Contents

pp v-vii

List of Illustrations

pp viii-x

Preface to the English Edition

pp xi-xii

List of Abbreviations

pp xiii-xiv

Introduction

pp 1-10

Part One - Commanders at Home Ashore

pp 11-12

Introduction to Part One

pp 13-16

1 - Enkhuizen: The city – Some commanders’ families – Commanders and retired commanders home from the sea – Retired Commander Klaas Goedhoen and his financial dealings in the port area – Changes in the second half of the century – More commanders from outside Enkhuizen – The often sedate retirement of former commanders

pp 17-39

2 - Hoorn: The city – The characteristics of Hoorn commanders – Two seafaring families – Two dignified gentlemen – The final days of the Hoorn Chamber

pp 40-54

3 - Middelburg: The city – The majority of commanders from the city of Middelburg – From Company to Navy – Making a fortune at the Cape – Two very different men – Changes in geographical origins

pp 55-73

4 - Delft: Delft and Delfshaven – Commanders’ families in Delfshaven – Commanders and retired commanders in the city of Delft – Former commanders living off their investments – Two unfortunate men

pp 74-89

5 - Rotterdam: The Chamber and the population of the city – Humble beginnings – Sailing to riches – The trade of the Van Brattem brothers – Rogge and Smalt: portents of different times ahead

pp 90-104

6 - Amsterdam: Almost no commanders resident in exclusive neighbourhoods – The city – The Company in the city – Foreigners also appointed commander – Characteristics of the commanders – Jan de Marre: theatre director and playwright – Jan de Marre in his role as examiner – The last commanders of the Amsterdam Chamber

pp 105-126

7 - Commanders from Outside the Six Chamber Towns: Vlaardingen and Maassluis – Katwijk-aan-Zee – Texel – Two whaling fleet commanders to the East

pp 127-139

8 - Naval Officers Employed by the Company: Changes in 1742 – Van Imhoff ’s favourites – Back and forth between the Navy and the Company – Naval ranks after all

pp 140-154

Part Two - Commanders at Sea

pp 155-156

Introduction to Part Two

pp 157-158

9 - Appointment as Commander: By rotation and drawing lots – Did a commander pay for his position? – Asking around

pp 159-171

10 - Examinations, Ranks and Training: Examinations – ‘1742’ – The return to the old system – The commander becomes a captain after all – The Académie de Marine in Batavia – The usual course of instruction and the changes introduced

pp 172-187

11 - Normal Income: Monthly wages – Bonuses and gratuities – Personal cargo – Rising incomes – The actual payment – An incomplete cargo – Amounts withheld from stipends – Benevolent Fund

pp 188-203

12 - Private Income: Regulations for the outward voyage – A glimpse of private trade on the voyage out –Regulations for the voyage home – Transfers of money from Asia to the Republic – Caught and punished – Earning money in Asia and a few big earners

pp 204-224

13 - On Board: In the roads – A box brimming with instructions and regulations – The commander’s cabin – Slaves in the commander’s cabin – Social life on board – The ship’s business – Arrival overseas – Going home

pp 225-248

14 - Their Ships: Problems with the ships and the commanders – The commanders of the Zealand Chamber as champions of a different East Indiaman – Ships lost without trace – Reaction of the Hoge Regering to the shipping disasters

pp 249-263

15 - Striking Differences in Personalities: ‘Humane heads of ships’ – Brutal and drunken commanders – Authors and victims of tensions – ‘A horrible man’: Jan Hokkeling – No new command after the loss of a ship? – No longer admissible

pp 264-281

16 - Professionals in a Conservative Company: Knowledge and experience of navigation – Commanders and their navigational instruments – Stagnation in charting the sea – Innovations in navigation around 1790 – A closer look at the route to China – Towards another type of commander: the 1780s and 1790s

pp 282-299

17 - The English East India Company and Other Companies: Dutch Commanders in a Broader Perspective: The English East India Company – The French Compagnie des Indes – The Dansk-Asiatisk Compagnie and the Svenska Ostindiska Kompani – VOC commanders in comparison

pp 300-309

Conclusion: Commanders in Retrospect

pp 310-316

Bibliography

pp 317-328

Index of Names

pp 329-334