Page 160 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters

ing, but could react quickly to changes in circumstances by acquiring directly from the large Dutch ship market. Decisions were based on the advice and recommendations received from VOC officials in Asia, the skippers and the shipbuilders. Although the VOC controlled its own shipyards, the shipbuilding procedures were the same as for the private shipbuilding sectors, where the design of a ship was based on a consensus between the owner, the user and the builder. The outcome, the various requirements and possi- bilities, was laid down in a charter that listed the main features of the ship. Ultimately, the construction and design of a ship was a practical skill, as theoretical shipbuilding with technical drawings was not practised at the time. The shipbuilder was responsible for the end result, that it met the wishes and the requirements of the user; but the shipbuilding methods in practice in the Netherlands allowed the relevant parties to implement changes during the building pro- cess, a flexibility that ensured the success and fame of Dutch shipbuilders in the early th Century. The shipping conditions and cargoes in Asia were at least as diverse as those in Europe. In addition, military confrontations created by the competition with European and Asian traders, required ships that could be used for warfare, patrols and blockades as well as for trade. The ships that were fit to serve in a ‘merchant fleet’ were not necessarily fit to meet all these require- ments. Through experience, the requirement for certain ship types became evident. From the extensive correspondence between the management in Asia and the VOC directors in the Neth- erlands, these changing requirements can be understood. These recommendations and requests were often points of discussion and disagreement with the Directors of the VOC in the Nether- lands. The great distance between operations in Asia and the decision-makers in the Nether- lands, initially led to unproductive policies as did the decentralised structure of the VOC where changes in the organisation often led to long debates exacerbated by conflicting interests and opinions between the Directors of the different Chambers. Thus a request by the Director Coen in  (Colenbrander , p.) to send flutes to Asia was only granted eight years later in  (NA .., VOC , fol. ). The VOC eventually succeeded in building up an efficient organisation with a differentiated fleet consisting of ships for the intercontinental route, for the intra-Asiatic trade, for military tasks, and vessels for supporting tasks. This process of differentiation required in the first place a good understanding of the require- ments for a suitable vessel. In this study numerous examples of the discussions between the management in Asia and the VOC directors in the Netherlands regarding the composition of the VOC fleet are examined. The decision makers needed access to shipbuilders and facilities, to translate these demands into new designs or modifications of existing vessels. The VOC also had access to a market of used vessels or ‘casco-built’ hulls that could be modified for specific purposes It was not an easy task to combine the specific requirements and then decide which type of vessel would be suitable and what fleet composition would best meet the prevailing needs, especially as shipbuilding was far from standardised at this time. As the th Century author of a shipbuilding handbook, Nicolaes Witsen, stated: ‘no ship, like no human being, is the same as another’ (Witsen , p. ). Shipbuilding underwent a very dynamic period from the late th Century. In almost every sector of maritime activity, changes were taking place in the scale and design of vessels. The flute has been mentioned as an important type of vessel for the merchant fleet, but the Dutch Admiralties were also searching for the most suitable vessels for their changing activities and organisation. In general one can see the tensions caused by the push toward standardisation and the struggle to put these ideals into practice and control the shipbuilding process (Elias ). Although the VOC tried to rationalise the composition of their fleet by formulating a strict shipbuilding programme, in practice they were forced to im- provise, primarily because the Dutch shipbuilding system did not, in the main, require vessels to be built from a construction drawing but simply from a specification of basic dimensions: the so called ‘charter’. Although one can observe a growing trend toward the development of the theory of ship construction at that time, including in the Netherlands, in practice shipbuilding was based on the input of the shipbuilder interpreting the charter (Waard ; Stevin ). Often decision makers did nothing more than formulate their wishes for a certain design by referring to an existing ship and then indicating how the new vessel should differ from that one: ‘but a bit longer, stronger or with an extra deck’. As a logical consequence the shipbuilders  Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters