The Dutch

The Dutch interest in these regions is so vast – the trade of clove and other drugs and spices.

They think that they will have a gateway there to rule the whole Orient.

They continually come to these islands in greater numbers and with larger fleets.

The English and Flemish usually make this voyage by way of the strait of Magallanes.

Francisco Draque [Drake] was the first to make it, and some years later Tomas Liscander [Candish or Cavendish], who passed by Maluco.

Lately pirate Oliver del Nort, a Fleming, made the voyage.

The Spanish fleet fought his fleet in the Filipinas Islands, at the end of 1600.

In this fight, after the capture of his almiranta (which was commanded by Lamberto Biezman) the flagship, having lost nearly all its crew fled.

He returned to Amstradam with his ship “Mauricio” with only 9 men on August 26, 1601.

Bartolome Perez, a pilot, gave the same news from the island of La Palma.

He, having come from England by way of Holanda, conversed with Oliver del Nort, and the latter narrated to him his voyage and sufferings, as mentioned by Licentiate Fernando de la Cueva in a letter from the island of La Palma, [208] on the last of July 1604, to Marcos de la Cueva, his brother, who was a resident of Manila, and one of the volunteers who embarked on the Spanish flagship which fought with the pirate. This letter is as follows.

I answer two of your Grace’s letters in this: one dated July, six hundred and one, and the other July, six hundred and two.

In both of them your Grace relates to me the shipwreck that befell you and how you saved yourself by swimming.

Long before I saw your Grace’s letters, I had learned of your mishap, whereat I was very anxious and even quite grieved; because of what was reported here, I imagined that your Grace had a part in it.

Consequently, I was singularly overjoyed at the assurance that your Grace still possessed life and health. Having them, one can conquer other things; and without them human treasure has no value. By way of Flandes (whence ships come daily to this island), I learned much, nay, all the event, although not so minutely. For Oliver de Nort, who was the Dutch general, with whom the engagement occurred, arrived safely in Holanda, with eight men—and he made nine—and without money.

His purpose when he left the rebellious states of Holanda and Zelanda, with five armed vessels laden with merchandise—which were worth, principal and merchandise, one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand ducados—was to trade and carry on commerce through the strait (and such were his orders), in whatever parts he should be, with friends or enemies. He was not to attack anyone, but only to defend himself and to incline the Indians to trade and exchange with him.

All the vessels having reached the strait together, three of them became separated there because of storms, and must have been wrecked; for up to the present nothing has been heard of them. Having seen himself so abandoned, and that he could not restore his loss by trade, or else because he did not receive a hospitable reception from the inhabitants of Piru, he determined to exceed his orders, and make that voyage one of plundering. Accordingly he stationed himself at the mouth of the river to await ships.

The rest that befell, your Grace knows. Oliver de Nort is a native of the city of Roterdam, and he reached it with an anchor of wood. [209]

He had no other with which to anchor, nor indeed had he any other left. It is said that this is a very heavy wood of the Indias, and he has placed it at the door of his house, as a mark of distinction. He arrived, as I say, with nine men, all told, very much worn out, and as by a miracle.

He has printed a book of his voyage, with engravings of his vessels, and many other details of what happened to him, and the hardships that they endured in the fight and throughout the voyage, both to show his own glory and to incite others to similar deeds.

A pilot of this island, one Bartolome Perez, was seized and taken to Inglaterra before the peace or truce. He came through Holanda, where he conversed at great length with Oliver.

The latter told him all that had happened to him, which is known to all, and was discussed in this island before that voyage. Bartolome Perez says that Oliver de Nort praised the Spaniards greatly, and said they were the bravest men he had seen in his life.

They had gained the deck of his ship, and all the upper works, when he cried out from below deck to set fire to the powder, whereupon he believes that the Spaniards left for fear of being blown up.

The Dutch then had an opportunity to escape, but so crippled were they that their reaching port seems a miracle. The pilot says that he saw the anchor and the book, and what pertains to the book is stated here.

I have recounted this to your Grace, because of the statements in your letter, namely, that people considered them as lost, and so that so singular a case may be known there.

The Dutch make the voyage more quickly and more safely, going and coming, by way of India, but not touching at its ports or coasts, until they reach the Javas: [210]

• Java major
• Java minor
• Samatra
• Amboino
• the Malucas.

They know the district so well, and have experienced the immense profits from it.

It will be difficult to drive them from the Orient, where they have inflicted so many losses in both spiritual and temporal affairs.