Page 82 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters
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was useful and seaworthy (Colenbrander , p. ). Some modifications were made to make this prototype, named Galiasse (ID:), fit for its task: the accommodation space was consid- ered inadequate, the superstructure in the bow and the stern was extended in Asia, which con- sequently reduced the sailing capacity. The Galiasse proved to be unsuited to military action. After an engagement on the Chinese coast in , when the Galiasse was used to attack Ma- cao, the ship had to be abandoned because of leakage (Groeneveldt , pp. , ). The dimensions were also possibly less suitable for the intercontinental voyage or the routes in Asia in their meetings, but although Coen kept asking for them, no more were sent out until the s. This delay highlights an interesting ambiguous situation the VOC was in during this transition period: although the general goal was to establish a permanent organisation and a fleet in Asia, in practice the focus was often still on local interests in the Netherlands. Each Chamber preferred to send out homeward-bounders or returning yachts above the cheap flutes that needed only a small investment and little equipment. In it was again decided that the Chamber of Hoorn would equip a flute – the Wapen van Hoorn (ID:) – but when a vessel sailed out under that name, it was actually a homeward-bounder of last (Colenbrander , p. ). In , two charters were drawn up for the VOC to build two flutes of about feet long (NA .., VOC , --). There is no evidence that these flutes were built in that year or the next. They were certainly not sent to Asia. In July , it was decided to buy three flutes; two were indeed bought, the Edam (ID:) and the Gorcum (ID:), and sent to Asia with the emphatic advice to use them in Asia and not to let them sail back to Europe again (Colenbrander , p. ). This tension between the parochial interests of the Chambers and the objectives of the VOC seems to be the reason why no flutes had been sent to Asia. Each Chamber wanted vessels that returned with cargo. Apparently the situation had still not chan- ged by , when Governor-General Brouwer identified this as the reason for the reluctance of the Chambers to equip flutes (Coolhaas , p. ). That the VOC bought and dispatched some flutes to Asia in the early s seems to be more the result of a sudden need for greater cargo-carrying capacity to Asia, than meeting the requests from Asia for flutes. Cheap flutes, which were freely available on the Dutch ship market, could meet this need. Shortly after , these flutes were partly used in Asia in a way that suited the VOC’s politics. In an attempt by the VOC to reduce costs, the Dutch colonists (vrijburgers), who were independent of the Com- pany, were encouraged to take on the role of the cargo traders of Asia. Together with the exist- ing local shippers they brought the required products to the VOC rendezvous point in Java and from there the VOC could confine itself to the transport of goods to the Netherlands. The flute could play a role in this system and indeed one of the first two flutes was sold to the vrijburgers in . Two more flutes were sold to them in later years and in , Governor-General Van Diemen suggested sending flutes to Asia to be used by private Dutch traders (Coolhaas ). However, the Directors had by then decided to maintain their control over the intra-Asian trade and to keep any profits for the VOC. After that political decision it was a logical step for the Company to send flutes to Asia to use them as efficient cargo carriers on routes within Asia appropriate for this type of vessel. With the VOC’s firm position in Japan, and European traders from the Spice Islands being eliminated, there was a large volume of cargo to be transported by the Company in areas where no military confrontation with heavily armed ships was expected. Nearly all the flutes that came into the service for the VOC in Asia after made one or two voyages to Japan early in their careers, often via Siam and/or Taiwan and often carrying very rich cargoes. When flutes became too old to risk such valuable cargoes on the dangerous East and South China Sea, they were then used to transport cargo on the easier waters between Batavia and the Bay of Bengal or the Spice Islands. Flutes in good condition could be used for the pepper trade on the west coast of Sumatra. Old flutes were used to fetch pepper without many prob- lems from southeast Sumatra and Malacca. It was on these routes that the flutes were used until they were no longer seaworthy. Only some of the largest flutes returned to the Nether- lands for maintenance Asia because the flutes built later for the VOC were not as narrow After this first experiment, the Directors regularly raised the possibility of sending flutes to The development of the VOC fleet .
