Page 159 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

Graph 1: Numbers of voyagers on board and numbers of ships departed from Europe*
ships (narrow columns)
voyagers (wide columns)
80.000 70.000 60.000 SO.()()))
40.000 30.000 20.000 10.000
r-
400 300 200 LOO
Batavia in their shipping records distinguished between four categories: seafarers, soldiers, craftsmen and passengers. The occupational definition of the first three groups is clear, but the collective 'passengers' comprised of an extremely varied group, as will be shown later. By far the largest groups on board, on both outward and homeward voyage, were the seafarers (60%) and soldiers (30%), who entered the Company's service by contract only. The same goes for the few craftsmen who sailed on every ship, whereas the passengers - usually no more than ten or twenty persons - were by no means all in Company service. The three occupational groups consisted entirely of men, only among the passengers were there any women - this too will be discussed later.
The category of seafarers included the ship's officers, from bosun to master, and the barber-surgeon(s). They were of course recruited as crew and put to work as soon as they embarked. Once arrived in Asia the majority of them remained involved with ships,
3 Based on the Lists of vol.11 of this publication. Limited to a number of ships for which the numbers on board are known.
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