be such a great and easy success that further attempts to reach Java and the Moluccas by way of the Strait of Magellan were hereafter given up. The Pacific trading companies were changed into ordinary Indian companies which sent older ships around the Cape. As for Van North, who was the first Hollander to sail around the world he entered the naval service of the Republic and had a chance to practice his very marked ability as a leader of men in more dangerous circumstances. As an Indian trader he would not have been a great success. In the responsible buccaneering days of that trade were gone forever. The difficult art of founding a commercial empire by persuasion rather than by force was put into the hands of men who were not only brave but also tactful. End of section 9