Nathaniel's nutmeg

by Giles Milton

  The Dutch governor-general soon knocked the waverers into shape, informing them not only that they were here to stay, but that they were about to launch a massive offensive against Ai. Many were only too keen to escape the dangers posed by the volcano, unaware that Ai's awkward geography made an invasion extremely hazardous. 'The sea shoare is so steepe that it seemeth nature meant to reserve this iland particularly to herselfe,' wrote one observer. 'There is but one place about the whole iland for a ship to anchor in; and that so dangerous that he that letteth fall his anchor seldome seeth the weighing of it againe; besides he incurreth the imminent dangers of his ship.'The invasion was scheduled for the morning of 14 May 1615, and Reynst — who dismissed the difficulties — declared himself confident that it would be in Dutch hands within a matter of hours. He was taking no chances; almost a thousand Dutch and Japanese soldiers were pitched against Ai's five-hundred-strong fighting force and the Hollanders were armed to the teeth with muskets and cannon. But from the moment they launched their attack the Dutch troops were surprised by the resistance they encountered. The native marksmanship was far more accurate than anything they had experienced on Neira or Great Banda and the island strongholds were particularly well designed. These fortifications snaked upwards from the shoreline to the hills so that even when the Dutch captured long sections of wall they found to their annoyance that they were open to attack from defenders higher up the hillside.

  The English on Ai had spent time and effort preparing themselves for the invasion. Not only had they planned a detailed defence of the island, they had also trained the natives to use muskets and taught them how to hold their positions. Had they not been faced with such an over­whelmingly larger force, the men of Ai might well have saved the island from capture. But successive waves of Dutch attackers gradually disheartened the defenders and by night­fall their army had succeeded in overrunning most of the island, leaving only one remote fort still controlled by the Bandanese. As the sun went down the Dutch celebrated their victory, then went to sleep in the knowledge that tomorrow the whole island would be theirs.

  It was a fatal mistake, for in the early hours the Bandanese crept out of their fort and launched a savage counter-attack. The Dutch soldiers, heavy with sleep and in unfamiliar surroundings, were sitting ducks. Twenty-seven were killed outright and dozens more wounded as they fought their way back to their ships. Two Dutchmen, convinced that all was lost, suddenly switched over to the enemy. One of them clambered into a tree and killed two of his erstwhile comrades with a single shot. The Dutch humiliation was complete. As the ships limped back to Neira, the scale of their defeat gradually became apparent. In one day's fighting they had lost thirty-six soldiers, with two hundred wounded and two defections. Reynst was devastated, never recovered from the humiliation and died a few months later.

  The role of the English in this debacle did not pass unrecorded by Jan Coen who sent two letters to the Seventeen in Amsterdam. In the first he informed them that the English 'want to reap what we have sowed, and they brag that they are free to do so because their king has authority over the Netherlands nation.' In the second he

  was more forthright. 'You can be assured,' he wrote, 'that if you do not send a large capital at the earliest opportunity ... the whole Indies trade is liable to come to nothing.'

  The Seventeen, in fact, had every intention of con­tinuing their war against the island of Ai and in the spring of 1616 they despatched Admiral Jan Dirkz Lam to the Banda Islands with one simple order: Ai was to be brought under Dutch control. The natives on Ai knew that the Dutch would return to punish them and were equally certain that they would be unable to withstand a second attack. They therefore asked Sophony Cozucke to sail one of their chieftains to Bantam so that he could personally deliver a letter to John Jourdain.

  'We have all heard even from farr countryes of the greate love and peace that the Kinge of England has with all the world ...' it read, 'and hath done no hurt to any of our religion, or doth seeke to overthrowe our lawe, and doth not by force attempt to overcome any man's kingdome, but only peace and frindshipp doth seeke trade without violence.'

  Therefore we all desire to come to an agrement with the Kinge of England, because that nowe the Hollanders do practize by all meanes possible to conquer our country and destroy our religion, by reason whereof all of us of the Islands of Banda do utterly hate the very sight of theis Hollanders, sonnes of Whores, because they exceede in lying and villainy and desire to overcome all men's country by trechery. These are the occasions whie we soe extreamely hate them. We have nowe therefore with one general consent, resolved never hereafter to trade with them, but allwayes to esteeme them our utter enimyes, wherefore we all thought good to send this lettre ... that if so be the kinge of England out of his love towards us will have a care of our cuntry and religion and will help us with artillary powder and shott and help us to recover the castle of Neira, whereby we may be able to make warrs with the Hollanders, by God's helpe all the spice that all our island's shall yeald, we will onely sell to the King of England, and to no other nation in the world.

  There was only one proviso attached to the agreement: 'that [if] in small matters the Bandanezers should give occasion of discontent to the English, or the English doe that which might be distastful to the Bandanezars, that then with mutuall consent like frinds they would beare with each others errors; onely we all desire that you doe not seeke to overthrowe our religion, and that you do not comitt offence with our weomen, because theis twoe onely we are not able to endure'.

  Such words were music to the ears of Jourdain who was already dreaming of expanding the English factory in Ai- Now was the time to act and, in December 1615, he assembled a squadron of three ships, the Thomas, the Concord and the Speedwell, and instructed them to sail for Banda without further ado. But just as they were about to leave Bantam Jourdain received a note from Jan Coen warning him that henceforth all English shipping was banned from the Banda Islands and that any vessel contravening this order would be expelled by force and 'if any slaughter of men happened ... they would not be culpable.'

  The arrival of two new English ships under the command of Samuel Castleton strengthened Jourdain's resolve. Castleton had always intended to sail to the Banda Islands and had no intention of being deflected from his mission by an arrogant letter from Jan Coen. He suggested that all the ships sail together in a mini-armada, and set off in January 1616 on what was to prove one of the most bizarre English expeditions ever to reach the Banda Islands. This was largely due to the eccentricities of its commander whose behaviour left the Dutch both puzzled and bemused. Castleton had already caused raised eyebrows among the Company directors in London after trumpeting his unorthodox methods for preserving the health of his sailors. These included the daily baking of fresh bread on board his ships, the manual grinding of corn which he considered 'an exercise fit to preserve men in health' and the distilling of fresh water from salt by means of an elaborate system of stills and furnaces. Had this worked, he intended that each of his vessels would have its own mobile desalination plant. Unfortunately it proved a complete failure, his crew still died, and Castleton concluded that it was their own fault since they were all confirmed alcoholics.

  By the time his fleet arrived off Ai Island a new Dutch armada under the command of Admiral Lam had anchored in the shadow of Fort Nassau. Lam had come in even greater numbers than his predecessor: a fleet of twelve ships and more than a thousand soldiers who were shortly joined by a second fleet and military reinforcements. For a few days they watched the English ships lurking around Ai and Run Islands before Lam realised that both islands were being fortified and that on Run the English were building some sort of castle. He immediately ordered his men to prepare for a full-scale invasion of Ai, but scarcely had their squadron of ships set sail from Neira than they discovered they had a fight on their hands. Castleton had manoeuvred his five vessels into the deep channel separating the two islands, blocking access to Ai. A few shots were fired an
d the men were about to do battle when a curious incident brought the fighting to an abrupt halt. Castleton, it seems, had only just learned the name of the Dutch commander and, despatching a rowing boat over to Lam's ship, he offered his compliments to the commander and explained that he, an Englishman, was so deeply grateful for a service Lam had once rendered him that he was unable to bring himself to continue with the battle. To an astonished Lam he added that he was ordering his vessels to withdraw and apologised for any offence he might have caused.

  Castleton did indeed have good cause to thank Lam. Some three years previously he had been watering at the Atlantic island of St Helena when he was surprised by two Portuguese carracks and forced to put to sea, leaving half his men on the island. Two Dutch vessels commanded by Lam had just left the island; vessels which Castleton chased after and begged for assistance. Lam agreed to attack the Portuguese, an action which saved the English sailors but cost him dear for he lost one of his ships in the fight.

  Now, in very different circumstances, Castleton wished to repay Lam's former kindness. Invited over to the Dutch commander's ship, Castleton found himself heartily welcomed by Lam who was only too happy to strike a gentleman's agreement in which the Englishman would withdraw his fleet and provide intelligence about Ai's defences in return for freedom of trade with Ai once the Dutch had occupied the island. The two men shook hands and Castleton, perhaps a little ashamed at the way he had just abandoned the islanders of Ai, sailed to Ceram while Lam conquered the island. His last act was to instruct Richard Hunt, the resident English factor on Ai, to observe a strict neutrality throughout the forthcoming battle.

  The island elders watched in despair as the English vessels sailed away. A council was convened at which they pinned their last hopes on Hunt, formerly surrendering Ai and Run to him and dutifully raising the flag of St George from the island's battlements. There was little else to do but await the Dutch onslaught.

  Despite their overwhelming superiority the Dutch found their second battle for Ai no less challenging than the first. Once again a huge force of Dutch and Japanese soldiers were landed and they fought their way from stronghold to stronghold, surprised by the tenacity of their Bandanese foes. By nightfall they had taken most key positions but still the island was not under control. Fearful of a repeat of the previous year's catastrophe the men remained on their guard all night and in the morning a large band of reinforcements were landed. Violent rainstorms hindered the Dutch and it was a further two days before the island was finally brought under their control. By this time the Bandanese had run out of ammunition and most escaped to Run Island where they could continue their resistance to the Dutch.

  Lam took no chances once he had conquered Ai. He built a sturdy fort close to the shoreline, provided it with a permanent garrison and gave it the appropriate name Fort Revenge. 'It is a regular pentagon, well fortified, and furnished with all manner of provisions and souldiers, and is held to bee the strongest castle the Dutch have in the Indies.' It stands to this day, its neglected ramparts overgrown with climbing ivy and its parade ground home to a family of goats. But the battlements are in a fine state of repair and a rusting cannon still points towards Run, the letters VOC — Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - embossed on the barrel.

  Lam drew up a formal agreement with the conquered Bandanese and took the opportunity to confirm Dutch authority over most of the Banda Islands. Great Banda and Neira reluctantly signed up to the Dutch monopoly; tiny Rozengain soon followed suit. Ai got the worst deal of all for Lam fixed the price of nutmeg at 20 per cent less than on the other islands. Of all the Bandas, Run now stood alone — the only island that remained unoccupied by Dutch troops and was party to no agreement with the Dutch East India Company.

  It was to Run that Richard Hunt now fled 'in fear of his life, the Hollanders having sworne to hang him, and did offer great sums of money for his person'. He eventually arrived back in Bantam where news of his clandestine activities had spread far and wide and where he had the misfortune to become a walking symbol of the Dutch hatred for the English. In the words of John Jourdain, 'Richard Hunt, passinge in a very narrowe streete, mette with two of the Dutch marchannts, which came abrest towards him and would nott give him way to passe by. Soe Hunt put one of them aside to make waye, whereupon they fell to blowes. The Dutch beeinge neere their backe dore called for their slaves who presentlie came, to the number of 20 persons, and fell upon him and beate him very sore, and hailed him through the durte by the haire of the head to their owne howse.' Vowing to make him suffer before they killed him they 'sett him in the boults at their gate in the hott sunne, without hatt'. All this was done very publicly in order to demonstrate to the townspeople that the Dutch were a force to be reckoned with. Jourdain realised this and decided to meet force with force, threatening to seize 'the best of their marchannts', clap them in irons, and put them on display outside the English gates. But Hunt was unexpectedly released before he had a chance to carry out his threat, and a new English fleet arrived in the bay of Bantam. Its commander, the experienced William Keeling, urged restraint and although annoyed by the treatment of Hunt, was 'was willing to wink at it, and so the matter rested'. Individuals continued to fight in the streets, and even to kill one another, but on an official level the two nations remained at peace.

  Peace was something that the office-bound directors of both the English and Dutch East India Companies recognised as essential if the spice trade was to continue to be profitable. Yet the peace had always been an uneasy one and, in the remoter islands of the East Indies, had all too often spilled over into a virtual state of war. As early as 1611 the English directors had felt the need to complain about the warlike stance taken by some of the Dutch commanders. Enraged by persistent reports of violence shown to their employees, and 'having long and patiendy endured sundry notorious wrongs and injurious courses at the hand of the Hollanders', they were 'enforced at last to break silence'. In a lengthy letter to the Lord High Treasurer of England they set out their woes and requested help in their desire to enter into dialogue with the States General. King James approved the idea and instructed his minister in The Hague to set the ball rolling. Although the Dutch disputed most of the English com­plaints they agreed to meet in 1613 'in order to promote friendly feeling and good neighbourly relations'.

  The Dutch negotiating team was a distinguished one, led by the noted jurist Hugo Grotius who had published his celebrated Mare Librum in the previous year. Grotius, whose book had the significant subtitle, A Discourse concerning the right which the Hollanders claim of trade to India, argued, as had the Dutch in Manhattan, that as soon as a nation erected a building on a piece of land, the land automatically became the property of that nation. He added that the Dutch, unlike the English, had spent vast sums of money fighting the natives in the East Indies and, in view of that, it was totally unfair of the English to dispute their rights to trade with these islands. The English East India Company disagreed, maintaining its right to trade with the Spice Islands by virtue of the fact that it got there first. 'Before these regions were known to you,' announced the directors grandly, 'we stood legally approved by their leaders and peoples, in pacts and agreements, as we can easily prove.' The conference ended with no formal agreement, but it had achieved the useful result of bringing the two sides together and many felt that it would be foolish not to continue the dialogue. It was therefore agreed that the teams should meet again within two years.

  This second conference, which took place against a backdrop of much bloodshed in the Banda Islands, was to prove one of the more extraordinary events in the saga of the two companies. The conference began in a similar manner to its predecessor with each side retreading the same old ground. But after a few days the English contingent were invited to a meeting with the Attorney- General of Holland who made the startling suggestion that the two companies unite to form one unbeatable organisation. Chief negotiator Sir Henry Wooten immediately wrote to the directors in London pointing out the b
enefits: 'If we joined with them to beat the Spaniards out of the East Indies we shall make them as profitable unto us as the West Indies should be unto them.'

  Although the English directors remained extremely sceptical, a detailed proposal concerning the merger was prepared and plans were formulated for the finance of the giant company. The benefits were deemed to be enormous: each year more than ,£600,000 of spices could be shipped from the East, the maximum that western Europe could consume annually. Spain would quickly be forced out of the region, native chiefs would be compelled to reduce duties paid at Bantam and trade with China would be vigorously pursued. Even discipline among sailors would be improved since there would no longer be any rivalry between the two nations.

  So keen were the Dutch to prove conciliatory that shortly before the suggestion was mooted the Seventeen wrote to the hot-headed Jan Coen ordering him to avoid any conflict or 'maltreatment' of the English. Coen was stung by this letter and immediately penned a sarcastic reply: 'If by night and day proud thieves broke into your house, who were not ashamed of any robbery or other offense, how would you defend your property against them without having recourse to "maltreatment?" This is what the English are doing against you in the Moluccas. Consequently, we are surprised to receive instructions not to do them bodily harm. If the English have this privilege above all other nations, it must be nice to be an Englishman.'