Page 90 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters

lands, but  of them were part of the Nassausche fleet that was sent by the Dutch government via South America. In , five VOC vessels were sent to Asia. In , this policy of privatisa- tion was abandoned and the number of ships sent from the Netherlands for service in Asia showed a growth again to  vessels between  and . Between  and  the com- position of the fleet did not change much apart from the introduction of the flute (rates  and ) and the rise of the smaller vessels, many of which were Asian. The flutes show the extended possibilities of sending trade-orientated vessels to Asia; the smaller vessels indicate the VOC’s progress in organising their shipping at a local level by using adapted vessels in Asia. In addi- tion, the popularity of the afbreekboot (rate ) reached a peak in . After  trade was booming. The size and compostion of the fleet in  reflects the pri- macy of trade in this short and relatively peaceful period. The role of the big flutes grew spec- tacularly. The role of retourschepen was also extended and they were employed more often in Asia. As explained in chapter  on the logistical organisation, new retourschepen sailed on the Taiwan-Malacca route, middle-aged ships on the Surat-Persia and Thailand-Japan routes and the older retourschepen of rate  ships sailed between Batavia and Galle, and Thailand and the Spice Islands. In , the fleet had reverted to a war-orientated composition. More defensible middle-sized and large yachts were employed at the cost of flutes and local vessels in rate . The flutes dis- appeared at a fast pace because they had a lifespan of about ten years in Asia and so, from the peak in , very few still existed in . Only the number of small flutes, needed for logisti- cal support in the Far East, could grow (see chapter ). After the Anglo-Dutch war was over the yacht was employed on trade routes, but the VOC resumed the sending of flutes to Asia ( flutes were dispatched between  and ). Thereby, the trade-orientated component of the VOC fleet increased. An interesting development is the growth of rate . From  onwards, the VOC brought even very small flutes (also called boats) and galliots into service. These smaller utilities were sailed from the Netherlands to Asia or locally built. They became very popular at Taiwan where the channel was silting up and they were also used around Ceylon and the Coromandel Coast. The development of the VOC fleet 