Page 217 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

that they were no longer sent home, or at least, no longer collected in the OBP's.
- The Navale Magien or Generale Lijsten van alle Compagniesschepen in Indien. Lists of the Company's assets of ships in Asia occur in the OBP's from the beginning of the seventeenth century, and in the eighteenth century every year. These Navale Magien, as they are then usually called, are classified according to size and type of ship, the large East Indiamen being mentioned first, followed by the smaller types as yachts, fluyts and hookers, and finally the 'inlandse maaksels' (native types of vessel). Of each ship the dimensions - length, width and depth - are recorded. The ship's year of first arrival in Asia is also stated, an item that often creates confusion, because after their first arrival many ships made several more voyages of which there is no trace in this list. For many ships a note is made of their whereabouts at the time of writing, mostly in brief statements like 'to Japan' or 'home via Ceylon'. The list also includes the names of ships taken out of service during the previous season and broken up or sold.2 4
- Lists and notes concerning those on board the homeward bound ships. From around 1670 the OBP's contain every year tables giving the numbers on board, classified into seafarers, military, artisans, passengers and 'impotenten', who sailed for home on the returning ships. Often in the same tables the number of guns carried by the ship is men- tioned. Apart from these tables which give figures only, there are notes mentioning the names of the principal officers per ship, also those of the 'verloste' (released from service) military, the artisans, passengers and impotenten. Along with these names, the ship is mentioned on which the person concerned arrived in Asia, and the year of his arrival. Slaves and convicts on board tend to be mentioned separately. All in all there are four or five different lists or tables which are however bound into the OBP's one after another and refer to a number of ships departing simultaneously.
The OBP's of before 1670 only incidentally contain any data on the numbers on board the homeward bound ships, while at the end of the eighteenth century most of the time totals only are given, without differentiation into categories.
- Liquidatie der retouren. The value of the cargo carried home by the returning ships is recorded annually in the OBP's in a 'liquidatie'. As understood by the Company in the Netherlands as well, this is a settlement between the chambers of in this case the value of imported goods, necessary to maintain the ratio laid down in the charter. After departure of the first part of the fleet a tentative or 'provisionele liquidatie' is made, followed after the second contingent has departed by a 'further provisional liquidation', until with the last ships, often carrying a cargo destined for several chambers to straighten out the ratio, Batavia is able to dispatch the definitive 'formele liquidatie'.
- The declarations concerning the seaworthiness of homeward bound ships. From around 1740 the OBP's contain declarations, signed by masters or captains, or armaments, equip- ment and seaworthiness of homeward bound ships. These declarations give next to the master's name also the total numbers on board.
The above mentioned sources from the OBP's are all part of the documents written in Batavia and dispatched from there. Letters and papers from Ceylon and Bengal offer far fewer data. The missives from the Governor and Council at Colombo and from the Director and Council of Bengal give mostly arrival and departure dates of ships to and from the Republic. Among the Ceylonese documents are further lists of arriving and departing
24 The Navale Magten have sometimes been added as an appendix to the Verbaal of the Haags Besogne; see ch. 2.