Nathaniel's nutmeg (39 page)

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 benefits: '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.'

In the event the negotiations in The Hague broke down and the English, who had presented their own list of propositions, found they were rejected by the Dutch. After all the excitement and many months of discussions, both parties found themselves back at the drawing board. By late spring 1615 the English commissioners realised there was nothing left to discuss and they returned to London.

It was during the years in which these negotiations were taking place that Jan Pieterszoon Coen began his spectacular climb to the top. He had first sailed east in 1607, a most unfortunate introduction to the spice trade for it was while he was stationed in the Banda Islands that Verhoef and his lieutenants were massacred. Coen was in

no doubt that the English had played a significant role in planning the ambush and much of his hatred seems to have stemmed from this belief.

In 1612 he sailed to the Spice Islands for a second time and it was on this occasion, while serving as chief merchant, that he engaged in his first scrap with John Jourdain. The men shared the similar aim of capturing the entire Bandanese spice trade but Coen was willing to employ far bloodier methods to pursue his goal. He wanted to conquer islands, subjugate the natives and plant Dutch colonies as a balance to the English presence in the region. Although the Seventeen had already sent out a handful of settlers they were hardly what Coen had in mind; a motley crew much given to 'drinking and whoring'. In later years Coen would persistently call for a better class of settler, particularly those with manual skills. 'Even if they come naked as a jaybird,' he wrote, 'we can still use them.'

A portrait of Coen hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Painted in Bantam, it depicts a tall, upright figure with a long and narrow face and deep-set eyes. His lips are thin, his nose aquiline and his cheeks hollow and pale. It is by no means a flattering portrait but it does suggest that Coen was a man in total control of his destiny. The few contemporary descriptions of Coen are far from complimentary. One of his colleagues describes him as 'full of Italian tricks' whilst others refer to his bony hands and pointed fingers. His nickname was De Schraale, which means 'thin and lanky' but also refers to his grim character.

His numerous letters give a greater insight into his character. Coen was a reserved man who was preoccupied with what he considered to be his duty and who did not suffer fools gladly. He never hesitated to speak his mind, frequently admonishing his superiors for what he believed to be their stupidity and short-sightedness. He was a practical man, a great mathematician, who, as a strict Calvinist, was devoid of any frivolities. As for a sense of humour, he had none.

His rise through the ranks was rapid. A year after proving himself a successful chief merchant he was promoted to the important post of book-keeper general and, after a further twelve months, was made a member of the influential Council of the Indies. He might have hoped that when Gerald Reynst died shortly after his abortive attack on Ai he would be promoted to the position of governor-general. As it turned out, the Seventeen in Amsterdam elected Laurens Reael, an effete aristocrat who appears to have spent much of his time concerned with his dress. Coen, not surprisingly, could not stand the man and argued vehemently against his tactics in dealing with the English. Reael responded by countermanding Coen's instructions forbidding the English from sailing to the Banda Islands, ordering him that 'no harsh measures were to be used to disperse the English by force, fearing that this might not only lead to war in these quarters but might spread to Europe as well.'