Page 42 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

was a rope-walk, and on a nearby bulwark the chamber owned a saw-mill.27
In charge of the shipyards were the equipagemeesters of the chambers. In Amsterdam
however a change was made in the yard management, probably shortly after the move to the Oostenburg complex, and financial and technical management were joined. The in- structions and discussions on the appointment of the eerste boekhouder van de werf (first bookkeeper) make it possible to draw this new functionary, pivot of the chamber's shipping business, out of anonimity. In 1668 Cornells Nason was appointed to this post and charged with 'the general oversight and control of the yard's management and business'. Next to him a second bookkeeper was appointed, who, very confusingly, was sometimes called equipagemeester, and one of whose duties it was every morning to proceed from the yard to the Oostindisch Huis to discuss the state of affairs with the directors, and deliver pay-warrants.28 In 1702 Nason was succeeded by Joris van Hasselt, who was engaged on similar conditions.29 But in 1719, when a successor to Van Hasselt had to be found, the directors considered dividing the functions again. But nothing came of it. Obviously the directors found a very suitable candidate in Isaac du Bois, and after some hesitation they agreed to D u Bois receiving the high salary of fl 3,600 per annum, apart from the customary emoluments which included living in a house close to the yard, made available by the chamber.30 After Du Bois' death in 1758 the directors again appointed an equipagemeester: Adriaan Titsingh was given the job, for which he was paid fl 2,000 per annum. Titsingh too held the post for a long time. In 1791 his name was still on the list of personnel, and in the meantime he had seen his salary increased to fl 3,600.31
In 1758 a bookkeeper was also appointed, who earned fl 2,000 per year, according to a list of 'qualified servants' of the Amsterdam chamber of 1762.32 This list records all the important functionaries in the shipyard and so reveals the division of labour. Under the equipagemeester and bookkeeper four clerks were employed, who received a wage of fl 400 to fl 1,200 annually. The master shipwright received fl 600 plus a daily allowance of 64 stuiver (pence) over 300 days, which gave him a total annual income of fl 2,010. He was assisted by a foreman and an assistent, and under him had eleven foremen for the shipwrights and five foremen for the painters, the spaanderrapers (chip collectors), the woodworkers, borers and plankers. Subordinate to the equipagemeester -not to the master shipwright - were the foremen of the various branches of the business: the foremen of the mastmakers, boatbuilders, joiners, blockmakers, sailmakers, the master smith, the foreman of the rope-walk and the master gunner. The list also mentions the foreman and boatswain and their helpers in charge of taking out the ships, loading and unloading, and also those working on board the directors' yachts. In total 156 persons are mentioned, the number of workmen is not given.
Numbers of workmen can be found in the lists the chambers had to draw up for the Heren Zeventien in 1791, in connection with the plans for economies which were to lead
27 Overvoorde and De Roo de la Faille, De gebouwen, gives a survey of the buildings and establish- ments of all six chambers. ForAmsterdam see also Wieringa, De Verenigde Oostindische Compag- nie; 63-75; and Behagel and Kist, 'Een pre-industrieel complex te Amsterdam'.
28 A R A , VOC 360, Instruction for Corn. Nason and for Dirck Snoeck, first and second bookkeeper at the yard, 10th Febr. 1678; Wieringa, De Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, 126-127.
29 A R A , V O C 360, Ordre en instructie voor Joris van Hasselt, 17.7.1702.
30 A R A , V O C 250, res. A'dam, 23.1.1719, 3, 20 and 23.3.1719.
31 ARA, VOC 269, res. A'dam, 16.2.1758 and 8 and 10.4.1758, the instruction under this last date.
32 A R A , V O C 6846, Tractementen en daggelden van alle officianten van de kamer Amsterdam,
May 1762 (Wages and daily pay of all officials of the Amsterdam chamber).