Page 16 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters
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of vessel and also shows the possible diversity for vessels with the same type-indication. Fea- tures or functions mentioned in the archives of the shipping history gave further clues for de- termination of the vessel-types. By combining data about the type, dimensions and function of the vessel it is possible to classify the VOC fleet into a specific number of rates. As the demarcation between rates in some instances is not clear cut, it may be possible in certain cases, to dispute the classification of a certain vessel as one particular rate or another. However, each rate has its own profile with its own advantages and shortcomings – properties with which the VOC organisation had to cope. Terminological issues Ships’ dimensions and the ambiguity of the ‘last’ In order to understand the role the various vessel types played in the organisation of the VOC, it is necessary to know how the fleet was composed and what features made the vessels fit for certain aspects of the company’s activities. Features like cargo capacity, suitability for certain routes and destinations, together with military capacity, need to be looked at. An extensive archive of shipping is available but most of the required information cannot be abstracted di- rectly from that source. One of the most fundamental features of a ship, i.e. its size, creates the first problem. Although the value of lasten was commonly used in the Netherlands in the th century to indicate the cargo capacity of a ship, this figure certainly was not unambiguous. In that sense, it resembles the problems we have today with the many definitions of tonnage. The first problem is that the last itself, used to describe an amount of cargo, was not a clear dimension. It could be a measure of volume (about cubic feet or , m) or a measure of weight (about pounds or kilograms). The volume measure was used for light cargoes, where the amount of space the cargo took in the ship’s hold was important, whilst the weight measure was used for heavy cargoes. Certainly during the VOC’s development phase in Asia, the Company’s ships mostly transported relatively light products such as spices. However, these products were sold by weight. To facilitate the calculation of the necessary space on board, pounds were considered a last for pepper and spices. The earliest VOC reference to this issue is in (NA .., VOC , fol. ; Stapel , pp. and ). In later records, the quantities of all Asian bulk goods were described by the VOC either in their Asian units or in lasten of pound. So it came about that the Asian last, and with it the ships’ dimensions described in Asian lasten, differed from the European definitions. To make the issue even more complex, the specific use of and temporary modifications to a vessel could also influence the cargo capa- city. For instance a vessel carrying its cannon down in the hold and with sealed gun ports could carry much more cargo in terms of weight as well as volume, than the same ship ready for military use. Reports of problems with ships not being able to use their guns are frequent in th century shipping sources, not only for war ships, but also for other types of VOC vessels. Last values in the VOC accounts If the lastmaat is so ambiguous, the questions that arise are how the VOC dealt with this issue in their administration. If we assume that the VOC would also have wanted to know about their cargo capacity, whether it is possible to abstract reliable data from the archival sources. The lastmaat of a vessel was also used as an administrative value for the authorities. Vessels of a certain lastmaat were considered to be able to transport that quantity of freight and were taxed accordingly. This was obvious for vessels operating on the known routes in Europe with fixed commodities: for instance a ‘grain-flute’ sailing in the Baltic was designed in such a way that the weight and the volume of the cargo were balanced with sufficient space remaining to ac- The database and methodology
