Appendix B Historical Background on the VOC

For your convenience, we give here a short historical background and interpretation of what to find in this database. The introduction given below is copied from the book: J.R. Bruijn, F.S. Gaastra and I. Schaar, Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries

The history of the VOC is an active area of research and a focal point for multi-country heritage projects, e.g. TANAP, which includes a short historic overview of the VOC written by world expert on the topic F. Gaastra. The archives of the VOC are spread around the world, but a large contingent still resides in the National Archive, The Hague. The archives comprise over 25 million historical records. Much of which has not (yet) been digitized.

This book presents tables which give a virtually complete survey of the direct shipping between the Netherlands and Asia between 1595-1795. This period contains, first, the voyages of the so-called Voorcompagnien and, hence, those for and under control of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC). The survey ends in 1795. That year saw an end of the regular sailings of the VOC between the Netherlands and Asia, since, following the Batavian revolution in January, the Netherlands became involved in war with England. The last outward voyage left on 26 December 1794. After news of the changed situation in the Netherlands was received in Asia, the last homeward voyage took place in the spring of 1795. The VOC itself was disbanded in 1798.

In total 66 voyages of the voorcompagnien are listed, one more than the traditionally accepted number. The reconnaissance ship, POSTILJON, from the fleet of Mahu and De Cordes, that was collected en route is given its own number (0022). Since the attempt of the Australische Compagnie to circumvent the monopoly of the VOC can be considered as a continuation of the voorcompagnien the voyage of Schouten and Le Maire is also listed (0196-0197). For the rest, exclusively the outward and homeward voyages of the VOC are mentioned in the tables. Of those there were in total 4722 outward and 3359 homeward. The administration of the company was strictly followed, so that, for example, the voyage of Hudson in 1609 (0133) is listed, but not that of Roggeveen in 1721-1722. Voyages of East Indiamen that were driven off course, and arrived for instance in Surinam, or those which went no further than the Cape are mentioned, as opposed to those of warships of the five Admiralties which, from 1783, were sent to Asia to protect the fleets and possessions of the VOC.

The sources of the journeys consist primarily of the archives of the VOC in the Algemeen Rijksarchief in The Hague. They are, on the one hand, the so-called 'Uitloopboeken' and ship registers, and, on the other, the 'Overgekomen Brieven en Papieren' (OBP's). The latter contain the regular reports on the arrival and departure of ships in Batavia and other Asiatic harbors. In addition, the 'Overgekomen Brieven van de Kaap de Goede Hoop' and some other, more dispersed sources must be mentioned. The data on the voyages of the voorcompagnien derive above all from sources published by the Linschoten Vereeniging.

In volume I, the principal sources are described extensively and the origin of the information on each voyage is given. In addition, that volume contains an introduction on the organization of the VOC's shipping, which also includes an analysis and summary of the data presented in the tables. Various other supplementary information, such as the value of the export from the Netherlands, only available by year, is also published there. The tables follow closely the material presented in the major sources ('Uitloopboeken' en OBP's). Since these sources are not uniform over a period of almost two centuries, the level of completeness of the information given for each voyage also varies.

Homeward voyage During the compilation of the tables it became necessary in a few cases to add an A to some numbers. This occurred 5 times, in the following places: 5022, 5980, 5987, 6246 and 6649. Similarly in three cases a number had to be left open. The following numbers have not been used: 4605, 5027 and 8215. The voyage number is followed by a figure which shows whether the ship is making its first, second or subsequent voyage. The outward and homeward voyages are counted separately. The first voyage from the Netherlands and the subsequent homeward voyages are both shown by a `1'. Occasionally a ship was built or acquired in Asia. The first outward voyage of such a ship is considered as its second voyage.

Ship's name A uniform spelling has been chosen for the numerous variants given in the sources. In alphabetical ordering and in the index, the most relevant word was chosen. Thus the WAPEN VAN, HOORN (0243) is given under HOORN, the HOF NIET ALTIJD ZOMER (2380) under ZOMER and the VROUWE REBECCA JACOBA (3668) under REBECCA. It should be noted that especially in the seventeenth century ships' names were frequently provided with additions which were not used in a consistent fashion. The AMSTERDAM (0431) was sometimes called NIEUWAMSTERDAM, the WITTE OLIFANT (0533), the OLIFANT. The most frequent name is given in the tables. In the eighteenth century, especially, ships' names were frequently changed, or they used each other's names. This is always mentioned under the heading Particulars and in the index.

Master's name Similarly, a uniform spelling has been chosen for the name of the master, generally schipper, but in the eighteenth century also a kapitein or kapiteinluitenant. The index is arranged by surname or patronymic.

Tonnage The volume of the ships is given in metric tons. The sources give the figures in lasten (1 last = 2 tons). After 1636, however, information in lasten is no longer of any value, as, for fiscal reasons, the VOC's figures were kept artificially low. Since then the volume has been calculated on the basis of the measurements of the ships, according to a simple formula (volume in lasten = length x breadth x depth in Amsterdam feet, divided by 200; 1 ft. = 28,3 cm). The results of this calculation have been doubled and are given in the tables. This method and the problems regarding the assessment of the ships' volume is described in Volume I. In a number of cases where inconsistent information was found, both calculations are given, thus e.g. 600/850.

Type of ship Occasionally, in those cases where this is mentioned in the sources, the type of the ship is given in the same column as the tonnage. In general, the most frequent type of ship, the retourschip (East Indiaman) is not mentioned in the sources. Therefore, where the type of ship is not mentioned, it may often be assumed that an East Indiaman is meant. The various other types - hoeker, kat, pinas, jacht, fluit, paketboot - are given in Dutch.

Built The year given in this column refers to the year in which the ship was built. If the ship was hired or bought by the VOC, then this is mentioned in the column, together with the year in which the transaction occurred.

Yard The place is given where the ship was built. The chambers of the VOC had their own yard. 'A' refers to Amsterdam, 'Z' to Zeeland, 'D' to Delft, 'R' to Rotterdam, 'H' to Hoorn, and 'E' to Enkhuizen. When a ship was hired or bought by the VOC, the letter indicates the chamber that was responsible for the transaction. The ships of the voorcompagnien did not belong to a chamber. In these cases, A' indicates that a ship was built at an Amsterdam yard. The chambers also had no part in the buying or building of ships by the Hoge Regering in Batavia. In these cases the place of building or purchase in Asia is given.

Chamber With the outward voyages, this column gives the chamber which equipped the ship; with the homeward, the chamber to which the ship was addressed. There is no entry in this column for ships organized by the voorcompagnien

Departure

Under this heading is given the date and place of departure from Europe, Asia or the Cape of Good Hope. A date like 03-02-1645 refers to 3 February 1645. Where sailings from the Republic are concerned, the date given refers to the departure from the roads. Amsterdam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen ships generally left from Texel roads, Zeeland ships from the Wielingen or the roads of Rammekens, and Rotterdam and Delft ships from Goeree. Sometimes, ships were forced by storms or damage to return to the roads for a time or they sought shelter in one of the estuaries on the coast of Holland or Zeeland. Where possible, this is mentioned under the heading Particulars. In general the first date of departure is given in the tables, but in some cases, a later date has been chosen, in deference to the sources.

As for leaving Batavia, departure from the roads of the town was decisive, and not, as is frequently described in the Company papers, the reaching of the `open sea' after passing the Sunda Strait. Where departures from other Asian ports are concerned in general only the Company establishment from which the ship sailed is given. Thus Ceylon is mentioned in the columns, but it can be assumed that most ships left from the Bay of Galle, at the southern point of the island. China is given for ships which left from Canton, and the date refers to departure from the roads at Whampoa. Bengal is given for ships which left from the anchorage in the Ganges close to the VOC-establishment at Hughly.

Call at Cape The data in this column give the arrival at (above) and the departure (below) from the Cape of Good Hope. In general no distinction is made between Table Bay and False Bay. Mention is made, when given in the sources, of ships which put in to the more northerly Saldanha and St. Helena Bays. When a ship sailed past the Cape, this is denoted by `no call'. When it is not known whether the ship stopped at the Cape at all - especially frequent before the foundation of the refreshment station there in 1652 - the column is left blank.

Arrival The third column contains the date and place of arrival in Asia, Europe or, when that was the destination of the journey, at the Cape of Good Hope. The place of arrival is given in the same manner as that of departure, though, in addition to the estuaries mentioned above, ships sometimes arrived in the Netherlands via the Vlie or at Delfzijl. The place of arrival in Asia refers to the establishment reached, unless the sources specify the actual port.

On board It is possible to differentiate the number of those on board into various categories. For the outward journey, these are seafarers, soldiers, craftsmen, and passengers. The craftsmen are those who were employed to perform some particular service in Asia, and are thus not part of the crew as such. 'Passengers' is in fact a residual category, including high officials of the Company, including ministers of religion with their wives and servants, but also slaves and stowaways. Whenever such a differentiation is not possible, which is especially the case in the early years, a figure for the total is given. Italics are used for this, or when the figures refer to more than one category. Only those categories are mentioned which were on board. Therefore, when one category is mentioned, this implies that the others were not represented on board.

The sources for the return voyages are of a different kind and normally far less complete. They are totally absent for the journey between the Cape and the Netherlands. However, another category must be mentioned, namely the impotenten, who for various reasons were released from active service for the VOC and sent back to Europe. With regard to many voyages the sources only give the number of passengers and impotenten, and not the number of sailors and soldiers. Obviously, the absence of figures under these headings does not imply that there were none on board.

Information on the outward voyages is divided into six columns:

1. onboard_at_departure The number on board at departure
2. death_at_cape The number dying between the Netherlands and the Cape. Frequently this figure refers to all the categories together, even when the other information is available per category. In such cases this figure is printed in italics.
3. left_at_cape The number who leave the ship at the Cape.
4. onboard_at_cape The number who come on board at the Cape.
5. death_during_voyage The number dying on the whole voyage. Subtraction of III from V gives the number dying between the Cape and Asia.
6. onboard_at_arrival The number on board on arrival in Asia.

Three columns are given for the homeward voyages:

1. onboard_at_departure The number on board at departure
2. death_at_cape The number dying en route to the Cape
3. left_at_cape The number who went from board at the Cape

Invoice value For the return voyages, the total value of the ship's cargo, according to the invoice made up in Batavia or some other establishment, is given, as is the chamber for which the cargo was destined. Generally, this was for the chamber under whose jurisdiction the ship sailed, but occasionally a proportion of the cargo was for one or more of the other chambers.

Particulars Under the last heading details deriving from the basic sources are given. They are generally incidental and as such not to be placed in one of the preceding columns. Because the sources are not the same across the whole period, and at times less complete, the extent and sort of material under this heading could not be consistent.

In so far as it is available, information deals with the ports of call on the journey, with the details of changes in the composition of the crew and with the eventual fate of the ship. For the return voyage, the name of the fleet-commander is generally given, and, after his name, the number of the ship he was on. Finally, where necessary, differences in data between various sources are indicated. Occasionally, particulars from a published source are added.

Corresponding number This number, placed at the far right of the tables, denotes the next homeward voyage of the ship in volume II (naturally absent when the ship remains in Asia), or, in volume III, for homeward voyages, the number of the ship's previous outward voyage. In those cases where the ship was acquired in Asia, no corresponding number is given for the first homeward voyage from Asia.

Due to the long duration of the preparation of these two volumes there are some inconsistencies in the text of the particulars and in the use of language.