Page 183 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

Table 33: Numbers on board on outward and homeward voyages'
1602-1620 1620-1640 1640-1660 1660-1680 1680-1700
1700-1720 1720-1740 1740-1760 1760-1780 1780-1795
1602-1700 1700-1795
1602-1795
voyagers % 27,500 2,500 25,000 91.0 8,500 31.0 1,300 7,200 26.2
Departures from Europe voyagers losses
Arrivals in Asia voyagers %
Departures from Asia voyagers % losses
Arrivals in Europe
52,600 7,700 44,900 85.3
16,400 31.2 1,500 14,800 28.3 24,900 31.3 2,000 22,900 28.8 30,300 36.2 4,100 26,200 31.4 34,700 43.0 3,500 31,200 38.6
73,300 7,900 83,600 12,600 80,800 15,700
109,500 15,400 146,000 29,000 153,600 28,100 161,300 34,600
65,400 89.2 71,000 84.9 65,100 50.7
94,100 85.9 117,700 80.6 125,500 81.7 126,700 78.5
48,900 44.6 2,900 68,900 47.2 7,600 51,800 33.7 6,700 56,100 34.8 7,200 26,800 31.6 8,000
46,000 42.0 61,300 42.0 45,100 29.4 48,900 30.3 18,800 22.2
84,800 17,000 67,800 79.9
317,800 46,500 271,300 85.4 114,700 35.4 12,400 102,300 31.6
655,200 124,100 531,100 81.1 252,500 38.5 32,300 220,200 33.6 973,000 170,600 802,400 82.5 367,300 37.5 44,700 322,500 32.9
good third of them embarked on the homeward voyage. How many of these subsequently reached the Republic is not known precisely - hence the merely indicative extrapolations in table 33. But it may be assumed that around 90% to 95% of these returning VOC servants, after a stay in Asia of at least three years but usually longer, were able at home in the Netherlands to relate the experiences in those far countries, while an as yet unknown number o f them started out once more on the voyage to Asia.
Yet there were those who, either in health or sickness, reached Batavia (or some times other Asiatic ports) and then died there before they could actually begin to discharge their duties. Disease contracted on board ship or in Batavia's exhausting climate must have claimed victims soon after arrival. In particular in the eighteenth century Batavia was a most unfavourable reception centre in this respect. The large town with its population crowded in a relatively small space became a dangerous hotbed of disease by pollution alone, partly due to the stagnant water in its canals. This danger applied particularly to the new arrivals who as yet had built up little resistance against tropical diseases, and had to get accustomed to the damp heat ashore, enveloping them like a clammy blanket.
Once again, as at the Cape, not all those who had sailed from the Cape reached Batavia in good health, and some soon became ill before starting their duties in the VOC's business in Asia. If they subsequently died due to sickness contracted on the Indian Ocean or soon after arrival in Batavia, they are still to be included with the victims of VOC transport to Asia. Their exact numbers cannot be established. In chapter 8 the organization in Batavia
48 All material for this table has been derived from the previous ones. But many figures have been reconstructed without substantial numerical support, especially the losses on the homeward voya- ges. Rates of mortality up to the Cape have been doubled for the complete return-trip and figures for the 17th century have been deduced from casual figures in combination with the pattern of numerical data from 1690 to 1795. Those staying at the Cape on the homeward voyage have not beenincluded,andeveryestimatedfigurehasbeenrepresentedinitalics.