A VOYAGE THROUGH HISTORY(Arsal Shoaib) A VOYAGE THROUGH HISTORY: Dutch East India Company Merchant

The morning had finally come. The shouts of the sailor manning the crow’s nest could be heard even in the lower most decks. We had at last come in sight of Mauritius. I can swear last night I wasn’t sure if I would be able to see the sun again. It was a rough night, probably the roughest since the storm near the cape. That time too, we were only able to bear out the storm since we were in shallow waters and able to drop anchor in a lagoon. Even then we had to stay for a week in port at Cape Town to repair a broken mast and some torn sails. Last night though it was different, there was no lagoon or shallows to anchor the ship. We had to fight out the storm in high seas. The captain had decided to throw half the cannons on our ship overboard to lessen the weight since the ship was sitting too low in the water and there was a danger that water might fill in the lower decks. This probably saved our ship from capsizing. I don’t remember the last eight hours of our struggle with the storm though. I had fallen asleep or possibly even fainted seeing the circumstances surrounding this frightful night. The sounds of cracking wood and grinding metal are the last sounds I remember before the huge splash of water knocked me off my feet and my senses.

I was no sailor, just a cloth merchant who now wanted to make it big from the spice trade. Therefore I had made myself part of this particular trade mission run by the Dutch East India Company, the VOC. I miss my family back in Amsterdam especially on rough nights such as these. The lust for wealth blinded me from seeing the dangers in a voyage this long. It had already been six months since we had set sail from our home port. A few times we had anchored off the Guinea coast to restock supplies, especially fruit to ward off scurvy. During these times we were not only vulnerable to attacks by natives but also from other hostile European ships. I remember having a hard time sleeping until we had set sail again.

The sailors on the contrary are now well accustomed to living aboard such ships. They are a very dirty bunch and the saline life at sea has given them a constant stench. Most of them are brutes and drink heavily at night. This frequently leads to quarrels which can get very messy. But the joy of seeing a friendly port renews hopes of better fortune waiting at the end of this trading mission. It also gives much needed time on dry land for the exhausted sailors and for maintenance of the ship.

As we sailed on from Mauritius and out of friendly waters, the same decision that had saved us before now threatened to be our undoing. We had half the cannons on our ship which would put us at a considerable disadvantage if we had to face opposition from a well armed European fleet ship. I desperately hoped that it would never come to this. The sailing ahead was in calmer waters of the Indian Ocean. Our ship had a brief stopover in the Maldives islands. The trip ahead would be more difficult since we would be entering the highly contested spice trade routes. Our main objective was to reach the port of Batavia where we would be picking up most of our cargo in exchange for a load of firearms and silver. The ship was also scheduled to make a brief stop at Malacca. It would however not be as simple as that. Rumors have it that the Portuguese had already attacked at least two ships in the past month alone. We with half our cannons would be as easy a prey as any. So it was decided to avoid the waters around Ceylon as a precaution against the Portuguese and it worked. We were now entering the waters of the Malay Archipelago through the straits of Malacca.

The Portuguese had until only recently a strong hold in the region until they were driven out. Their center was the city of Malacca. The Portuguese had built the city into an impregnable fort, the ‘A Famosa,' to secure this important trading route, but now I could see the flags of East India Company over it. The VOC had fought many skirmishes to try and take control but the Portuguese had held on. It was not until the company had struck alliances with the local Sultans and with the support of their forces that the Portuguese were finally defeated. As we dropped anchor at this bustling port city, I was amazed at its diversity. There were people of all races trading everything from silks to shells and firearms to pottery. I had never before seen people of the east. They were short statured compared to us and their skin wasn’t white nor was it black like the Negroes that were brought in from Guinea. The harbor was full of aromas from the spice laden vessels. Pottery and ceramics of highest quality was being traded for strange birds with long tail feathers of every possible color. I had observed such magnificent creatures for the first time. The Dutch nonetheless did not continue using it as their capital in the region like the Portuguese after taking control of the city. The company had started forming its headquarters in the form of a new city ‘Batavia’ which was more centrally located in the archipelago. I along with the captain went to the administrative headquarters of the company in the city for the necessary paperwork to be filled for the record of our ship’s arrival at the port. Also we needed to bring aboard a guide since it would be the first time we would be carrying on deeper into the Malayan archipelago heading towards the city of Batavia situated on the island of Java.

The waters ahead were crowded with sailing vessels of all kinds used by the Asians for their inter island trade. As we approached the port it was clear that it was perhaps the largest spice port anywhere in the world. Tons and tons of spices were being loaded onto the VOC vessels waiting to transport this profitable cargo back to Amsterdam and ultimately into the European markets. The city though was very different from that of Malacca. What had struck me was the diversity among the populace in Malacca but it was nowhere to be seen here in Batavia. The locals were weary of the Dutch since our company had a couple of decades ago burned the city of Jayakarta to the ground. I could feel that they were at an uneasy peace with the foreigners ever since. The Dutch had expanded the fortress and the godowns which were once adjacent to the ruined city to replace it with a cantonment town which now served as the capital of the VOC in the East Indies. Our company’s policy here dictated that minimum number of local Javanese be accommodated in the city because they feared that these people would want to avenge the burning of their city. As we landed ashore I saw that many of the ships in the harbor were not bringing in goods but people from other islands and regions as far as mainland China. I later found out that these people were forced into migration and were being used as labor to work the spice plantations surrounding the city. The sailors were given two days of rest before the ship was to be unloaded. Most of us slept all through this break.

The work was endless and there was a pungent odor of cinnamon and cloves coming from every pore of our skin. The tropical heat made the task of carrying large loads of spices to the ship’s hold even more difficult. Once the hold was laden with this lucrative cargo and the ship had undergone necessary repairs and refitting, it was ready for the long voyage back home. Many among our crew were not going back though. The city was under populated since the locals had been pushed out and the company wanted to ultimately settle large numbers of Dutch in their place. Therefore the company provided very generous offers to its employees who would migrate for extended periods of time to this newly established trade capital in the region. I was approached by an official from the VOC who wanted to convince me that I could have a far more affluent lifestyle here then what my earning allowed me back in Amsterdam. I politely rejected the offer, since I knew that when I finally made it back to my home I would not only have made enough of a fortune but would also have enough stories to tell for a life time.

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