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as well as in the Netherlands. Our foreign possessions, indeed, though far distant, are still provinces of the fatherland.
Actuated by these considerations, I willingly accepted the offer made to our junior officers to enter the Colonial Navy, and receive the command of a gun-boat armed with an 18-pounder, two 8-pounders, some swivels, and manned with thirty men, chiefly Javanese, the same rank being given me with that I held in the Royal Navy. I was now sent to the east coast of Banka, for the purpose of keeping the pirates in check, and of keeping open the communication with the tin mines. At first I was accompanied by the schooner Zeemeeuw, Lieutenant Alewyn, but this vessel was soon ordered on another station, and I remained here eight months, in daily contact with the pirates, without the assistance of other Europeans; this period forming by no means the most agreeable portion of my stay in India. I had often serious engagements with the famed Radin Allin, who, however, never was courageous enough to board the gun-boat. Had he done so, our only resource would have been to blow up our vessel, to prevent her falling into the hands of the pirates, as the great superiority of their force would have rendered it impossible to withstand them. This Radin Allin displayed great intrepidity on several occasions. Once, while I was conveying some vessels to Kaba, he took advantage of my absence to attack and carry the fort of Batu-Rusa, on the Marawang river. On my return I found him still in the river with a large number of prahus, where I blockaded him until the month of September 1820, when I at length received assistance from Minto, at a period when such relief had become of the greatest necessity, as I had often thought that my last hour had arrived. Of my crew, only a few natives remained, the others having either been killed or sent to the hospital.
During these hazardous expeditions I had frequent opportunities of witnessing the fidelity of the Javanese seamen in the hour of danger. Their behaviour and disposition prepossessed me very much in favour of the nation to which they belonged, and during my subsequent voyaging in India, where I considerably increased my acquaintance with them, I never had occasion to alter the favourable
opinion I had formed. When a Javanese is treated with consideration, and is not subjected to tyrannical treatment, he is as much to be trusted as an European, and submits far more readily to control.
The force which came to my relief consisted of several vessels under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Keer, destined to act against the chiefs of the rebels, Radin Allin and Radin Kling, and I now obtained permission to return to Minto. In the beginning of 1821, I departed thence for Sourabaya, with the view of having the gun-boat repaired, as it was ordered to take part in the expedition which during that year re-established our authority at Palembang. The particulars of that renowned expedition being still fresh in the memory of my readers, I will give no circumstantial account of our proceedings, but I will relate a few occurrences in which I was personally engaged. After the first attack, when our fleet had retired to its former position, it was my good fortune to rescue Lieutenant Boerhave and his men, together with the crew of another gun-boat, both of which had fallen into the hands of the enemy; and on the following 24th of June, during the second assault, the gun-boat under my command opened the way through the strong barricade erected across the river to the attack of the great floating battery, on which I was the first to plant the Netherlands flag. As a token of particular approbation on the part of the Government for this deed, three of my small crew received the decoration of the military order of William.
After the termination of this renowned expedition, which ended in the entire conquest of the kingdom of Palembang, I received orders to accompany General De Kock to Batavia. In the month of August I was appointed to the schooner Calypso, which circumstance I only mention for the purpose of rendering a just tribute to the meritorious character of Lieutenant Sondervan her commander. In this vessel I passed the entire year 1822, making several voyages in her, circumnavigating Java, and visiting the mines of Sambas and Pontiana, in Borneo. M. Tobias, the commissioner for our establishments in Borneo, was on board the schooner the greater
portion of the time. The agreeable society of this gentleman, coupled with the unbroken harmony that prevailed among us, rendered these voyages extremely pleasant, notwithstanding the hardships and fatigues we underwent. We made several journeys into the interior of Borneo, and inspected the mines of the Chinese, which are here very numerous. I will not particularise the voyages I subsequently undertook to Banka, Sumatra, and many other of our possessions, which I performed with pleasure, as they gave me many opportunities of gathering information concerning these countries and their native inhabitants.
Having thus passed a considerable time in India, without experiencing the lassitude of which Europeans in that part of the world so generally complain, I was appointed adjutant to my former chief, Captain Van Schuler, who had now become Commandant and Director of the Colonial Marine. Although I was much pleased by the honourable notice with which my brave chief favoured me, I soon became tired of an idle life at Batavia. I had been so long accustomed to the navigation of these seas, that I could not refrain from soliciting the Governor General, Van Der Capellen, to place me again in active service.
While performing a journey overland from Batavia to Sourabaya in company with Captain Van Schuler, I took the opportunity of visiting Bantjar, in the district of Rembang, where I saw the beautiful frigate Javaan, with several brigs and schooners, then in the course of construction for the Colonial Navy.[2] The command of one of these was promised to me on this occasion. I will pass over the description of this part of Java, as being unconnected with the object of the work. We met with few occurrences worthy of remark, for I do not consider our adventure in crossing the Sumadang Mountains, where our carriage was overturned, of sufficient importance to detain me in my narrative.
On my return to Batavia I was promoted to a Lieutenancy of the first class in the Colonial Marine, and at my urgent request was suffered to throw up my appointment as Adjutant, when I was invested with
the command of H.M. Brig Dourga,[3] with orders to ship a crew, and fit her out in readiness to accompany the Governor General on his expedition to the Moluccas in 1824. So recently promoted, invested with a new command, and about to become a fellowvoyager with his Excellency, it will readily be conceived that my zeal was of the strongest, and that I exerted myself to the utmost to show myself worthy of the favours that had been conferred upon me.
After remaining a considerable time at Amboyna, a settlement distinguished by the courtesy and hospitality of its European inhabitants, we sailed for Banda in the train of the Governor General, (who was embarked in the frigate Eurydice), where we arrived on the 18th of April. The Gunung Api volcano was in a state of violent action at the time, filling the atmosphere with fire and smoke, the volumes of the latter being ejected with such force, that their collision caused constant vivid flashes of lightning, accompanied by a rumbling noise like that of thunder. This outbreak of nature was indescribably fine and majestic, and is memorable for having formed a new crater in the north-west side of the mountain. The town of Banda, remained, however, uninjured.
From Banda we sailed for Sapanua, an island well known from the war which took place there in 1817, and I subsequently proceeded to Menado and Macassar, where I took part in the expedition called forth by the war that had broken out in Celebes.
The mode of warfare which obtains among the Macassars, differs considerably from that adopted by the other natives of the Archipelago, than whom they are more wealthy and better armed, while at the same time they take the lead in cleverness and ferocity. When under their own chiefs, they are not remarkable for shewing that courage which is commonly ascribed to them, especially to the Bughis, this being displayed rather upon the sea than on land. They will rarely stand firm against the attacks of regular troops in the field, but fight well from ambuscades or from behind entrenchments. Their arms consist of very good guns, manufactured by themselves,
On the morning after our arrival, the troops, with detachments of seamen from the ships, were landed in good order under cover of the guns of the squadron. Our attack upon the well-fortified town of Supa was unsuccessful, the troops being driven back to the hills, of which, however, they maintained possession; the enemy returning into the town, with the exception of a number of horsemen, who remained at the foot of the hills, and some detachments which took up positions to the southward. Towards evening some mortars and brass six-pounders were landed, and placed in battery against the town. The firing was at first attended with little loss on either side, but the war-cries of the Bughis convinced us that they were assembled in great force.
Repeated attempts were now made to set fire to the strongholds of the enemy, but they were unsuccessful, and attended with considerable loss. The vessels employed in keeping up the communication with Macassar had by this time brought a number of native auxiliaries furnished by the king of Sidenreng, but these took up a position to the southward, and never emerged from their hiding places.
Information which was now received of our garrisons at Pankalina and Labakang, consisting of sixty men each, having been overpowered and massacred to a man, spread dismay and dejection among the troops, while, through the weak indulgence of our commandant, military discipline was often disregarded, and our operations consequently, were deficient in point of combination. A second general assault was not determined on until the men had been wearied by useless skirmishing. All the men that could be spared from the ships were now ordered on shore, and on this as on the previous occasion I served with them; the command of the left wing of the battery being entrusted to me, while the right was under the direction of Commander Buys.
At daylight on the 14th, after our batteries had for some time played with vigour on the town, Lieutenant-colonel Reder advanced to the attack with one hundred and fifty soldiers, one hundred seamen,
personal bravery. The expedition, although unsuccessful, had therefore the effect of inspiring the people of Supa with a dread of the Dutch arms. According to the account of trustworthy natives, their loss had been very great; indeed, their successes never gave them sufficient confidence to emerge from behind their entrenchments. We now endeavoured to reduce them by a close blockade, but in this we were also unsuccessful; and this object was not effected until six months afterwards, when General Geer appeared before the place with a force much greater than that employed on the previous occasion.
On the 6th of October, the squadron left Supa for Macassar, carrying away the troops, with the exception of one hundred men, who were left under the command of Captain Van Doornum. The brig under my command, together with a gun-boat, also remained, and we were soon joined by the corvette Courier. On the 20th, I sailed for Macassar, and two days afterwards, when off Tannette, a number of prahus were seen standing in towards the fort there, in which we had a garrison of fifty men. On perceiving the brig the prahus altered their course and stood out to sea, a proceeding which aroused my suspicion, and as the sea breeze prevented me from following them, I ran in, and brought up off the mouth of the river. A small prahu soon came alongside, bringing the information that the fort was beset on the land side by the enemy, who threatened an attack with so large a force that our small garrison could not possibly resist. The commandant wished to embark his men in the brig and desert the fort; but as I could not receive them without having received orders to that effect from the governor, I sent one of the small vessels that attended the brig to Macassar, to make known to the authorities there the hazardous position we were in. It appeared that the enemy intended to have attacked the fort both by sea and land, in which case not one of the garrison would have escaped. My accidental arrival had fortunately prevented this double attack, which would not have been the case had I come a day later, or had I missed the prahus, the appearance of which caused me to anchor off the fort. I therefore thanked Providence for leading me to adopt
the route which brought me near the besieged place, the garrison of which, but for this opportune visit, must have experienced the same fate with that which had already befallen those of Labakang and Pankalina. On the following day the brig Nautilus arrived to relieve us.
In the mean time the people of Boni had risen, all the tribes to the northward of Macassar being now in arms against us. The town of Macassar was often threatened by the enemy, but they never ventured an attack, being deterred by the force our ally, the king of Goa, had brought into the field, and by the reinforcements that arrived from Java. Preparations were now made for a grand expedition, the troops that had been left at Supa and Tannette being withdrawn from their uncomfortable posts to join the main force at Macassar.
On the 1st of December I sailed for Sourabaya, the brig being in want of repairs; and on the 19th of January, 1825, returned to Bonthian Bay, on the south coast of Celebes. On the 10th of March, General Van Geen arrived there with the frigate Javaan, and a number of vessels large and small. The general was accompanied by the Panambahan,[5] of Samanap, on the island of Madura, who brought with him a number of native auxiliaries, paid and equipped at his own expense; the Raja of Goa also furnishing a large number of men for the expedition, who were armed by our government. The ships of war were attended by a number of transports; so that the fleet presented a very imposing appearance.
On the 16th of March the fleet sailed from Bonthian Bay, and passing through the straits of Salayer, entered the Bay of Boni, without incurring injury from the numerous coral reefs that were scattered along our route. A melancholy accident occurred soon after our departure from Bonthian. A detachment of three officers and ninetythree light infantry men, had been embarked on board a prahu, totally unfitted for a transport. Some vessels having been perceived by the people on deck, they called out that some pirates had hove in sight, on which those who were below rushed up, and climbing on
[4] The kriss is a short dagger of a serpentine form; the klewang, a sort of hanger or short sword; and the lelah, a cannon of small calibre, usually composed of brass.
[5] Panambahan is a Javanese title, the possessor of which takes precedence of a Pangeran or Prince, but ranks below a Raja or Sultan.