A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Viii Part 10

When all the three ships were nearly ready, the captain of a Holland ship, called the Sheilberge, then in the roads, requested permission of the general to join company with him, and take part in the adventure upon which he was going. This ship was above 200 tons burden; but her captain was as short of money in proportion as we were, and was therefore desirous of a chance of making some addition to his stock; and as our general was content to have his aid, he agreed to let him have an eighth part of what might be taken. The general then went to take leave of the king, to whom he presented two of the chief merchants, Messrs Starkie and Styles, whom the king graciously took under his protection, as they and some others were to remain behind to provide pepper against the return of the ships.

We sailed on the 11th September, 1602, steering our course for the straits of Malacca; but, before giving an account of this adventure, I shall relate how the king dealt with the Portuguese amba.s.sador after our departure. Every day the amba.s.sador urgently pressed for permission to depart; but still, on one pretence or another, the king delayed his voyage; till at last, twenty-four days after our departure, the king said to him, "I wonder at your haste to be gone, considering that the English amba.s.sador is at sea with his ships, for if he meet you he will do you some wrong or violence." "I care little for him," said the amba.s.sador, "for my _frigate_[113] is small and nimble, with sails and oars; and if I were only her length from the Englishman, I could easily escape all his force." The king then gave him his dispatch, and allowed him to depart. This delay served well for us, for had he got away in time, such advices would have been sent from Malacca into the straits by _frigates_, that all ships would have had warning to avoid us: But by detaining the amba.s.sador, we lay within 25 leagues of Malacca, and were never descried.

[Footnote 113: Frigates, in the present day, are single-decked ships of war, of not less than 20 guns: The term seems then to have been applied to a swift-sailing vessel of small size and force; and is frequently applied to armed or even unarmed barks or grabs, small Malabar vessels employed by the Portuguese for trade and war.--E.]

While we lay in the straits of Malacca, on the 3d October, the Hector espied a sail, and calling to us, we all saw her likewise. Being towards night, the general directed us to spread out in a line, a mile and a half from each other, that she might not pa.s.s us in the night. During the night the strange sail fell in with the Hector, which first espied her. The captain immediately hailed her to surrender, firing two or three shots to bring her to; so that the rest of our ships were apprized of where she was, and all gathered about her, firing at her with their cannon, which she returned. On the coming up of the admiral, which shot off six pieces at once out of her prow, the main-yard of the chase fell down, so that she could not escape. The admiral now ordered all our ships to discontinue firing, lest some unfortunate shot might strike between wind and water, and sink our expected prize; so we lay by her till morning without any more fighting. At break of day, the captain of the chase, and some of his men, went into his boat; on which the Hector, being nearest, called to them to come to his ship. Mr John Middleton, the captain of the Hector, being vice-admiral, brought the boat and captain immediately aboard the general, to whom they surrendered their ship and goods.

The general gave immediate orders to remove all the princ.i.p.al men of the prize on board our ships, and only placed four of our men in the prize, for fear of rifling and pillaging the valuable commodities she contained, and gave these men strict warning, if any thing were amissing, that they should answer for the value out of their wages and shares, ordering them on no account to allow any one to come on board the prize, unless with his permission. When the prize was unloaded, her own boatswain and mariners did the whole work, none of our men being allowed to go on board even to a.s.sist. They only received the goods into our boats, carrying them to such ships as they were directed by the general; by which orderly proceeding there was neither rifling, pillaging, nor spoil, which could hardly have been otherwise avoided in such a business. Within five or six days we had unladen her of 950 packs of calicoes and pintados, or chintzes, besides many packages of other merchandise. She had likewise much rice and other goods, of which we made small account: And as a storm now began to blow, all their men were put on board, and we left her riding at anchor. She came from San Thome, [or Meliapour near Madras,] in the bay of Bengal, and was going to Malacca, being of the burden of about 900 tons. When we intercepted her, there were on board 600 persons, including men, women, and children.

The general would never go on board to see her, that there might be no suspicion, either among our mariners, or the merchants in London, of any dishonest dealing on his part, by helping himself to any part of her goods. He was exceeding glad and thankful to G.o.d for this good fortune, which had eased him of a heavy care, as it not only supplied his necessities, to enable him to load his ships, but gave him sufficient funds for loading as many more; so that now his care was not about money, but how he should leave these goods, having so much more than enough, till the arrival of other ships from England.

The 21st October, we began our voyage from the straits of Malacca to return to Acheen; and by the way there came a great spout of water, pouring from the heavens, and fell not far from our ship, to our extreme terror. These spouts come pouring down like a river of water; so that, if they were to fall upon a ship, she would be in imminent danger of sinking downright; as the water falls all at once like one vast drop, or as a prodigious stream poured from a vessel, and with extreme violence, sometimes enduring for an hour together, so that the sea boils and foams to a great height.

-- 5. _Presents to and from the King of Acheen, and his Letters to Queen Elizabeth. Their Departure to Priaman and Bantam, and Settlement of Trade at these Places._

We again cast anchor in the road of Acheen, on the 24th of October, when the general went immediately on sh.o.r.e, and found all our merchants well and in safety, giving great commendations of the kind entertainment they had from the king in the absence of the general. On this account, the general, willing to gratify the king with some of the most valuable articles taken in the prize, selected a present of such things as he thought might be most to his liking, and presented them to him on his first going to court. The king received the present very graciously, and welcomed the general on his return, seeming to be much pleased with his success against the Portuguese; but jestingly added, that the general had forgotten his most important commission, which was to bring back with him a fair Portuguese maid. To this the general replied, that there were none worthy of being offered. The king smiled, and said, if there were any thing in his dominions that could gratify the general, he should be most welcome to have it.

The merchants were now directed to ship in the Ascension, all the pepper, cinnamon, and cloves they had bought in the absence of the ships, which was scarcely enough to complete her loading; but there was no more to be had at the time, nor could any more be expected that year.

The general, therefore, ordered every thing to be conveyed on board the ships, as he was resolved to depart from Acheen, and to sail for Bantam in _Java Major_, where he understood good sale might be procured for his commodities, and a great return of pepper at a much more reasonable price than at Acheen. Upon this order being promulgated, every person made haste to get their things embarked.

The general went to court, and communicated to the king his intentions of departing, and had a long conference with his majesty, who delivered to him a complimentary letter for the Queen of England.[114] A present was likewise delivered to him for the queen, consisting of three fine vestments, richly woven and embroidered with gold of exquisite workmanship, and a fine ruby set in a gold ring, the whole enclosed in a _red box of Tzin_.[115] He likewise presented the general with another ruby set in a ring, and when about to take leave, he asked the general if we had the Psalms of David extant among us. On being told that we had, and sang them daily, he said, that he and his n.o.bles would sing a psalm to G.o.d for our prosperous voyage, which they did very reverently.

He then desired that we might sing another psalm in our own language; and being about twelve of us present, we sang a psalm. That being ended, the general took leave of the king, who shewed him much kindness at his departure, desiring G.o.d to bless us during our voyage, and to guide us safely to our country; adding, that if any of our ships should come hereafter to his ports, they might depend on receiving as kind treatment as we had got.

[Footnote 114: Purchas gives a copy of this letter, as translated from the Arabic by William Bedwell. It is long, tedious, and merely composed of hyperbolical compliment; and therefore omitted.--E.]

[Footnote 115: This was probably a casket of red Chinese lacker or varnish, usually denominated j.a.panned.--E.]

All our goods and men being shipped, we departed from Acheen on the 9th November, 1602, with three ships, the Dragon, Hector, and Ascension, the Susan having been long before sent to Priaman. We kept company for two days, in which time the general prepared his letters for England, sending them away in the Ascension, which now directed her course by the Cape of Good Hope for England; while we steered along the south-western coast of Sumatra, in our way to Bantam, meaning to look for the Susan, which had been sent formerly to endeavour to procure a loading on that coast. While in this course we suddenly fell in among a number of islands in the night, and when the morning dawned were astonished how we had got in among them, without seeing or running upon any of them. They were all low land, environed with rocks and shoals, so that we were in great danger; but thanks be to G.o.d, who had delivered us from many dangers, and enabled us to extricate ourselves from the present difficulty. Continuing our course, we pa.s.sed the equinoctial line for the third time, and coming to Priaman, the 26th November, we rejoined the Susan, which the general had sent there from Acheen to load with pepper.

The people of the Susan were rejoiced at our arrival, having already provided 600 bahars of pepper, and sixty-six bahars of cloves. Pepper was cheaper here than at Acheen, though none grows in the neighbourhood of this port, being all brought from a place called _Manangcabo_, eight or ten leagues within the country; which place has no other merchandise, except a considerable store of gold in dust and small grains, which is washed out of the sands of rivers after the great floods of the rainy season, by which it is brought down from the mountains. Priaman is a good place of refreshment, and is very pleasant and healthy, though it lies within 15' of the line. Having refreshed ourselves here with good air, fresh victuals, and water, the general left orders for the Susan to complete her loading in all speed, which wanted only a few hundred bahars of pepper, and then to proceed direct for England.

Leaving the Susan at Priaman, we left that place with the Dragon and Hector on the 4th December, directing our course for Bantam in Java.

Entering the straits of Sunda, the 15th December, we came to anchor under an island three leagues from Bantam, called _Pulo Pansa_. Next morning we got into the road of Bantam, and fired a great peal of ordnance from our two ships, the like of which had never been heard in that place before. Next morning, the general sent Captain John Middleton on sh.o.r.e with a message for the king, to say that he, the general, was sent by the Queen of England with a letter and message for his majesty, and required his majesty's licence and safe conduct to come on sh.o.r.e to deliver them. The king sent back word that he was glad of his arrival, sending a n.o.bleman along with Captain Middleton to welcome the general, and accompany him on sh.o.r.e. Taking about sixteen attendants, the general went on sh.o.r.e with this n.o.bleman to the court, where he found the king, being a boy of ten or eleven years of age, sitting in _a round house_, surrounded in some decent state by sixteen or eighteen of his n.o.bles. The general made his obeisance after the custom of the country, and was welcomed very kindly by the young king. After some conference about his message, he delivered the queen's letter into the king's hands, and made him a present of plate and some other things, which the king received with a smiling countenance, and referred the general for farther conference to one of his n.o.bles, who was protector or regent of the kingdom in his minority.

After a conference of an hour and a half; the regent in the king's name received the general and all his company under the king's protection, with perfect freedom to come on land, to buy and sell without molestation, a.s.suring him of as great security as in his own country, to all which the other n.o.bles gave their consent and a.s.surance. There pa.s.sed many discourses upon other topics at this conference, which I omit troubling the reader with for the sake of brevity; my purpose being to shew the effect of this first settlement of trade in the East Indies, rather than to be tediously particular. After this kind welcome and satisfactory conference, the general took his leave of the king and n.o.bles, and immediately gave orders for providing houses, of which he had the king's authority to make choice to his liking. Within two days, the merchants brought their goods ash.o.r.e, and began to make sales; but one of the n.o.bles came to the general, saying, that it was the custom of the place, for the king to buy and provide himself before the subjects could purchase any thing. The general readily consented to this arrangement, being informed that the king would give a reasonable price and make punctual payment.

When the king was served, the merchants went on with their sales, and in a few weeks sold more goods than would have sufficed to purchase loading for both ships, yet we only brought away from thence 276 bags of pepper, each containing sixty-two pounds. Each bag cost at first rate 5-1/2 ryals of eight, of 4s. 6d. being 1:4:9 per bag, or something less than 5d. a pound. This was, however, besides duty of anchorage and custom to the king. By agreement with the _Sabander_ or governor of the city,[116] the general paid as anchorage duty for the two ships, 1500 ryals of eight; and one ryal of eight as custom for each bag of pepper.

We traded here very peaceably, though the Javans are reckoned the greatest thieves in the world: But; after having received one or two abuses, the general had authority from the king to put to death whoever was found about his house in the night, and after four or five were thus slain, we lived in reasonable peace and quiet, yet had continually to keep strict watch all night.

[Footnote 116: This officer, as his t.i.tle implies, which ought to be written Shah-bander, is lord of the port or harbour.--E.]

We went on with our trade, so that by the 10th February, 1603, our ships were fully laden and ready to depart. In the mean time, Mr John Middleton, captain of the Hector, fell sick on board his ship in the road. For, from the very first of our voyage, the general made it an invariable rule, if he were ash.o.r.e, that the vice-admiral must be on board, and _vice versa_, that both might not be at one time from their charge. Hearing of his sickness, the general went aboard to visit him, and found him much weaker than he himself felt or suspected, which experience in these hot climates had taught our general to know; for, although Captain Middleton was then walking about the deck, he died about two o'clock next morning.

The general now proceeded to put every thing in order for our speedy departure, and appointed a pinnace of about 40 tons, which we had, to be laden with commodities, putting into her twelve mariners with certain merchants, whom he sent to the Moluccas, to trade there and settle a factory, against the arrival of the next ships from England. He likewise left eight men and three factors in Bantam, Mr William Starkie being head factor; whom he appointed to sell such commodities as were left, and to provide loading for the next ships. Every thing being arranged, the general went to court to take his leave of the king, from whom he received a letter for Queen Elizabeth, with a present of some fine bezoar stones. To the general he gave a handsome Java dagger, which is much esteemed there, a good bezoar stone, and some other things. After this the general took leave of the king, with many courteous expressions on both sides.

-- 6. _Departure for England, and Occurrences in the Voyage_.

We all embarked on the 20th February, 1603, shot off our ordnance, and set sail for England, giving thanks to G.o.d with joyful hearts for his merciful protection. We were in the straits of Sunda on the 22d and 23d of that month, and on the 26th we got clear of all the islands in these straits and of the land, shaping our course S.W. so that on the 28th we were in lat. 8 40' S. On Sunday the 13th March, we were past the tropic of Capricorn, holding our course mostly S.W. with a stiff gale at S.E.

The 14th April we were in lat. 34 S. judging the great island of Madagascar to be north of us. We had a great and furious storm on the 28th, which forced us to take in all our sails. This storm continued a day and night, during which the sea so raged that none of us expected our ships to live; but G.o.d, in his infinite mercy, calmed the violence of the storm, and gave us opportunity to repair the losses and injuries we had received; but our ships were so shaken by the violence of the wind and waves, that they continued leaky all the rest of the voyage.

We had another great storm on the 3d May, which continued all night, and did so beat on the quarter of our ship that it shook all the iron work of our rudder, which broke clean off next morning from our stern, and instantly sunk. This misfortune filled all our hearts with fear, so that the best and most experienced among us knew not what to do, especially seeing ourselves in so tempestuous a sea, and a so stormy place, so that I think there be few worse in the world. Our ship now drove about at the mercy of the winds and waves like a wreck, so that we were sometimes within a few leagues of the Cape of Good Hope, when a contrary wind came and drove us almost into 40 S. among hail, snow, and sleety cold weather. This was a great misery to us, and pinched us sore with cold, having been long used to hot weather. All this while the Hector carefully kept by us, which was some comfort, and many times the master of the Hector came aboard our ship to consult upon what could be done.

At length it was concluded to put our mizen-mast out at a stern port, to endeavour to steer our ship into some place where we might make and hang a new rudder to carry us home. This device, was however to little purpose; for, when we had fitted it and put it out into the sea, it did so lift up with the strength of the waves, and so shook the stem of our ship, as to put us in great danger, so that we were glad to use all convenient haste to get the mast again into the ship.

We were now apparently without hope or remedy, unless we made a new rudder, and could contrive to hang it at sea, which may easily be judged was no easy matter, in so dangerous a sea, and our ship being of seven or eight hundred tons.[117] But necessity compelled us to try all possible means. The general ordered our carpenters to make a new rudder of the mizen-mast; but there was this great obstacle, that we had lost all our rudder-irons along with the old rudder: Yet we proceeded with all expedition; One of our men dived, to search what might remain of our rudder-irons on the stern port, who found but two, and another that was broken. Yet, with G.o.d's help, finding a fair day, we made fast our new rudder, and were able to make sail homewards. Within three or four hours, the sea took it off again, and we had great difficulty to save it, losing another of our irons, so that only two now remained to hang it by, and our men began to propose quitting the ship and going on board the Hector to save themselves. "Nay," said the general, "we will abide G.o.d's leisure, and see what mercy he will shew us; for I do not yet despair to save ourselves, the ship, and the goods, by some means which G.o.d will appoint." With that, he went into his cabin, and wrote a letter for England, proposing to send it by the Hector, commanding her to continue her voyage and leave us; but not one of our ship's company knew of this command. The tenor of the letter was as follows, little more or less, addressed to the Governor and Company:

RIGHT WORSHIPFUL,

_What hath pa.s.sed in this voyage, and what trades I have settled for the company, and what other events have befallen us, you shall understand by the bearers hereof, to whom (as occasion has fallen) I must refer you, I shall strive with all diligence to save my ship and her goods, as you may _perceive by the course I take in venturing my own life, and those that are with me. I cannot tell where you should look for me, if you send any pinnace to seek me; because I live at the devotion of the winds and seas. And that, fare you well, praying G.o.d to send us a merry meeting in this world, if it be his good will and pleasure.

The pa.s.sage to the_ East India _lieth in 62 1/2 degrees, by the north-west on the America side_.[118]

_Your very loving friend,

JAMES LANCASTER_.

[Footnote 117: At the commencement of this article, the burden of the Dragon is only stated at 600 tons.--E.]

[Footnote 118: This latter paragraph obviously refers to the _ignis fatuus_ of a northwest pa.s.sage by sea to India, to be noticed in an after part of this work.--E.]

When this letter was delivered to the Hector, together with his orders for her departure, the general expected she would have gone off from us in the night, according to instructions; but when he espied her in the morning, he said to me that they regarded no orders. But the Hector kept some two or three leagues from us, not coming any nearer; for the master was an honest and good man, who loved our general, and was loth to leave him in such great distress. It was now inc.u.mbent upon us to try every means to save ourselves and the ship. Our carpenter mended our new rudder, and in a few days the weather became somewhat fair and the sea smooth. So we made a signal for the Hector to come near, out of which came the master, Mr Sander Cole, bringing the best swimmers and divers belonging to his ship, who helped us materially in our work. By the blessing of G.o.d, we hung our rudder again on the two remaining hooks, and then had some hope of being able to fetch some port for our relief.

We were sore beaten to and fro in these raging seas, and had many more storms than are here expressed, sometimes for a whole month together, so that our men began to fall sick, and the wind was so scant that we could fetch no port on the coast of Africa, which was the nearest land.

Committing ourselves therefore into the hands of G.o.d, we made sail for the island of St Helena, knowing that we were to the westwards of the Cape of Good Hope, especially by the height we were now in to the northward. While in this course our main-yard fell down, and drove one of our men into the sea, where he was drowned; this being the last of our misfortunes. The 5th June, we pa.s.sed the tropic of Capricorn, and in the morning of the 16th we got sight of St Helena to our great joy. We bore close along sh.o.r.e, to get to the best part of the road, where we came to anchor in twelve fathoms water, right over against a chapel which the Portuguese had built there long since.

When we went ash.o.r.e, we found by many writings, that the Portuguese caraks had departed from thence only eight days before our arrival. In this island there are excellent refreshments to be had, especially water and wild goats; but the latter are hard to be got at, unless good means are followed. For this purpose the general selected four stout active men, the best marksmen among our people, who were directed to go into the middle of the island, each of these, having four men to attend him, and to carry the goats he killed to an appointed place, whence every day twenty men went to bring them to the ships. By this plan there was no hooting or hallooing about the island to scare the goats, and the ships were plentifully supplied to the satisfaction of all. While we remained here, we refitted our ships as well as we could, and overhauled our temporary rudder, securing it so effectually that we had good hope it might last us home. All our sick men recovered their health, through the abundance of goats and hogs we procured for their refreshment. Indeed all of us stood in great need of fresh provisions, having seen no laud in three months, but being continually beaten about at sea.

We departed from St Helena on the 5th July, steering N.W. and pa.s.sed the island of Ascension, in lat. 8 S. on the 13th. No ships touch at this island, for it is altogether barren and without water; only that it abounds with fish all around in deep water, where there is ill riding for ships. Holding our course still N.W. with the wind at E. and S.E.

till the 19th of that month, we then pa.s.sed the equator, and on the 24th were in lat. 6 N. at which time we judged ourselves to be 150 leagues from the coast of Guinea. We then steered N. by W. and N. till the 29th, when we got sight of the island of _Fuego_, one of the Cape Verds, where we were becalmed five days, striving to pa.s.s to the eastwards of this island but could not, for the wind changed to the N.E. so that we had to steer W.N.W. We were in lat. 16 N. on the 7th August, and on the 12th we pa.s.sed the tropic of Cancer, in lat. 23 30' N. holding our course to the north. The 23d the wind came westerly; and on the 29th we pa.s.sed St Mary, the southeastermost of the Azores, with a fair wind. We had soundings on the 7th September, 1603, the coast of England being then 40 leagues from us by our reckoning; and we arrived in the Downs on the 11th of that month, where we came safe to anchor: For which we thanked the Almighty G.o.d, who hath delivered us from infinite perils and dangers, in this long and tedious navigation; having been, from the 2d April, 1601, when we sailed from Torbay, two years five months and nine days absent from England.

SECTION II.

_Account of Java, and of the first Factory of the English at Bantam; with Occurrences there from the 11th February, 1603, to the 6th October, 1605_.[119]

INTRODUCTION.

The entire t.i.tle of this article, in the Pilgrims of Purchas, is, "A Discourse of Java, and of the first English Factory there, with divers Indian, English, and Dutch Occurrences; written by Mr Edmund Scot, containing a History of Things done from the 11th February, 1602, till the 6th October, 1605, abbreviated."

[Footnote 119: Purch. Pilgr. I. 164. Astl. I. 284.]

It is to be observed, that February, 1602, according to the old way of reckoning time in England, was of the year 1603 as we now reckon, for which reason we have changed the date so far in the t.i.tle of the section. Mr Edmund Scot, the author of this account of Java, was one of the factors left there by Sir James Lancaster. He became latterly head factor at that place, and returned from thence to England with Captain Henry Middleton, leaving Mr Gabriel Towerson to take charge of the trade in his room; doubtless the same unhappy person who fell a sacrifice, seventeen years afterwards, to the avarice, cruelty, and injustice of the Dutch. This article may be considered as a supplement to the voyage of Sir James Lancaster, and is chiefly adopted as giving an account of the first factory established by the English in the East Indies. Being in some parts rather tediously minute upon matters of trifling interest, some freedom has been used in abbreviating its redundancies. The following character is given of it by the editor of Astley's collection.--E.

"The whole narrative is very instructive and entertaining, except some instances of barbarity, and affords more light into the affairs of the English and Dutch, as well as respecting the manners and customs of the Javanese and other inhabitants of Bantam, than if the author had dressed up a more formal relation, in the usual way of travellers: From the minute particulars respecting the Javanese and Chinese, contained in the last sections, the reader will be able to collect a far better notion of the genius of these people, than from the description of the country inserted in the first; and in these will be found the bickerings between the Dutch and English, which laid the foundations of these quarrels and animosities which were afterwards carried to such extreme length, and which gave a fatal blow to the English trade in the East Indies."--_Astl._