On the 23rd of April 1601 Wolfert Hermanszoon sailed for the Indies with a fleet of five ships. On reaching Palembang in Sumatra he learned from the Chinese crew of a trading vessel that a Portuguese fleet of eight large galleons and twenty-two smaller ships, under André Furtado de Mendoça, was besieging Bantam with a view of punishing its ruler for having traded with the Dutch. Mendoça was a man of renown in the East,[34] having been a successful commander in many wars, and his force was apparently so enormous in comparison with that under Hermanszoon that at first sight it would seem foolhardy to contend with it. But the Sea Beggars were not given to be afraid of anything on their own element, and they realised the importance of relieving Bantam and establishing their reputation for valour in the eyes of the Indian rulers. Accordingly Hermanszoon prepared his ships for action, sailed to Bantam, and on the 25th of December 1601 boldly attacked the great galleons.
It was soon seen that the battle was not such an unequal one after all. Mendoça had eight hundred Portuguese soldiers in his fleet, but the crews of his ships were all lascars or slaves, who were almost useless in battle. Hermanszoon could choose his position, deliver his fire, and then stand off and prepare for another attack. His ships, clumsy as they would appear to our eyes, were to those of the Portuguese like what modern gunboats under steam would be to three-deckers of the last century. At nightfall Mendoça drew his ships close together under an island, and arranged them to act as a great fort. On the 26th the weather was stormy, so that nothing could be done. On the 27th Hermanszoon attacked again, and succeeded in overmastering and burning two of the smaller ships of war after nearly every one on board was killed. Mendoça used three more of his frigates as fire ships, but the Dutch vessels were too swift for him and were out of harm’s way before they exploded. He did not wait to be attacked again, and on the morning of the 28th his armada was seen to be in full flight and Bantam was relieved.
Success of the Dutch at Bantam.
The Dutch were received with transports of joy by the ruler and people of the place, and a commercial treaty greatly to their advantage was entered into. At Banda also a similar treaty was concluded. When returning home, a Portuguese carrack or freight ship of the largest size, with a valuable cargo on board, was captured off St. Helena, so that the voyage was a very profitable one.
Mendoça, after his flight from Bantam, directed his course to Amboina, where he inflicted heavy punishment upon the natives for trading with the Dutch, and cut down all the clove trees in the neighbourhood of the principal town. He then placed a garrison in the fort there, and took his departure.
Jacob van Heemskerk left Holland in company with Hermanszoon on the 23rd of April 1601 on his second voyage to India as admiral of a fleet of eight ships. In June 1603 he captured a carrack very richly laden with silk, porcelain, and other Chinese productions, on her way from Macao to Malacca. A few weeks later another carrack similarly laden was captured at Macao without resistance by a fleet under Cornelis van Veen.
Altogether between 1595 and 1602 sixty-five ships sailed from Holland and Zeeland for India, of which only fifty-four returned. By this time it had become evident that large armed fleets were necessary to secure safety and to cope with the Portuguese there if a permanent trade was to be established. The rivalry too between the little companies was raising the price of spices so greatly in the East and lowering it in Europe that it was feared there would soon be no profit left. For these reasons, and to conduct the Indian trade in a manner the most beneficial to the people of the whole republic, the states-general resolved to unite all the small trading associations in one great company with many privileges and large powers. The first step to this end was to amalgamate the various companies in each town, and when this was effected, to bring them all under one directorate. The charter, or terms upon which the consolidated Company came into existence, was dated at the Hague on the 20th of March 1602, and contained forty-six clauses, the principal of which were as follows:—
Historical Sketches.
All of the inhabitants of the United Netherlands had the right given to them to subscribe to the capital in as small or as large sums as they might choose, with this proviso, that if more money should be tendered than was needed, those applying for shares of over two thousand five hundred pounds sterling should receive less, so that the applicants for smaller shares might have the full amounts asked for allotted to them.
The chambers, or offices for the transaction of business, were to participate in the following proportion: that of Amsterdam one-half, that of Middelburg in Zeeland one-quarter, those of Delft and Rotterdam, otherwise called of the Maas, together one-eighth, and those of Hoorn and Enkhuizen, otherwise called those of the North Quarter or sometimes those of North Holland and West Friesland, together the remaining eighth.