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Slow boat to China

Before radio and television reading travel books was a popular pastime in the Netherlands. Particularly popular were travel books about trips that ran into a lot of trouble. The journal Willem Ysbrantsz. Bontekoe wrote about his trip to the Indies remained a favourite for three centuries. His journal was the source of an early 20th century children’s book that was turned into a successful film in the last decade.

Bontekoe was a skipper who sailed between the Baltic and the Mediterranean when his ship, which he co-owned, was captured by Algerian pirates. Instead of being sold as a slave Bontekoe bought his freedom. This cost him more than a year's salary and may have moved him to join the ranks of the East India Company in 1618. The book tells about his adventures during the seven years he stayed away from home.

On his journey to Batavia on a ship loaded with silver and gunpowder the ship's brandywine caught fire, which eventually caused the ship to explode. Bontekoe describes how he felt a "lightness in his heart" and a certain cheerfulness when he flew through the air and prayed to God. It took Bontekoe and the survivors of his crew 13 days to reach Sumatra. Without food and with just the water they had collected, the crew had threatened to kill and eat the cabin boys. Later on, Bontekoe made numerous trips through the Malay Archipelago and was subsequently involved in the Dutch attack on Macau and attempts to establish trade with the Chinese from the Pescadores.

Not all parts are covered equally extensive. The failed attack on Macau of 1622 is described in just a few pages with limited detail. Bontekoe dedicates more space to the campaign to get a monopoly on foreign trade with Fujian, which then traded with the Spaniards in Manila. The ever religious Bontekoe describes without any moral judgement how they attack villages to clobber the Chinese into submission. Chinese ships are attacked and the people on board are forced to work as labourers to build a fort on the Pescadores before they are sent to Batavia and sold. The Chinese army seemed to offer no defence to the local populace. This is surprising, because the attacks followed upon a condemnation to death by the Chinese, a fact Bontekoe does not mention, probably because the terrorising was already authorised by the governor-general in Batavia. Neither does he tell that only 33 of the 1,200 Chinese prisoners survived the journey to Jakarta's slave market, likely because they were not transported on his ship.

What further struck me was the bad quality of ships and tools that required almost constant repairs. Bontekoe mentions numerous repairs to sails and masts. The winds greatly influenced if a landfall could be made and consequently the food and water the crew would consume for weeks on end. Bontekoe shows little interest in the exotic cultures or landscapes that he encounters, but there is also no sense of cultural, religious or racial superiority in the skipper's book. The light-skinned children he encounterd on Madagascar are only seen as proof of earlier landings of Dutch sailors. Also interesting were the decision making processes. For any major decision a council of officers on board was held, usually led by the merchant. In times of greater trouble Bontekoe simply asked all his crew and did what the majority wanted. ( )