Page 212 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

Apart from the sources listed so far, the archives of the Amsterdam chamber contain a number of other documents on shipping, which however do not add any essential infor­ mation and have been consulted only incidentally in the compilation of the Lists of vols. II and III. Mention must be made of an uitloopboek of the Amsterdam chamber for the years 1778-1802 (KA 12102/VOC 4943), an alphabetical register of returning ships of the chamber over the period 1727-1799 (KA 12101A/VOC 4937), and a list of Amsterdam ships destined for Asia, which includes the names of the principal ships' officers (KA 9548/VOC 4941), for the years 1745-1785.
Uitloopboekjes, compiled in Zeeland and Hoorn, add supplementary information to
the sources of the Amsterdam chamber's archives. In the Zeeland chamber's archives two uitloopboeken - called Memorialen in the Zeeland style - are extant. The first (KA 3953/8309/VOC 11337) covers the period 1603 to 1641. The second book, the 'Memoriaal (sedert anno 1603) van de vertrocken schepen (en voorts nog) beginnende met de equipage gearresteerd 11 September 1721 als van de volgende jaaren (KA 4272/8357/VOC 11342), also starts in 1603 and thus supplies exactly the same information for the years up to 1646 as the first book; it ends in 1774. From these memorialen little can be extracted about
the voyage itself - the date of departure is not always given in full and data on the re­ turn voyage are included for the early years only. But the master's name is mentioned more frequently than in the Amsterdam uitloopboeken: of all ships up to 1617, then of Zeeland ships only up to 1643, and again of the ships of all chambers from 1679. The 'Memoriaal' is written in one hand up to 1759 and may therefore have been compiled in that year - although the title seems to suggest a caesura at 1721. It is quite possible that
this book served as source for the Kortgevat Jaarboek of the Zeeland chamber, compiled 'Uyt Authentyque Stukken, ten dienste der Liefhebberen bijeen vergadert' by Christiaan Sigismund Matthaeus in 1759. Among the items in this book are lists of ships that sailed
for the Zeeland chamber, with name of master, which here again is lacking for the period 1644 to 1678. It also gives a survey of ships built in Zeeland from 1639, including length
and type of ship and also the shipwright in charge of its construction. The copy of this Jaarboek in the Zeeland chamber's archives has been kept up to date by hand up to about 1797.13
Then there are tw o uitloopboeken, which in the o ld inventory were numbered ΚA Aanwinsten 1901, III, 16 and 17, and had been compiled by the Hoorn chamber (new number: VOC 14341 and 14342). The first book contains a register of VOC ships sailing between 1668 and 1765 and a separate list of ships come home from Asia, in which date and port of departure as well as date of arrival home are mentioned. The second book links up with it with lists for the years 1765-1796 and 1768-1794 respectively, but gives for ships returned only date of arrival home, not the departure date from Asia or the Cape. Yet the fact that returning ships are listed separately is important. This list of return voyages is not only clearer but also more complete than those in the uitloopboeken of the other chambers, where details of the return voyage are always added on to the outward voyage of the ships.
Lastly one register should be pointed out here, outside the VOC archives, which was of particular importance for the years up to 1688 in the compilation of the Lists. It is a
'Lijst van alle zoodanige Schepen in soorten als bij de Generale Oostindische Compagnie zijn gemaekt oft gekocht als gehuurt alsmede waer oft de zelfde zijn agter gebleven ofte
13 In the old numbering K A 8314/3975, in the new inventory V O C 11048.