Dutch Vessels Research Articles

High seas and hard drinks: Alcohol rations on Dutch vessels

How valid is the historical reputation of drunken sailors? On board Dutch vessels in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, how much alcohol was really being issued at a time when the Dutch were perhaps the most intensely maritime nation in Europe? Were Dutch sailors, therefore, exceptional in their alcohol consumption when compared to other European nations’ navies and merchant marines? Mariners consumed all types of alcohol on land and at sea, although drinking during the early modern period was culturally contextualized and done for a wide array of purposes besides intoxication. At sea, Dutch ships issued alcohol rations consisting of beer, wine and/or spirits. Just as the British gave out rum, the Dutch ships distributed genever. Overall, Dutch vessels did issue more alcohol, by per cent, compared to other states, even as the types of alcohol consumed varied. This article compares the Dutch maritime drinking rates and practices with those of other European nations to determine if sailors on Dutch ships were excessive or atypical.

The Dutch in Bengal, C. 1650–1707 and Their Relations with Local Mughal Administration

This article studies Dutch East India Company’s interest in Bengal and their relations with local Mughal officials during the seventeenth century. The Dutch faced constant problems with the local officials. The Dutch tried to win favour from the Mughal Emperor in order to carry on its trade smoothly. Therefore, they procured farmans (royal decree issued by emperor) from the Mughal Emperor to reduce custom duties or sought imperial protection and patronage for safe passage of their goods from place to place and very helpful orders ( parwanas, nishans) from several succeeding Subahdars which put the Dutch position in Bengal on a firmer footing. In spite of Imperial farmans and grants, local officials along the Hugli were inclined to hinder the Dutch vessels carrying grain, opium, saltpetre and sugar. However, the Dutch could overcome these difficulties with their own brand of commercial diplomacy, sometimes using threats, at other times with presents and bribes. Seldom did they interfere in the politics of Bengal, preferring always to focus on their trade. Like the Dutch, other European companies were also traded there and established factories in the region of Bengal. The most effectual weapons in the hands of the Company were the system of ‘passports’. Under this system, the European companies insisted that local traders intending to send ships to other ports whether in India or abroad must first obtain their permission in a document called the ‘passport’ or the ‘pass’.

To Stay or to leave : From Tourism Industry to Agriculture as a new economic pillar in Bali

The island of Bali initially was a mere stopover for Dutch vessels. In 1920, It began to invite a massive influx of tourists. The development of tourism in Bali experienced ups and downs with various essential events that occurred to the Indonesian state; From World War II, the War of Independence until the Merger of Bali Island into the Republic of Indonesia on August 17, 1950. Foreign tourists returned to visit the island of Bali after 1950. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 switched the reality of the tourism industry. Agriculture became the last pillar for Bali province after the collapse of tourism due to the covid 19 pandemics. People who rely on the tourism sector eventually turned to the agricultural sector. During the pandemic, there was an increase in the workforce in the agricultural sector. This fact is also supported by the results and enthusiasm for high agricultural absorption at the household level. However, in line with the government's attention through Bali Governor Regulation Number 99 of 2018, the government, agricultural practitioners, and the private sector still educate farmers to produce agricultural products following market needs. The use of technology must also be applied to facilitate access to the distribution of farmers' products to buyers. So, with the creation of these new ways, the agricultural sector in Bali will be as strong as tourism.

Death on the Middle Passage: A Cartographic Approach to the Atlantic Slave Trade

Cartographic representations of the Middle Passage are nearly nonexistent but have great potential to increase understanding of the Atlantic slave trade as a complement to dominant, narrative approaches. Perhaps the congenital relationship between colonialism, the slave trade, and the mapping tools of the discipline of geography has dissuaded many from believing that cartography can contribute to critical understanding of the Middle Passage. Nonetheless, to illustrate the potential, the maps debuted in this article chart the death of enslaved Africans and their disposal overboard on twenty-five voyages by Dutch vessels sailing from the Gold Coast of West Africa to the South American colony of Suriname in the second half of the 18th century. Such cartographic representations complement narrative ones in the multidisciplinary effort to transform the Atlantic from a blank oceanic space into one with structures, agencies, and research questions that differ from those of continental and national historiographies, placing the Middle Passage at the epicenter of the human commodification necessary for the emergence of global capitalism in early modern times. The purpose of the maps is not so much analysis of the spatial-temporal patterns of death on the Middle Passage, a topic already well understood through decades of scholarship and better advanced through statistical approaches. Rather, the maps have a twofold purpose. First, they comprise spatial visualizations of archival data to evoke the horror of one aspect of the abhorrent commerce in human beings during the Atlantic slave trade, to conjure up the bloody horror of the crime scene that resulted from the entanglement of capital and black bodies. Second, following the theme of this special issue, the maps illustrate how to implement the collaborative ethos at the heart of the digital humanities by employing GIS (Geographic Information System) software that is free and open-source, open-access sharing of the online spatial database, and licensing that allows readers to create derivative maps and other types of visualization. Those best practices recognize that the descendants of the enslaved have a fundamental right to the raw data that scholars extract from the documents of the slave trade, a key tenet of the black digital humanities.

Armed On-board Protection of Dutch Vessels: Not Allowed Yet But Probably Forthcoming

textabstractThis article provides an overview of the developments about the armed on-board protection of Dutch vessels under Dutch law. The Dutch position has changed over the years. In 2011, the starting point was that private security companies (PSCs) are not to be allowed. It was expected that adequate protection of Dutch vessels could be provided by vessel protection detachments (VPDs). Although not considered as an absolute statutory bar, the state monopoly on force was considered the main argument against PSCs. After optimising the use of VPDs and given the development in other countries, the approach changed into a ‘VPS, unless …’-approach. Under the new Protection of Merchant Shipping Act that is expected to come into force in the second half of 2019, PSCs can be employed only if no VPS is available. This article gives an overview of the argumentation in this change of view over the years. It also explores the headlines, criteria and procedures of the new law and some other topics, including the position of the master under the upcoming law. In line with the other country reports, it enables the comparative study in the last article of this special issue.

WRITING AN UN/BROKEN LANGUAGE: MULTILINGUALISM, TRANSLATION, AND THE RISE OF AFRIKAANS

In 1647, the Dutch vessel Haarlem was circumnavigating South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope when it ran aground in Table Bay. Most of the mariners managed to make it to firm land. European ships sailin...

Admiral Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor (1606–1616) ed. by Peter Borschberg

Reviewed by: Admiral Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor (1606–1616) ed. by Peter Borschberg Dhiravat Na Pombejra Admiral Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor (1606–1616) Peter Borschberg (ed.) Singapore: NUS Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-981-4722-18-6. 260pp. This attractive paperback, with a generous number of beautiful and apposite illustrations, is designed for use by students as well as advanced researchers. It contains a long introduction of over 80 pages by the editor, Peter Borschberg, lucidly outlining the issues covered by the contents of the book. This is followed by a selection of documents and document extracts around and about the voyage of Admiral Cornelis Matelieff (or Matelief) de Jonge to Johor or, as the title insists, ‘Singapore and Johor’. Many of the texts come from the former working papers of Hugo Grotius. At the end of the book are a glossary and list of place names, both extremely useful tools in helping the reader make sense of the documents. Peter Borschberg has assembled a collection of rarely studied sources, notably Matelieff’s ‘memorials’ concerning the Singapore-Johor region and the state of Dutch trade in the East Indies. This is a continuation of his scholarly, detailed and often revelatory studies on the area’s geo-political and historical significance [End Page 144] during the early seventeenth century. Borschberg has previously published a monograph on the Singapore and Melaka Straits region, as well as edited the writings of the Flemish trader Jacques de Coutre, some of which concerns the Singapore-Johor-Melaka area.1 Two of the longest documents in this volume are the excerpts from Admiral Matelieff’s Journal of his voyage to Asia (1605–1608), and excerpt from Matelieff’s Memorial of June 1607, both of which contain astute observations on Johor, on the conclusion of the Dutch–Johor treaties of May and September 1606 as well as other related matters. Other fascinating documents include the letters written by King Ala’udin of Johor and Raja Bongsu to Prince Maurits (the stadhouder or Stadholder of the Dutch Republic). Although translated from the original Malay into Dutch (and now into English), they still reflect a Malay perception of diplomacy and international relations. The study of diplomatic correspondence between Asian potentates and European rulers or governors-general continues to be essential to a deeper understanding of how the rulers of indigenous states dealt with Western diplomatic and commercial norms. The archives of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) are especially rich in this genre of correspondence, for instance the diplomatic letters from Asian rulers to the Governors-General and Council in Batavia included in the daily journals of Batavia Castle (Daghregister Batavia).2 A key issue analysed in this volume (and the analysis may be found both in Borschberg’s own introduction and the sources themselves) is the VOC’s search for a suitable spot to serve as a ‘rendezvous’ or ‘central warehouse’ for its ships, cargoes and merchants in Southeast Asia. The Matelieff documents reveal that around 1606 Jayakerta (the future Batavia) was far from being the only possible candidate as the VOC’s headquarters in the Indies. The Singapore-Johor area, especially the site of present-day Singapore, was also seriously considered, as were Aceh, Melaka (then still in Portuguese hands), Palembang, Banten, and even Pulau Condor and the Spice Islands. That the Dutch eventually opted for a location near the Sunda Straits (rather than Singapore or Melaka Straits) was because of a perception (espoused by Matelieff) that those seas were navigable all year round, unaffected by monsoons. Such an advantage would enable Dutch vessels to travel without costly delays. Other factors which weakened Johor’s case were the apparent instability of Johorese court politics and the lure of Malukan spices. Though the book’s major emphasis is on Dutch perceptions and decision-making, the Malay element is never neglected by Borschberg. Indeed, he manfully grapples with the complex nomenclature as well as the convoluted intrigues of the leading personalities at the Johor court. However much focus is concentrated on the figure of Matelieff and, to a lesser extent, on his fellow-admiral Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff, the royal house and orang kaya of Johor also feature...

Maritime Archaeology and the Early Atlantic Trade: research at Elmina, Ghana

This article details recent maritime archaeological research off the town of Elmina in coastal Ghana. Founded in 1482, Elmina Castle was the first and largest European outpost in sub-Saharan West Africa, and remained a centre of maritime trade for almost four centuries. Survey and diver investigations led to the discovery of several sites, including a shipwreck dating to the mid 17th century, which is characterized by a mass of trade goods, cannon and buried hull remains. A second Dutch vessel dating to c.1700 was documented after its discovery during dredging operations in the Benya Lagoon adjacent to Elmina. These sites present an opportunity to study ships and cargoes involved in the West African trade.

Indefinite transits: mobility and confinement in the age of steam

AbstractThe increased regulation of mobility that accompanied its late nineteenth-century expansion and acceleration is widely recognized. Regulatory practices reached out to distant shores and on board ships, heightening uncertainties and reshaping meanings of voyage and transit, especially for non-white passengers and crews. Travel and mobility are common themes in historical and other literatures. But less is known about experiences of uncertain or thwarted arrivals, involuntary departures, and indefinite transit resulting from practices governing steam-age mobility. People in transit illuminate the conditional openings and closures in such tropes as mobility, transit, and destination. Few spaces embodied and actualized ‘transit’ better than ships, and this article focuses on the role of ships as vessels of confinement. In equal parts about passengers and crews, it explores experiences of nominally free persons uncertainly afloat in a world marked otherwise by assured or accelerated oceanic mobility in three contexts that illustrate physical, political, and cultural constraints on maritime mobility in the age of steam. They are the 1914 voyage of the Komagata-maru, British merchant vessels employing Indian crews, and wartime subjection and resistance of Chinese crews on British and Dutch vessels.

Response: ‘The Discovery of New Zealand's oldest shipwreck’

Based on the outcome of carbon dating wreck timbers found in New Zealand the article ‘The Discovery of New Zealand's oldest shipwreck-possible evidence of further Dutch exploration of the South Pacific’ in Volume 42 of the Journal of Archeological Science pp. 435–441 argues that the finds could be from an unknown early eighteenth century Dutch vessel sailing from the Dutch colonies in South–East Asia toward New Zealand. This response tries to explain why such a claim conflicts with the historical scholarship and therefore makes this attribution highly unlikely.

Comment on Andrade

Tonio Andrade has written a superb rejoinder to both revisionists and anti-revisionists in the global history debate. In my mind, he accomplished the rare feat of actually carrying the debate forward, and pointing to a new direction for progress. This paper is scrupulously fair to both sides of the debate, and the discussion of my own views is as reasonable and balanced as I could ask for. Andrade comes across as a careful, thoughtful scholar, who has weighed new evidence and found to his own surprise that it leads in unexpected directions. While we are waiting for Andrade's book, this article provides genuinely new insights, in regard to Chinese vs. Dutch use of troop drill and discipline, and the nature of naval and fortification construction. I found these insights to be illuminating. The overall argument leads, I believe, in exactly the right direction. It is not a matter of Europe being wholly ahead of Asia, or of the two being wholly equal; rather there were slight differences, but these had important consequences in specific areas of East-West confrontations. That said, I would still express a bit of concern over some evaluations of relative progress. First, I would suggest eliminating the words advanced when talking about Dutch techniques, emphasizing instead significant differences in naval and fortification technologies. This is because, as the essay itself says, the Dutch were better in some ways, the Chinese better in others. The Dutch, for example, had better navies for deep-water combat; the Chinese for shallow-water conflicts. The Dutch vessels were better at massing armaments to destroy enemy vessels; the Chinese were faster downwind and thus more efficient for trading and evading conflict. In regard to fortifications, the Chinese built longer and thicker walls to withstand frontal attacks; the Dutch (drawing on Italian designs) built more sophisticated configurations of defenses designed to frustrate sieges focused on urban strongholds. If we think for a moment about how these emerged, I would not think it justifiable to talk in terms of the Dutch being advanced in these areas; just different. Here is why. If we look at the naval context in the Atlantic in the 16th and 17th centuries, we have conflicts between nations--specifically Dutch, English, and Spanish navies fighting each other for control of deepwater sea lanes and capture of valuable cargoes. These cargoes were often treasure ships laden with extremely valuable gold and silver, meaning that the capture of a single ship brought immense wealth and was worth investment in heavy armament to capture and defend. Competition among these navies, financed by both consortiums of merchants (EIC and DEIC) and national governments, led to ships that bristled with cannon and which could both project and withstand massive firepower. In Asian waters, where there were no large consortiums of merchants or nationally funded navies (after the Ming ended the voyages of Admiral Zheng He), the biggest threat to individual trading ships were pirates. These could be best handled by building ships that were large and fast, so that they could withstand attacks from smaller ships and run away from them downwind. Moreover, the typical cargoes were cloth, ceramics, bulk spices, exotic wood, and animals, which (in Asia) were not so valuable as to justify huge investments in arms to capture a single ship. Thus the Chinese junks were ideally suited to their purposes--big, fast, and capable of moving huge cargoes of bulk goods safely downwind in stable monsoons. Andrade is also correct that sailing in the Mediterranean, and up the coasts of Africa and in the Atlantic, required ships that could effectively sail against the wind. The Europeans here benefitted from the Arab designs (lateen sails) and developed riggings that combined the best characteristics of square and lateen rigging in various combinations to develop large ships that were reasonably fast downwind, broadside, and upwind. …

Between-year variability in the mixing of North Sea herring spawning components leads to pronounced variation in the composition of the catch

Abstract Bierman, S. M., Dickey-Collas, M., van Damme, C. J. G., van Overzee, H. M. J., Pennock-Vos, M. G., Tribuhl, S. V., and Clausen, L. A. W. 2010. Between-year variability in the mixing of North Sea herring spawning components leads to pronounced variation in the composition of the catch. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 885–896. North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) are managed as a single stock, but maintaining a diversity of spawning components is considered important. However, the total catch from each of these components cannot be estimated easily because the components mix during the summer feeding season. The spawning origin of herring is determined from patterns in the microstructure of the otolith core, from samples taken in the central and northern North Sea during summer of 2004–2007. The annual catch composition of Dutch vessels is determined within a statistical framework that takes account of the spatial patterns in mixing of spawning components and the classification success of the method. Mixing of components varied between years, with steep latitudinal gradients in compositions in some years, resulting in pronounced between-year differences in estimated catch compositions. Differences in lengths-at-age between spawning components, in particular of the 2000 year class, may have caused the observed between-year changes in mixing of components. Our results indicate that estimates of compositions change when assumptions of perfect spatial mixing and perfect classification are relaxed, and can be uncertain in particular as a result of misclassifications, and that it may not be appropriate to assume that ratios between components are constant through time.

Relics of 16th-century gutted herring from a Dutch vessel

During the excavation of a 16th-century vessel at Biddinghuizen in the Netherlands, barrels containing the remains of thousands of herring were found. The skeletal element distribution made it clear that these fish had been preserved by means of gutting. The large amount of material, combined with the differences in the size and composition of the samples taken allowed the complex to serve as a good reference framework for the variability in the occurrence of preserved herring of this type. The method, described by Seeman (1986), of identifying gutted herring on the basis of archaeological material has been extended to include more diagnostic skeletal elements, criteria for sample sizes and requirements concerning the elements that must be present in a sample to obtain reliable conclusions.

‘Een extra fraai Octant in zyn kas’ uit de verzameling van een achttiende-eeuwse Amsterdamse regent

‘A very fine Octant’ from the collection of an eighteenth-century Amsterdam regent The Utrecht University Museum owns an octant made by Jonathan Sisson, an eighteenth-century London scientific instrument maker. The device was acquired in 1776 by Utrecht University at the auction sale of the instrument collection of Gerard Aernout Hasselaer, an Amsterdam regent, who held important posts at Dutch admiralties and the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East-India Company (VOC). The octant had been invented in 1731 by John Hadley, a vice-president of the Royal Society of London. Sisson made one of the first copies, which was put at the test at sea the following year. This try out proved to be a success, and octants soon replaced older instruments for measurements of the altitude of celestial bodies above the horizon at sea. The Dutch Republic was one of the first countries outside Britain where the octant was introduced. Among others, this introduction was stimulated by contacts between scientific instrument makers in both countries. In 1735 for instance, the Leiden instrument maker Jan van Musschenbroek was the first Dutchman to sell octants. It is known that he had business contacts with Sisson. In 1737 the octant was used for the first time on the Dutch vessel Teijlingen of the Amsterdam Admiralty. These developments occurred at a time that officials in the Dutch Republic became increasingly aware that the knowledge and practice of navigation on Dutch ships lay well behind those used at British ships. Dutch seamen and scholars drew up reports, pointing at the lagging of knowledge, and among others recommended the use of octants. These recommendations soon led to improvements, such as the founding of a navigational school in Amsterdam and the publication of a Dutch manual on its ships. Then these instruments were bought from Van Musschenbroek. Three years later the Company purchased octants from Benjamin Ayres, a former apprentice and brother-in- law of Sisson, working in Amsterdam since 1743. VOC governor Hasselaer played a stimulating role in this process of navigational improvements, being also the official representative of Prince William IV in three Dutch Admiralties. Hasselaer’s instrument collection reflects his interest, containing octants by both Sisson and Ayres. Sisson’s copy is particularly interesting because it has a number of technical devices, which are not found on contemporary octants. It has a brass frame with a wooden handle on the back, and two on either side for steadying the heavy instrument, a rack and pinion for slow-motion movement of the index arm, different types of adjustment for the mirrors, and a sight tube as well as a sight-vane. These devices are only found on octants by Sissons’s pupil Ayres, and on instruments made by others from the 1750s onwards. It is unlikely that Sisson’s example was intended for use at sea, for it was too heavy and probably also too expensive. Technically the instrument was well ahead of its time, suggesting that it was made specially for Hasselaer, perhaps at a time when the Company was contemplating the adoption of octants for its ships.

Caleb William Davies

Caleb William Davies (“Bill”) was born in Sarenga (then India) to medical missionary parents. At the age of 6 he travelled home to the United Kingdom to start his education...

Distinguishing different types of early 17th-century DutchJachtandShipthrough multivariate morphometric analysis of contemporary maritime art

In research to reconstruct the design of a small Dutch vessel of c. 1600, morphometric analysis of ship iconography proved very useful. Both uni-variate and multi-variate modes of statistical analysis, as used in this research, are described and discussed. Four classifications of three-masted, square-rigged Dutch sailing vessels—ships, jachts, large jachts and small jachts—were shown to be clearly distinguished types in the multi-variate data space.

Distinguishing different types of early 17th-century dutch jacht and ship through multivariate morphometric analysis of contemporary maritime art

In research to reconstruct the design of a small Dutch vessel of c. 1600, morphometric analysis of ship iconography proved very useful. Both uni-variate and multi-variate modes of statistical analysis, as used in this research, are described and discussed. Four classifications of three-masted, square-rigged Dutch sailing vessels—ships, jachts, large jachts and small jachts—were shown to be clearly distinguished types in the multi-variate data space.

JK v. Public Prosecutor

Jurisdiction — Personal — Nationals on the high seas — Ships — Criminal prosecution by Dutch authorities — Accused failing to observe Norwegian statutory regulations whilst master of Dutch vessel in Norwegian exclusive economic zone — Whether failure to obey regulations constituting criminal offence under Dutch lawSea — Exclusive economic zone — Jurisdiction — Powers of Norwegian authorities to inspect Dutch fishing vessel in Norwegian exclusive economic zone — The law of the Netherlands

An institutional analysis of the Swedish salt market, 1720–1862

Abstract This article examines and evaluates two cases of intervention by the Swedish State in the Swedish salt market. The salt market is defined, institutionally, as all the rules and forms oforganisation which influenced it. In the paper the most important institutional rules and organisations (economic, political and social) and their functions are considered. In evaluating the two cases of state intervention, the conclusions reached on the Swedish Navigation Act of 1724–1827, unlike that of earlier scholars, is favourable. No costs fell upon the Swedish general public, for example, in the form of higher salt prices. The carriage of the cargoes was shifted from English and Dutch vessels to Swedish vessels. The Act is therefore interpreted as an example of a successful protectionist policy rather than an impediment to the national economy. The State Salt Stores of the period 1774–1862 are here studied for the first time. They helped to reduce the negative effects caused by the acute scarcity of salt th...

Specimens of the botany of New Holland — aspects of European botanical observations and discoveries made in Australia prior to 1770

The earliest recorded European visit to Australia occurred in 1606, when a Dutch vessel sailed along the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula in north-eastern Australia. In 1616 another Dutch vessel happened upon part of the west coast of the continent, and in the following decade several other Dutch ships accidentally came upon these western and north-western coasts of New Holland. In 1627 the south coast was explored by Dutch mariners as far as the Nuyts Islands. In 1642—43 Tasman discovered Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) and New Zealand, and in 1644 he completed the discovery of the northern coast of New Holland. In the following century, Dutch, English and French vessels visited the known parts of New Holland, without making further substantial discoveries. Some of these discoverers and early explorers recorded their impressions of the Australian environment, and described the vegetation, some of the plants and many animals, albeit generally and in European terms. Abel Tasman recorded that his men collected plant specimens in Tasmania in December 1642. In 1697, plants and animals were collected in western New Holland when an expedition under Willem de Vlamingh visited the Swan River: some extant herbarium specimens almost certainly are the remnants of this collection. One year later William Dampier made a collection in the Shark Bay area, from which about 20 specimens are extant. Dampier also described plants in his accounts of the voyages he made to New Holland. As early as 1768 endemic Australian plants received "Linnaen epithets" unwittingly. The "pre-Cook" visitors considered New Holland a barren and harsh place, unsuited for settlement or commercial exploitation. However, they did bring back to Europe botanical information, and in some cases plant specimens, though few of these have survived. From statements published at the beginning of the 18th century in a Dutch text it seems that there was more information available, at least in Holland, about Australasian botany than has been supposed, and perhaps many plant specimens. This knowledge appears to have been overlooked in later decades, and then almost forgotten.