Page 50 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters
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occurred during excellent weather on a clear night and it seemed to have happened, ‘as if no person was keeping watch’ (NA .., VOC , fol. ). Fig. .: Shipping in the Spice Islands Region: Average arrivals and departures from Ambon and Ceram per month for - The VOC often used worn out retourschepen for the journey to the Spice Islands; ships that were determined unfit for the return voyage to the Netherlands. Apart from these ships, a number of middle-sized, small and even very small vessels (sometimes just open boats) sailed from Bata- via every monsoon (see chapter ). To protect the VOC’s clove trade from what the Company considered to be smuggling, a number of small vessels in good condition and heavily armed for their dimensions, which could be rowed if necessary, were used to fight local ships. They were also used to transport some of the soldiers and their possessions to the Spice Islands. Most of the troops, however, were transported to the Spice Islands on the large ships. Because the VOC tried to prevent foreign merchants from trading with the Spice Islands, the Company had to provision itself, so the larger VOC ships also had to carry substantial amounts of rice and other food products. Only part of the cargoes carried on this Eastern route can be considered genuine intra-Asian trade. Most of the spices brought to Batavia were exported directly to Europe. A portion, how- ever, was used by the VOC to trade with the rest of Asia. On their outgoing voyages from Batavia, the ships transported foodstuffs and utensils for VOC employees, soldiers, slaves, also for the other people on the islands. Most of these commodities were imported by the VOC from other parts of Asia, but also a large quantity of European meat and wine barrels were shipped to the Spice Islands in every west monsoon period. The textiles transported eastwards from Batavia were mostly intended to be traded for cloves, directly or indirectly. An interesting as- pect is that the VOC itself generated intra-Asian trade, for example by using Asian pottery for storage instead of European built wares. Instead of wooden barrels, the VOC stored water and powder on the Spice Islands in martabans (stoneware storage jars) imported from ports in the Bay of Bengal, and which were in use there by the local people. On this eastern route, only a few intermediate ports were of importance to the VOC. Some ships visited ports in Java, Bali or Macassar on their voyage from Batavia to the Spice Islands to buy food (mostly cattle from Bali and rice from Macassar). Trade products from these places Connecting the Asian regions: The trading and shipping network in operation after
