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Between Batavia and the Cape: Shipping Patterns of the Dutch East India Company

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Jaap R. Bruijn
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Extract

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) maintained a vast network of shipping connections with Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The extent of these connections was determined by the quantity of goods which was to be transported from Asia to Holland, and through the demand for ships in the inter-Asian trade. The periods of time and the ways in which the Holland-to-Asia connections were maintained did not necessarily depend upon commercial considerations. Considerations of safety, prevention of smuggling and above all the wind and current systems played an equally important role. Only recently has a survey become available of all journeys made to and from Asia during the Company's existence. It takes into account 4,730 outward-bound voyages and 3,358 homeward-bound voyages in the years 1602 to 1795. For the greatest portion of voyages, Batavia was both the destination and the port of departure. Columns I and II in Tables 1 and 2 will give one an overview. The preponderance of journeys from Batavia tapered off in time, mostly because of direct voyages made to Holland from other parts of Asia, such as Ceylon, Bengal, and China. Yet Batavia remained the metropolis, and where, at its zenith from around 1720 to 1740, an average of 33 ships per year arrived and 23 to 24 departed for the mother country. In the years thereafter, only the frequency of the return journeys diminished appreciably.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , September 1980 , pp. 251 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1980

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References

1 Bruijn, J.R., Gaastra, F.S., Schoffer, I., and van Eyck van Heslinga, E.S., Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries, vols. 2 and 3, Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën (RGP) 166 and 167 (The Hague, 1979)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Vol. I (RGP 165) will be published in 1981.

2 van Dam, Pieter, Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, RGP 63, pp. 660–61 and 665Google Scholar; Colenbrander, H.T., Jan Pietersz. Coen. Bescheiden omtrent zijn bedrijf in Indië, vol. V (The Hague, 1923), p. 19Google Scholar; Heeres, J.E., “De ‘Consideratien’ van Van Imhoff”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, vol. 66 (1912), pp. 565–66Google Scholar.

3 The Hague, State Archive, Colonial Archive 450, 1616, 8 Dec.; 439320, Heren XVII to Gouverneur en Raden at the Cape 1794, 11 Jan.; Heeres, “De ‘Consideratiën’ ”, p. 568.

4 Van Dam, , Beschryvinge, RGP 68, p. 42Google Scholar, and RGP 87, pp. 494–99 and 504.

5 Van Dam, , Beschryvinge, RGP 87, pp. 499–512Google Scholar; Parkinson, C. Northcote, Trade in the Eastern Seas, 1793–1813 (London, 1937), pp. 98 and 111–12Google Scholar.

6 Van Dam, , Beschryvinge, RGP 68, pp. 42–43Google Scholar, and RGP 83, pp. 524–28; Heeres, “De ‘Consideratiën’ ”, p. 568; The Hague, State Archive, Colonial Archive 439320 with several sailing instructions (Dr. G. Schilder, University of Utrecht, kindly introduced me to these papers).

7 Sigmond, J.P., “De weg naar de Oost”, Spiegel Hisioriael, vol. 9 (1974), pp. 358–67Google Scholar and also Parkinson, op. cit.

8 The Hague, State Archive, Colonial Archive 451, f. 58–61, with the complete text of the “seynbrief”. See also Van Dam, , Beschryvinge, RGP 63, pp. 659–60, 663, and 666Google Scholar, and especially Stapel, F.W., De Oostindische Compagnie en Australië (Amsterdam, 1937), pp. 16–22Google Scholar.

9 Hoogerwerff, G.J. (ed.), Journalen van de gedenckwaerdige reysen van Willem Ijsbrantsz. Bontekoe, 1618–1625 (The Hague, 1952), pp. 16–28 and 197–98Google Scholar; also Colenbrander, , Jan Pietersz. Coen. Bescheiden, vol. 1 (The Hague, 1919), pp. 521 and 586Google Scholar.

10 The Hague, State Archive, Colonial Archive 451, f. 649–56 and 363 (1652), 7 Nov., resolution Chamber of Amsterdam. Copies of the several editions are available in the Colonial Archive and in the library of the Rijksmuseum Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum at Amsterdam. See also Boxer, C.R., “The Dutch East-Indiamen: Their Sailors, Their Navigators, and Life on Board, 1602–1795”, Mariner's Mirror 49 (1963) :90CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 The Hague, State Archive, Colonial Archive 1040, f. 1455–457 (1639), 1452, f. 524–46 (1696), and 439420. Van Dam, , Beschryvinge, RGP 68, pp. 42–43Google Scholar, and RGP 87, p. 588, and also Nederlandsch-lndisch Plakaatboek, vol. 6, p. 748.

12 Heeres, “De ‘Consideratiën’ ”, p. 569.

13 Upon my request, the Department of Naval History of the Ministry of Defence (Royal Navy) at The Hague calculated these distances.

14 Veltschow, T., “Voyages of the Danish Asiatic Company to India and China, 1772–1792”, Scandinavian Economic History Review 20 (1972): pp. 139 and 147Google Scholar.

15 Stavorinus, J.S., Voyages to the East Indies (edited and translated from the Dutch by Wilcocke, S.H.), vol. 3, pp. 465–67 (London, 1969)Google Scholar. [Reprint of the 1798 edition.]

16 Gøbel, E., “The Danish Asiatic Company's Voyages to China, 1732–1833”, Scandinavian Economic History Review 27 (1979): pp. 1–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Koninckx, C., “The Maritime Routes of the Swedish East India Company during Its First and Second Charter (1731–1766)”, Scandinavian Economic History Review 26 (1978): 1–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Dermigny, L., La Chine et l'Occident. Le Commerce à Canton au XVIIIe siècle 1719–1833 (Paris, 1964), vol. 1, pp. 254–55Google Scholar.

17 See the Memoir, written by Capt. Maarten Schaap. This manuscript is in the possession of the Historical Society of Katwijk (Holland) and will shortly be published. Dr. F.J.A. Broeze (University of Western Australia) drew my attention to the figures of 1802.

18 The French East India Company lost 177 out of 762 ships between 1725 and 1771. Most of this loss must be accounted for by shipwrecks and capture according to Furber, H., Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient, 1600–1800 (Minneapolis, 1976), pp. 209–10Google Scholar.