The East India Company (VOC) carried out a total of 2957 round trips and 2369 home trips during the eighteenth century. At least 1200 different skippers commanded two or more times on a round trip. In this book, full attention is paid to those skippers. They were men charged with the ultimate responsibility for ships with a precious cargo of Asian products and several hundred people on board on tours that lasted an average of eight months, both back and forth.
In Part I, the living and living environment of the skipper at home on the shore is at the centre of attention, so is also his social background. In Part II we follow the skipper in the pursuit of his profession on board and of course also in difficult circumstances.
In August 1724 the MCC (Commercial Company of Middelburg) fitted out a small fleet of two well armed frigates, called the Don Louis and Don Carlos and the supply vessel Patache el Mercurio for undertaking a South Sea expedition.
Includes an account of the travels of the Don Louis third mate, Hubregt Kempe, conveying an impression of the hard life of a sailor aboard this frigate, including the loss of two thirds of the total crew and the uprising and insubordination of crew members. The MCC expedition ended in disaster as the Don Louis was seized by the Spaniards and the other two ships were captured by the Portuguese.
