English Visitors to South Africa.
On the 24th of June 1620 four ships bound to Surat under command of Andrew Shillinge, put into Table Bay, and were joined when entering by two others bound to Bantam, under command of Humphrey Fitzherbert. The Dutch had at this time the greater part of the commerce of the East in their hands, and nine large ships under their flag were found at anchor. The English vessel Lion was also there. Commodore Fitzherbert made the acquaintance of some of the Dutch officers, and was informed by them that they had inspected the country around, as their Company intended to form a settlement in Table Valley the following year. Thereupon he consulted with Commodore Shillinge, who agreed with him that it was advisable to try to frustrate the project of the Hollanders. On the 25th the Dutch fleet sailed for Bantam, and the Lion left at the same time, but the Schiedam, from Delft, arrived and cast anchor.
On the 1st of July the principal English officers, twenty-one in number,—among them the Arctic navigator William Baffin,—met in council, and resolved to proclaim the sovereignty of King James I over the whole country. They placed on record their reasons for this decision, which were, that they were of opinion a few men only would be needed to keep possession of Table Valley, that a plantation would be of great service for the refreshment of the fleets, that the soil was fruitful and the climate pleasant, that the Hottentots would become willing subjects in time and they hoped would also become servants of God, that the whale fishery would be a source of profit, but, above all, that they regarded it as more fitting for the Dutch when ashore there to be subjects of the king of England than for Englishmen to be subject to them or anyone else. “Rule Britannia” was a very strong sentiment, evidently, with that party of adventurous seamen.
Historical Sketches.
On the 3rd of July a proclamation of sovereignty was read in presence of as many men of the six ships as could go ashore for the purpose of taking part in the ceremony. Skipper Jan Cornelis Kunst, of the Schiedam, and some of his officers were also present, and raised no objection. On the Lion’s rump, or King James’s mount as Fitzherbert and Shillinge named it, the flag of St. George was hoisted, and was saluted, the spot being afterwards marked by a mound of stones. A small flag was then given to the Hottentots to preserve and exhibit to visitors, which it was believed they would do most carefully.
After going through this ceremony with the object of frustrating the designs of the Dutch, the English officers buried a packet of despatches beside a stone slab in the valley, on which were engraved the letters V O C, they being in perfect ignorance of the fact that those symbols denoted prior possession taken for the Dutch East India Company. On the 25th of July the Surat fleet sailed, and on the next day Fitzherbert’s two ships followed, leaving at anchor in the bay only the English ship Bear, which had arrived on the 10th.
The proceeding of Fitzherbert and Shillinge, which was entirely unauthorised, was not confirmed by the directors of the East India Company or by the government of England, and nothing whatever came of it. At that time the ocean commerce of England was small, and as she had just entered upon the work of colonising North America, she was not prepared to attempt to form a settlement in South Africa also. Her king and the directors of her India Company had no higher ambition than to enter into a close alliance with the Dutch Company, and to secure by this means a stated proportion of the trade of the East. In the Netherlands also a large and influential party was in favour of either forming a federated company, or of a binding union of some kind, so as to put it out of the power of the Spaniards and Portuguese to harm them. From 1613 onward this matter was frequently discussed on both sides of the Channel, and delegates went backward and forward, but it was almost impossible to arrange terms.
Proposed Alliance of English and Dutch.
The Dutch had many fortresses which they had either built or taken from the Portuguese in Java and the Spice islands, and the English had none, so that the conditions of the two parties were unequal. In 1617, however, the king of France sent ships to the eastern seas, and in the following year the king of Denmark embarked in the same enterprise, when a possibility arose that one or other of them might unite with Holland or England. Accordingly each party was more willing than before to make concessions, and on the 2nd of June 1619 a treaty of close alliance was entered into at London between the two Companies, which was ratified by their respective governments.[38]
It provided that all past differences should be forgotten, and all persons, ships, and goods detained by either side be immediately released. That the servants of each Company should act in the most friendly manner towards those of the other, and give them assistance when needed. That commerce in all parts of India should be free to both. That joint efforts should be made to reduce the price of products in India to a fixed and reasonable rate, and that a selling price in Europe should be agreed upon from time to time, below which it should not be lawful for either party to dispose of them. That pepper should only be purchased in Java by a commission representing both parties, and be equally divided afterwards between the two Companies. That the Dutch Company should have two-thirds of the trade at the Moluccas, Banda, and Amboina, and the English one-third. That twenty ships of war from six to eight hundred tons burden, armed with thirty heavy cannon, and carrying one hundred and fifty men each, should be maintained in the eastern seas for the protection of commerce, half by each Company. And that a council of defence should be established, consisting of four of the principal officers on each side, to appoint stations for the ships and to engage and pay land forces.