Page 47 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

received a somewhat higher wage than the ordinary workmen. Since loading and unloading
took considerable time, the equipagemeester was not required to be present throughout.
Amsterdam had appointed a special functionary at Texel to supervise this work, a commis-
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saris; in Zeeland it was part of the boatswain's work.
Loading and unloading the ships took a good deal of time. Ship's furniture, ship's stores
and other goods for Batavia, guns, victuals and drink, all this had to be taken to the ships
in the roadsteads in lighters. The provisioning of an East Indiaman of the first rate alone
involved between 18 and 20 lighters, according to the Amsterdam chamber. Then the
men had to be ferried to the ship. Only at the very last the chests with precious metal
were brought on board, and the resolutions of the Amsterdam chamber show that the
shipping to the roads of this valuable cargo was often supervised by the director in charge
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of supervising the departure. The chests were placed in the cabin o f either the master
or the merchant.
Send-off and reception
Departing East Indiamen were seen off by a director of the chamber concerned. A sailing
trip from Delft or Rotterdam to Hellevoetsluis or from Amsterdam to Texel wasfor
directors a time-consuming and in autumn or winter not always very agreeable duty.In
Amsterdam, and probably in the other chambers also, directors of the department of the
equipage were the first to qualify for this duty. But the volume of shipping made stringent
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application of this rule impossible, and often other directors had to be called upon.
These directors took th e necessary official papers o n board and received th e bill o f
lading and receipts signed b y t h e master. T h e register o f documents i n t h e so-called
scheepsdoos (ship's box) gives an indication o f the number o f official papers the master
had to take on a voyage.
At the end o f the eighteenth century this list had grown to
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more than fifty items: invoices and bills of lading - a copy of which was of course retained
on board - , instructions for ship's officers, barber-surgeons and chaplains, and lists, already
mentioned, o f ship's stores, navigational equipment, ship's furniture etc. The ship's box
also contained a copy o f the ship's articles, in which the rights and duties o f Company
servants were summarized and rules on order and discipline on board laid down.
In the
eighteenth century masters were given letters and passports issued b y t h e admiralties,
which were to protect V O C ships against Algerian privateers in accordance with the peace
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treaties with Algeria o f 1726 and 1736.
Lastly the ship's box contained sailing orders and instructions on the route to be follo-
wed, which were the same for all ships and the contents of which are further discussed in
39 ARA, VOC 360, Ordre en Instructie voor Hendrick Knijff, commissaris op DenHelder,
27.1.1670; ARA, coll. Radermacher, 190, Instructie voor de Hoogbootsman en Hoogbootsmans-
maat, circa 1737.
40 ARA, VOC 241, res. A'dam, 14.11.1678, 27.11.1679.
41 ARA, VOC 241, 16.12.1681.
42 A R A ,
V O C
5162, Register van
Papieren
voor de
Scheepsdoos,
of ca
1790, with
additions
in pen
up to 1794.
43 On the Artikelbrieven: Hoogenberk, Rechtsvoorschriften voorde vaart op Oost-Indië. Up to 1634
the separate fleets or ships were given individual artikelbrieven, after that, in 1634, 1658, 1672
and 1742 general artikelbrieven were promulgated. See Van der Chijs, Plakaatboek I, 309-361,
II, 253-299, 560-561 (there article 24, amended in 1672), VI, 547-576. For other references see
Hoogenberk, 170-191.
44 Cf. Bruijn, De Admiraliteit, 29-30.
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