Page 225 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

to the seventeenth century scales, were paid fl 16 monthly after completing their three-
yearly term of service, and that able seamen's pay could similarly be increased from fl 12
to fl 14.
Finally, during the last quarter of the eighteenth century rates of pay in general were
increased somewhat in order to attract sufficient personnel.
Various calculations compiled by directors show the average number of seafaring person-
nel on the ships. In the Calculatie of the equipment costs of a fluyt in 1636 the Heren
Zeventien based these on a complement of 19 ship's officers and junior officers, one
barber-surgeon, 2 clerks, 4 able seamen, 8 ordinary seamen and 6 boys, a total of 40 men,
who together were to receive fl 651 in pay. Around 1685 the director Hudde in his Uytre-
keninge allowed for a complement of 250 to 300 men on a large East Indiaman. Hudde's
list includes 26 ship's officers and junior officers, an assistant or junior merchant, a sick-vi-
sitor and three barbers or surgeons and 10 boys. Hudde stated that as a rule the military
made up one third of the total numbers one year and two-fifths the next year, and on the
basis of an average complement of 275 men, he arrived at a total of 135 able seamen and
ordinary seamen. Hudde's figures can be compared with a budget drawn up by directors
a century later which shows the rates of pay at the end of the eighteenth century to have
been indeed somewhat higher. This budget, a Calculative berekening van de apparente
uitgaven bij de O. I. Comp, ter kamer Zeeland te doen in het departement der Equipage for
the meeting of the Heren Zeventien of 29.5.1783 (in V O C 11.357), is concerned with ships
of the first rate of 140 and 150 ft length.
budget Hudde, 1685:
ship of 140-150 ft
budget Zeeland, 1783:
officers, junior officers 31
seamen 135
boys 10
total 176
50 12at15
riael
of the
Zeeland
chamber the
complement
of hookers
is given
( V O C
11342), for
number
pay
fl 705
1417
140 ft
number
38
20 at 16
pay
fl 939
320
180
168
78
120
110
100
333
140
fl 2488
150 ft
number pay
39 fl 985
25 at 16 400
15 at 15 225
15 at 14 210
20 at 12 240
20 at 11 220
40at9 360
26at7 182
200 fl 2822
packetboats a separate Reglement was drawn up (Van der Chijs,
Nederlandsen-Indisch
Plakaatboek
X I ,
106).
fl 2172
For smaller ships too it is possible to compare the numbers of crew. On numerous
occasions during the seventeenth century, hookers were dispatched with intelligence for
Asia, in the late eighteenth century packetboats were used for this purpose. In the Memo-
12at14
6at13
10at12
lOatll
lOatlO
37at 9
20at 7
175