Nathaniel's nutmeg

by Giles Milton

  When all were back on ship, the Half Moon set sail down the Hudson with the ill-tempered Juet still fuming over the treachery of the natives. To assuage his anger he fired indiscriminately at Indians gathered on the banks of the river, noting in his diary whenever he had success. The gratuitous violence makes for distasteful reading: 'We discharged six muskets and killed two or three of them ... I shot a falcon at them, and killed two of them ... I shot at [a canoe], and shot it through, and killed one of them.'

  The ship soon reached the mouth of the Hudson and, with clear weather and a blustery wind, 'we set our main sail, and sprit sail, and our top sails, and steered away.' Less than five weeks later they had recrossed the Atlantic and caught sight of the English coastline.

  Had Hudson followed his instructions he should have continued up the Channel and not stopped until he reached Amsterdam. Instead, he dropped anchor in Dartmouth and sent notice to his Dutch employers informing them of his return. There was no mention of his travelling to Amsterdam; indeed his letter requested a further fifteen hundred florins to be forwarded to Dartmouth so that he could set sail once again, this time to explore the northern coastline of Newfoundland.

  The Dutch directors were incensed by Hudson's behaviour and ordered him to return immediately. But the English government, hearing rumours that Hudson had actually discovered a passage through to the Spice Islands, issued an Order in Council accusing him of undertaking a voyage 'to the detriment of his own country', and forbidding him from leaving England. This proved too much for Emanuel van Meteren, the Dutch consul in London: 'Many persons thought it rather unfair that these sailors should have been prevented from laying their accounts and reports before their employers,' he wrote in his official report. In his private correspondence he was less diplomatic. 'The English,' he declared, 'are inconstant, rash, vainglorious, light and deceiving, and very suspicious, especially of foreigners whom they despise. They are full of courtly and affected manners and words, which they take for gentility, civility, and wisdom.'

  Reports of Hudson's discovery of a 'groote noordt rivier' slowly filtered back to Holland where it was greeted with a mixed reception. Van Meteren himself was dismissive of the discovery, recording that the Englishman had merely stumbled across a river in Virginia; whilst others, though interested in Hudson's route down America's eastern seaboard, state that he 'achieved nothing memorable by this new way'. Nevertheless, wrote one, 'it was thought probable that the English themselves would send ships to Virginia to explore the aforesaid river.'

  Although the Dutch East India Company showed little interest in Hudson's findings, a handful of individual merchants were intrigued to learn that 'the land is the finest for cultivation that I ever set foot upon', and extremely interested to read of the abundance of skins and furs. Less than a year after Hudson's return, 'some merchants again sent a ship thither, that is to say, to the second river discovered, which was called Manhattes.'

  These merchants soon found that Hudson had not exaggerated the richness of the countryside around Manhattan. They informed the Indians that 'they would

  chapter seven

  The Cannibals' Country

  S

  carcely had William Keeling sailed away from the Banda Islands in the autumn of 1609 than David Middleton arrived on his second voyage to the East. 'He passed us in the night,' noted Keeling with bitterness, 'else we should have surely seen him.' More than two years had passed since he had last spoken to his mercurial colleague and he must have been seriously wondering if he would ever hear from him again.

  Middleton had made a brief stop at Bantam and learned from the English factors that the situation in the Banda Islands was not good. The Dutch were deadly serious about enforcing the treaty they had imposed on the islanders and were muttering dark threats about defending their monopoly at all costs. A governor had been left behind on Neira to monitor the coming and going of all shipping and a strong garrison posted in Fort Nassau to safeguard Dutch interests. Any vessel arriving at the Banda Islands was ordered to anchor close to the Dutch castle and submit to inspection, and no foreigner was allowed to settle without a Dutch permit. Even inter-island trade, upon which the survival of the outer islands depended, was forbidden unless authorised by the Dutch.

  These laws and strictures sounded harsh but they proved impossible to enforce and were soon being openly flouted by the Bandanese who realised that the Dutch were in a far weaker position than had first appeared. The fleet of ships commanded by Simon Hoen, Verhoef's replacement, had been plunged into chaos shordy after the imposition of the treaty and the morale of the crew had never been lower. Few showed any respect to their new master and when Hoen dropped dead, presumably from poison, his ship was left in the hands of an uncontrollable rabble. Life was little calmer on land where the garrison left to guard the Banda Islands found itself under a constant state of siege. There were numerous tales of 'the blacks killing divers Hollanders in a wood; of a kinde of siege of their castle; [of] bloody fight; the castle almost famished; all in the same yeere that this peace was concluded'.

  News of the Dutch woes came as music to David Middleton's ears. Never short on confidence, he sped eastwards across the Java Sea and arrived at Neira displaying the 'flag and ensign, and at each yardarm a pendant, in as comely manner as we could devise'. To make his presence felt, he blasted every cannon and musket on board the Expedition and provocatively moored well within gunshot of the Dutch vessels riding at anchor.

  The Dutch governor, Hendrik van Bergel, was infuriated by Middleton's effrontery and despatched a messenger to demand the reason for his coming. Ordered to surrender his commission from London, the English commander refused, consenting only to read the first paragraph to prove, as he put it, that he came as an authorised trader and not a pirate. When the messenger asked Middleton to clarify if he was a merchant or a man-of-war the English captain gave an equivocal answer, saying that 'I would pay for what I take' and 'defend my selfe' if attacked.

  The Dutch retired to their castle to plan their response but Middleton had already won the war of words and the natives, who had watched the chicanery from the shore, rowed out to the Expedition to greet the English commander. Middleton was in his element and 'knowing well that in troubled waters it is good fishing', wasted no time in cultivating his friendship with the native merchants. Within a few days he had struck a profitable deal with a nutmeg trader from Ai Island who agreed to sell to the English all the spice he could gather.

  Middleton could have saved himself any further argument with the Dutch by setting sail for this outlying island, but he was rather enjoying his new-found status as irritant and antagonist. Although warned by the Dutch governor not to remain anchored so close to their ships, he sent reply that 'I would ride there until I found the inconvenience [too great to bear] and then I would come into the best of the harbour.'

  He then despatched a second letter informing van Bergel of the deal he had struck with the merchants of Ai and explaining that he was writing not out of courtesy but because he was keen to know whether the Dutch would be challenging him or not. After reminding the governor that both Ai and Run maintained their total independence from the Dutch (their headmen had steadfastly refused to sign the 1609 agreement), he insolently offered any assistance that the governor might require. 'If your worship stand in need of any thing that I have,' he wrote, 'I pray you make bold to demand it, and I will be as ready to perform it to my power.'

  This last sentiment so angered van Bergel that he began to plot his revenge. The Great Sunne, a dilapidated Dutch vessel which was no longer seaworthy, was to be towed towards the Expedition under cover of darkness, chained to its hull, and 'there set her selfe a fire'. She was loaded with thirty kegs of gunpowder so it would not take long for the fire to spread to the English ship. As a precaution against failure, van Bergel suggested that the rest of his vessels spray the decks of the Expedition with musket shot.

  Middleton's spies brought news of this plot and the English captain
, never one to shy away from confrontation, 'thought it fit to goe and speake with the Governour my selfe, and before wee would try it with battaile, to see what hee would say to my selfe'. After all the bluffs and threats the two men met in Fort Nassau and were surprised to discover a mutual respect for each other. 'So there passed words between us, some sharpe and some sweet; but at the length they began to be more mild, and [the governor] called for a cup of wine, then the company rose all up, drank a cup of wine, and went to walke and to view the castle.' Having expected to be expelled after a fiery argument, Middleton ended the day examining suits of armour with van Bergel and discussing the varied merits of different types of musket.

  With the hostilities postponed Middleton assured the governor that he did not wish to cause any trouble and, in return for the right to buy spices, offered a large sum of money 'which often maketh wise men blind'. The governor seemed genuinely sympathetic to Middleton's request but 'he told me plainly that he durst not give me leave to deal for any spice, under pain of losing his head.' When he heard this Middleton knew the time for talking was over. Although he left the castle in friendship and 'the governor caused all the ordnance to be shot off', he realised that buying spice would almost certainly lead to confrontation with the Dutch. This caused him not the slightest worry, but he was concerned that his men might not have the stomach for the fight. So, 'I called all my company to know their minds, and told them plainly that if they would stand by me, I meant to set up my rest, to make my voyage to those islands [Ai and Run], let the Hollander do what he could: and promised them that if any man were maimed, he should have maintenance during his life.' The men did not hesitate to place their trust in Middleton and shouted their assent to a man.

  As they prepared to head for Ai, the wind suddenly changed direction and it proved impossible to sail west in the cumbersome Expedition. So Middleton sent his assistant, Augustus Spalding, in the ship's pinnace to establish a factory on the island while he and the rest of the crew set up base on the rugged island of Ceram, some one hundred miles to the north. From here they could run a shuttle of pinnaces to and from Ai, enabling Middleton to lade his ship with little danger of attack from the Dutch.

  The strategy proved a great success. With Spalding successfully established on Ai, the little Hopewell plied its hazardous way to and from the island with its cargo of nutmeg and mace. It was wearisome work and Middleton cursed the Company directors who, although aware of the great difficulties of buying nutmeg, were as fussy as ever about what he spent their money on. 'Make choice of such nutmeg as be large and sound,' they had told him before he left London, 'and at the lading therof [do not] lime them too much, for that doth burn them.' They were no less concerned about his treatment of the mace. 'Lay [it] in cannisters in some fit place by itself so that it be not spoiled by the heat of the other spice, taking good heed to buy that which is bright, and not withered or red or dark brown.'

  After making no fewer than nine exhausting trips in the Hopewell Middleton needed a rest. Electing a new crew to man her - not an easy matter, for he was desperately short of men - he bid her God's speed as she sailed on her tenth journey. He fully expected her to be back within seven days, but a week passed, and then a fortnight, and still there was no news of the Hopewell. Each day Middleton scanned the horizon for the tiny craft until a third week had gone by and he decided to lead a search party, hoping to find her adrift in the treacherous currents that surround the Banda Islands. 'Having not a sound man with me that could stand on his legges, I hired three blacks and put to sea. Being out of sight of land, there arose a grievous storme that I was fain to spoone afore the sea, to save our lives.' Middleton was fortunate to be blown back towards Ceram, but with the velocity of the wind increasing by the hour he found it increasingly difficult to stop the boat being dragged onto the rocks. 'Night being at hand, we strove all we might to keepe her upon the sea till day, the storme increaseth, that no remedie but that we must hazzard all to put into the breach over a ledge of rockes. This we did, and no man durst forsake the boat for [fear of] being beaten to pieces against the rocks.'

  All night Middleton and his 'blacks' fought to keep the skiff out of danger and when dawn broke they found they had been washed further along the coastline to a shallow bay where they could safely beach her. 'We laid hands on the boat and got her out of the suffe of the sea, and gave God thankes for preserving us from so apparant danger. Being extreme foule weather, with much raine, we could not tell what to doe.'

  Middleton sent his men to reconnoitre the bay but they soon returned with grim news:

  The Blacks told us that we must goe to sea presently if we meant to save our lives. I asked one of them the reason; who said, it was the canibals countrey, and if they got sight of us they would kill us and eate us, and nothing would ransome a man if they take him; and all Christians that they get, they roast them alive for the wrongs that the Portuguese have done them. And therefore, if we would not goe to sea they would go hide themselves; for the canibals would be at the water side as soon as they can look about to descry if they can discover any fishermen or passengers that by stealth pass by in the night.

  This news alarmed Middleton and he put to sea without further ado. But his woes did not end with his escape from the cannibals. An approaching rowing boat brought the unwelcome news that the Expedition had broken its anchor and was in danger of being washed onto the rocks. It was imperative that Middleton return to the ship as soon as possible in order to organise a rescue operation, but with the wind blowing a gale the only way back was a twelve- mile hike overland. The English captain and his guides were almost half-way into their walk when they found their path blocked by a great river. The guides made the unhappy discovery that the river was full of alligators, but Middleton was unconcerned by the danger, even when told 'that if I saw any [alligator] I must fight with him or he would kill me'. With this warning ringing in his ears he waded into the water:

  I being weary, not having slept in two nights, tooke the water before the Indians, knowing they would bee over before me. The river being broad and with a swift current, which the great raine that had fallen had made, the Indians would have had me turn backe, but being the better halfe way, I was very unwilling.

  [While] in the water, one of the Indians that carryed my mandilion had got a great cane (which I knew not of) and strooke me on the side, who feeling the stroke, suspecting it had beene an alligata, dived under water where the current got such a hold on me that before I could come up I was in the sea; and there the sea threw me against the beach and bruised my backe and shoulder till the time that he came and gave me the end of the cane, whereof I got hold and he pulled me out, neere hand drowned, being tossed with the sea, that every suffe washed me into the sea againe.

  Such dangers had a happy ending. Not only was the Expedition saved from the rocks but the Hopewell, which had now not been seen for a month, suddenly hove into view. She had, it transpired, been blown thirty leagues to the east of the Banda Islands in a terrible storm and it had taken more than a fortnight to bring her back to Ceram.

  Middleton's success in buying spices had not escaped the notice of the Dutch. In his own words they were 'starke madde' from the moment he arrived in the Banda Islands, for the local traders had ferried all their available nutmeg over to Ai. This was all the more galling since two of their ships were only half laden with spice and required many more tons before they could sail for Holland.

  The Bandanese had been encouraged by Middleton's presence and now rose up against the Dutch, massacring all who had the misfortune to be caught outside the walls of Fort Nassau. And, 'being fleshed with the slaughter of some of the straggling Hollanders which they had murdered, [they] took all the able men to give assault to the Hollander's castles; and determined to fire their ships.'

  With the sound of musket fire ricocheting across the harbour, Middleton set sail for Bantam and home. His voyage had been a triumph, for against all the odds he had not only bought a massive quantit
y of nutmeg but also left the Dutch in an extremely vulnerable position. The Company directors were overjoyed and penned a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer, drawing special attention to Middleton s guile and courage: 'Seeking trade at Banda ... he was, with many reproachful and insolent speeches, forcibly put from all trading in those parts. What he got [was] with strong hand against their will, from other broken islands near adjoining, with extreme hazard and danger (they devising and oftentimes attempting to

  surprise, consume by fire and cut off by any indirect means both ship, men and goods.)'

  With a temporary power vacuum in the Banda Isles, the directors began once again to pore over their maps. It was the island of Run, some ten miles to the west of Great Banda, on which their eyes would eventually settle.