Page 177 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

Table 31: Losses on homeward voyages39
1595-1602
1602-1610 1610-1620 1620-1630 1630-1640 1640-1650 1650-1660 1660-1670 1670-1680 1680-1690 1690-1700
1700-1710 1710-1720 1720-1730 1730-1740 1740-1750 1750-1760 1760-1770 1770-1780 1780-1790 1790-1795
1602-1700 1700-1795
?
14,500
10,000 11,800 13,000 14,400 15,900 16,400 18,300
22,400 26,500 34,300 34,600 23,900 28,000 27,700 28,400 17,700
9,100
114,400 252,500
40 50 71 75 93
103 127 133 141 156
193 245 319 311 234 245 233 245 227 113
989 2,365
500 51
Ì \
J
?
?
?
__
- - -
- - -
- — -
- - -
- -
-
- - -
- - -
- - -
400 147 2.1
500 188 2.1 500 241 1.9 900 309 2.7
1,200 291 3,7 900 214 4.2 900 235 3.3 900 223 3.4
1,300 231 4.8 900 199 6.2 600 86 8.6
4 6.8
voyagers
people
ships %
Mortality
up to the Cape ships deaths ships %
49---
Other losses up to Europe
It is plausible that on the route from
lower than on this route in reverse: due to favourable winds and currents and the spring and summer season these voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea were faster than on the way out, and here again the greater personal space on board and better resistance against the hardships of the voyage played a role.
High deathrates as occurring with the VOC, particularly on the voyage out to Asia, were not exceptional on ships of the period. Even in the European navies, whose ships stayed at sea generally for shorter periods than those for Asia, disease could rage and produce heavy losses. Thus in 1673 the Republic's fleet suffered severely from typhus and from 1730 onwards the English and French fleets too were often ravaged by epidemics of
39 The rates of mortality could only be reconstructed for the voyage up to the Cape; all other losses (see note 38) have been taken from the complete homeward voyages.
the Cape to Europe also the deathrate was considerably
300
300 3i
100 100 100
1,300 500 1,000
1,100
500
400 1,200 2,200 2.000 1,100 1,200 1,600
2,500 2,400
1 1.0 1 1.0 1 1.0
12 9.3 4 3.0 8 6.2 9 6.2
5 2.3
4 1.6 11 3.6 20 6.4 20 8.5 10 3.8 10 4.3 14 5.7 28 14.3 27 26.1