Page 15 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters

tains a large amount of data on the size, building year and vessel type. Modules within the database link the identification number of the voyage, and thus also a specific ship, to informa- tion (when available) on crew numbers, cargo size and other technical information like arma- ments and seaworthiness during a certain voyage of such a ship. Ships in the database Many new ships were added to the list of VOC ships already known through the research carried out by Bruijn, Gaastra and Schöffer (-) in which  ships are recorded leaving the Netherlands for Asia up to the year . The database contains a further  vessels – a number that excludes the small vessels not filed in the records under their own specific name. This extension was mainly possible because the research was carried out from an Asian per- spective, which revealed ships that never left Europe for the VOC, but were built, bought or captured in Asia. The Bruijn, Gaastra and Schöffer (-) study was very thorough and complete; not a single ship that left for Asia from the Netherlands was not listed by them. Some small differ- ences did come to light through the detailed research for the database. These are cases where, because of the confusing system of naming ships, a particular ship was listed as one vessel making more than one return voyage, whereas further investigation showed that these were actually two different ships with the same name. The opposite was also possible where ships with different names turned out to be one ship that was later renamed. The th century spelling of vessel names is often arbitrary; therefore, the modern Dutch spelling is used where possible. The system used by Bruijn, Gaastra and Schöffer (-) has been adopted. In the database all the other spelling forms have been preserved in a sepa- rate field. Other names of the same ship – before the ship was bought or captured by the VOC – are also included in that field. Ship types and rates: Classifying the ships The original indication of the ship-type has been listed in the database. A limited range of modern terms for a division into general rates and analytical purposes are also given. For ex- ample, the descriptions chialoup, chaloup, sloep etc., are all replaced by sloep and, in English, sloop. Often vessels turned out to be listed in the contemporary sources under more then one  ered various types of vessels suitable for the purposes of their activities. However, understand- ing the composition of the VOC fleet in Asia and measuring the level of differentiation is not simply a matter of adopting the archival terminology for the various vessels. One needs to interpret the available information and design a systematic approach. There is no clear classifi- cation available because the ships’ construction charters were loosely formulated and the VOC shipbuilders did not always follow the specifications. Furthermore, the VOC fleet also included acquired vessels from diverse backgrounds. The features and models of the various terms for vessels in the th century have been under discussion for a long time, in fact, from the th century when Witsen () wrote ‘the races of the ships are often very much mixed’. Indeed, the same VOC vessel often has differing type indications in primary sources. Contemporary terminology should therefore also be used with caution. Whilst this study cannot provide a definitive conclusion to this discussion, it can contribute to a greater understanding by systematising the information for one specific and important branch of th century shipping, Dutch ships in Asian waters. The detailed analyses of the information that served as the basis for a classification of rates are explained in Chapter . In brief, the following steps were taken for this classification: initially all the terms used in the literature to identify or describe a vessel-type were accepted as a starting point. Refinement was then based on the tonnage or lastmaat since this can serve as a further indicator of the type type . From the many resolutions about dispatching vessels to Asia, we know that the VOC consid-  Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters