Page 59 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters

Loading a ship with a cargo of various products was not an easy task. The differences be- tween light and heavy goods in relation to the requirements of the balance of the ship had to be taken into account. The necessity to store products in such a way as to ensure that their quality was preserved, and that they did not contaminate each other during the trip to Europe, such as highly aromatic goods polluting other cargo was equally important. On  October , the return fleet was ready to sail. At the last minute, the management considered loading the ship Vianen (ID:) and sending it off with the fleet. Although they believed that with the pepper that had just arrived in the yacht Witte Beer (ID:) from the west coast of Sumatra, the pepper still in stock, and the cargo they expected ‘at any hour’ from Bantam, the ship could be loaded, they took the decision not to further delay the departure of the fleet (Colenbrander , p. ). It still took some days before the fleet was sent off with a letter for the directors in the Netherlands indicating that the management in Batavia could no longer wait for the delayed arrivals in order to prevent the risk of fire or other disasters and to avoid unnecessary loss of salaries, and supplies on board: ‘deselve alsnu op’t spoedichste in compagnie sullen toegesonden werden, sonder die lan- ger in noodeloos perijckel van brandt, schips-leedt, verloop van maentgelden, consump- tie van viveres etc. op te senden, \[...\]’ \[These should be sent at the earliest occasion in ‘company’ without leaving them in un- necessary risk of fire, ship disaster, wastage of salary, consumption of supplies etc.\] (Co- lenbrander , p.). The fleet consisting of the Frederick Hendrick (ID:), Hollandia (ID:), ‘t Wapen van Delft (ID:), ‘sLandts Hollandia (ID:) and Galias (ID:), left Batavia on  November  and arrived in the Netherlands in June . Contrary to regulations, Governor-General Coen did in fact dispatch the Vianen in January  with a cargo of Chinese silk received from Tai- wan in December. Batavia was not always the only departure point and ships sometimes sailed to Europe from other destinations in Asia. For example, in December  the ship Dordrecht (ID:) sailed to the Netherlands from Surat. The function of Batavia as the VOC’s central rendezvous is re- flected in the cargo of the Hollandia. Among the correspondence from Asia at that time a so- called factura has survived. This document shows the cargo’s specification, cost price and sup- plier and gives a unique insight into the functioning of the Asian trade and shipping network. The Hollandia’s cargo of  is chosen as a good example because the origin of the diverse components of the return cargo was fully described and it is representative of the cargo usually sent to Europe in that period. The typical composition of cargo by volume was: % pepper, spices and silk each represent %, and the last % comprised of a variety of miscellaneous products. The cargo of the November  voyage of the Hollandia was sourced from a number of locations and arrived in Batavia from January to October of  (Table -).The complexity of the developing shipping and trade network is evident in the Hollandia’s collection of cargo. Pepper arrived during the first half of  from: Succadena on Borneo (Kalimantan); Patani (Malay Peninsula); the west coast of Sumatra; south east Sumatra (Jambi) and Siam. The Pep- per from Siam arrived in Batavia in the Cameel (ID:) on  February . This large merchant ship of  last then left Batavia on the th of February for Ambon and Banda. For larger ships, the end of February was about the latest time of year to sail eastward from Batavia to the Spice Islands. The Cameel left Banda on  April with a cargo of nutmeg and mace then took on board cloves in Amboina from where it departed in May to arrive back in Batavia on  June . Most of the spices brought by this ship were loaded onto the Hollandia. Some more mace arrived just in time to be shipped by the Hollandia, on the Munnickendam (ID:). This flute left Banda in August (just after the main harvest season), and arrived rather late in Batavia. Pepper that had arrived in Batavia in November and December from Sumatra was also shipped on the Vianen in January . As the cargo of baled silk and pepper had a low specific weight, the Vianen needed a substantial load of Japanese copper to ballast the ship. The vessel even returned to Batavia from the Sunda Strait to Batavia for an additional  last of copper but  Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters