de Halve Maen, Summer 2017

de Halve Maen Journal of The Holland Society of New York Summer 2017

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de Halve Maen

The Holland Society of New York 708 THIRD AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10017

Magazine of the Dutch Colonial Period in America

President Andrew Terhune Vice President Col. Adrian T. Bogart III Treasurer Eric E. Delamarter

Secretary R. Dean Vanderwarker III Domine Rev. Paul D. Lent

Advisory Council of Past Presidents W. Wells Van Pelt Jr. Walton Van Winkle III William Van Winkle Charles Zabriskie Jr.

VOL. XC

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Editor’s Corner

31

Around a World in 26 Years: A Closer Look at David Pieterszoon De Vries’s Journal

by Bjarne van Lierde

43

Trustees Emeriti

David M. Riker Kent L. Stratt David William Voorhees John R. Voorhis III Ferdinand L. Wyckoff Jr. Stephen S . Wyckoff Rev. Everett L. Zabriskie III

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Editorial Committee Peter Van Dyke, Chair David M. Riker

Summer 2017

Book Review: G. Lisa Jardine, Going Dutch. How England Plundered Holland’s Glory

by Ruth Piwonka

Vice-Presidents Connecticut-Westchester Samuel K. Van Allen Dutchess and Ulster County George E. Banta Florida James S. Lansing International Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta Jr. Jersey Shore Stuart W. Van Winkle Long Island Eric E, DeLamarter Mid-West Gary Louis Sprong New Amsterdam Eric E. DeLamarter New England Charles Zabriskie Jr. Niagara David S. Quackenbush Old Bergen-Central New Jersey Gregory M. Outwater Old South Henry N. Staats IV Pacific Northwest Edwin Outwater III Pacific Southwest (North) Kenneth G. Winans Pacific Southwest (South) Paul H. Davis Patroons Robert E. Van Vranken Potomac Christopher M. Cortright Rocky Mountain Col. Adrian T. Bogart III South River Walton Van Winkle III James J. Middaugh Texas Virginia and the Carolinas James R. Van Blarcom United States Air Force Col. Laurence C. Vliet, USAF (Ret) United States Army Col. Adrian T. Bogart III Capt. Louis K. Bragaw Jr. (Ret) United States Coast Guard United States Marines Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta Jr., USMC (Ret) United States Navy LCDR James N. Vandenberg, CEC, USN

Production Manager Odette Fodor-Gernaert

De Halve Maen on VOC Cities Tour in the Netherlands

by Eduard T. Van Breen

Burgher Guard Captain Sarah Bogart

Editor David William Voorhees

NUMBER 2

IN THIS ISSUE:

Trustees Edwin Outwater III Gregory M. Outwater Alexander C. Simonson Samuel K. Van Allen Frederick M. Van Sickle Stuart W. Van Winkle Kenneth Grant Winans

Summer 2017

Copy Editor Sarah Bogart

John Lansing Henry N. Staats IV

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Here and There in New Netherland Studies

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Society Activities

51

In Memoriam

The Holland Society of New York was organized in 1885 to collect and preserve information respecting the history and settlement of New Netherland by the Dutch, to perpetuate the memory, foster and promote the principles and virtues of the Dutch ancestors of its members, to maintain a library relating to the Dutch in America, and to prepare papers, essays, books, etc., in regard to the history and genealogy of the Dutch in America. The Society is principally organized of descendants in the direct male line of residents of the Dutch colonies in the present-day United States prior to or during the year 1675. Inquiries respecting the several criteria for membership are invited.

De Halve Maen (ISSN 0017-6834) is published quarterly by The Holland Society. Subscriptions are $28.50 per year; international, $35.00. Back issues are available at $7.50 plus postage/handling or through PayPaltm.

POSTMASTER: send all address changes to The Holland Society of New York, 708 Third Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. Telephone: (212) 758-1675.

Fax: (212) 758-2232.

E-mail: info@hollandsociety.org Website: www.hollandsociety.org Copyright © 2017 The Holland Society of New York. All rights reserved.

Cover: the New Netherland Museum ship Halve Maen in Walcheren Canal, Middleburg, October 2016. Photo by Eduard van Breen.

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Editor’s Corner

T

HE IMPETUS BEHIND early modern European exploration of the Americas continues to attract attention, as well as controversy. This is particularly true of the rapid rise at the turn of the seventeenth century of the newly created Dutch Republic as a force in American exploration. In Innocence Abroad (2001), historian Benjamin Schmidt noted, “The Dutch, like the rest of Europe, fashioned America out of disparate fabrics and followed changing styles.” He later adds, “The New World came to the Netherlands long before the Netherlands ever went to the New World.”

This issue of de Halve Maen focuses on Dutch exploration and settlement of the region between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers. Naturally, our viewpoint centers on exploration in the terms of a Dutch national experience and its influence in defining us. But the impact of these years had profound repercussions for the destiny of numerous ethnic and racial groups, and their perspectives cannot be simply ignored.

In this issue’s first article, “Around a World in Twenty-Six Years,” Ghent University student Bjarne van Lierde examines David Pieterszoon De Vries’s published 1655 journal of exploration to glean what motivated Dutch explorers and to understand the purpose the publications of their journals served. In De Vries’s Journal of Several Voyages to the Four Corners of the World, Van Lierde notes that De Vries combined seven voyages made between 1618 and 1644: three to the Mediterranean, one to the East Indies, and three to the West Indies, New Netherland, and Virginia. Taking place over a twenty-six year period, the journal was not published until the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War. Over this fortyyear period, social and political conditions shifted drastically: “The political landscape of the Republic changed, important factions and characters came and went.”

Van Lierde believes, however, that each “discovery” narrative was meant to not only inform but to give “future travelers and their nation an advantage over others.” For comparison, he looks at Adrian van der Donck’s Description of New Netherland, published shortly before De Vries’s work. Though both narratives were published in the same year, Van Lierde finds crucial differences between them. His explanation is thought-provoking. Nonetheless, as Benjamin Schmidt noted, “America shaped Dutchness.” For Van Lierde, De Vries’s discovery narratives served as a patriotic “extension of the Dutch Republic.”

The shaping of shared national identity is also the core of Eduard van Breen’s essay reporting on a recent tour of the American replica ship Halve Maen (Half Moon) of six former United East-India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) cities in the Netherlands in 2016. As Van Breen notes, it was the 1609 explorations of Dutch East India ship Halve Maen, sailing under the captaincy of Englishmen Henry Hudson, that led to Dutch claims to the region and the founding of New Netherland. In 1909, under the patronage of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the Dutch con-

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structed a full-size replica of the Halve Maen as a symbol of mutual heritage between the two nations. Unfortunately, that ship burned in 1932. In 1989, Dr. Andrew Hendricks built the current replica and created the not-for-profit New Netherland Museum to manage the ship. For over the succeeding twentyfive years the Halve Maen represented New Netherland’s Dutch heritage in American maritime events. But to revitalize the original vision of the ship as a symbol linking the United States and the Netherlands, in 2015 the New Netherland Museum made a loan agreement with the Westfries Museum in the Dutch city of Hoorn. The ship arrived in Hoorn in May 2015 and in August 2015 participated in Sail Amsterdam15.

In October the following year, Ad Geerdink, director of the Westfries Museum, arranged for the Halve Maen to undertake a tour of the six historic Dutch VOC which had sponsored the 1609 voyage of exploration of the original Halve Maen: Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Amsterdam, Middelburg, Delft, and Rotterdam. In each city a separate theme highlighted various aspects of VOC history. Van Breen’s picture essay in these pages captures the excitment that the Halve Maen’s tour generated. Indeed, the reader cannot help but feel touched by the enthusiastic crowds dressed in period costumes reenacting this event in our nations’ mutual past.

To build upon his vision of an ongoing exchange between the United States and the Netherlands, during a meeting with the mayor of Barneveld, Gelderland, on October 26, Dr. Hendricks forged a new bridge between the countries. Soon thereafter, the City Council of Barneveld adopted a resolution to explore possibilities of cooperation with Barneveld’s regional Nairac Museum and the New Netherland Museum on an exhibit about the early immigrants of New Netherland. Through such exchanges, America and the Netherlands will continue to shape each other’s identity, much as they have done for the past four centuries.

I

T IS WITH deep sorrow that we note the passing of Holland Society Fellow Dr. Leo Hershkowitz on August 10, 2017.

Dr. Hershkowitz was instrumental in saving many early New Amsterdam and New Netherland Dutch records when New York City and other communities were disposing them. He was also instrumental in getting official recognition for the Dutch period in New York City history when, with New York City Council President Paul O’Dwyer, he presented a bill to change the year on New York City’s official flag and seal from 1664, the year the Dutch surrendered New Netherland to the English, to 1625, the year of the founding of New Amsterdam. With Dr. Hershkowitz the modern era of New Netherland studies truly began. In an age of giants, he was among them.

David William Voorhees Editor

de Halve Maen

Around the World in Twenty-Six Years: A Closer Look at David Pieterszoon De Vries’s Journal.

by Bjarne Van Lierde And so a competent hand pictured our David, whose day, astonished America and Asia, and made impotence prevail, when the first Orange flag came to her shores with a civilizing greet, every Turk and Savage met his determination with defeat, just as the Duke of Soubise saw his hand for God and God’s people in France, that burning and wartorn land.

Now, out of Hoorn’s womb, and saved from flood, fire and flame, Artillery-master, he became.”1

T

HE HOMAGE ABOVE was inserted right underneath David Pieterszoon De Vries’s self-portrait, as a swift recapitulation of his life, why the person in the portrait would have to be taken into consideration, and why he deserved a place in history. It had to show that De Vries did have something to tell and some knowledge to share. That “something” was found all around the world. Asia and America are mentioned in the same sentence, alluding to the equal importance of both voyages.

Turks and Savages were encountered, both challenging the courage of De Vries.

Finally, a burning France is mentioned, hinting at some relevance to this conflict.

And all of this happened with an “orange flag,” clearly emphasizing De Vries’s loyalty toward the House of Orange. All of these events and voyages were combined in one book, the Journal of Several Voyages to the Four Corners of the World.2 Of course it had to be sold as well, so De Vries incorporated such promoting, poetic homages to excite a possible audience. De Bjarne Van Lierde is a student in history at Ghent University, Belgium. Bjarne describes himself as a “social engineer,” with a diverse and wide curiosity and interest—ranging from past intellectual history to modern geopolitics, economics, and international law. This paper is the result of a series of classes on early modern European discourses on the Americas held at Ghent University in 2015–2016 by Dr. Thomas Donald Jacobs.

Dutch navigator and explorer David Pietersz. de Vries (c. 1593–c. 1662) by Cornelis Visscher.

Vries had seen the corners of the world; his story deserved to be heard.

Yet present-day scholars don’t seem to be convinced by his Journal, at least not in the way De Vries might have expected.

Nonetheless, the number of studies about the Dutch abroad and their colonial encounters are rising and their importance in the New World is being acknowledged more and more. In 2005, David William Voorhees published an essay on New Netherland studies, asking methodological questions and highlighting lacunas in the research.

One of those lacunas is related to the role of the individual in New Netherland. Although many biographies and portraits of New World figures, such as Everardus Bogardus and Petrus Stuyvesant, “have begun to fill the wide gaps in our understanding of the role of the individual in New Netherland’s development, many more biographies of New Netherland’s leading, and lesser, figures are needed.” Wouter van Twiller, for example, is one such character whose story has yet to be told.3 A comprehensive study

about Kieft’s War has yet to be undertaken as well.4 De Vries’s Journal incorporates these three topics, as De Vries had contact with Van Twiller, and was a primary witness in Kieft’s policies and the run-up toward Kieft’s War. In the end, his Journal can reveal a lot about De Vries as an individual as well—perhaps even more than about the events in New Netherland. Present-day scholars do commend De Vries’s Journal to reconstruct the atrocities of the Directors 1 David Pietersz De Vries, Korte historiael ende journaels aenteyckeninge van verscheyden voyagies in de vier deelen des wereldtsronde, als Europa, Africa, Asia, ende Amerika gedaen, published by H. T. Colenbrander (’s-Gravenhage, 1911), VIII, author’s translation.

There is no complete English translation of the title; Henry Cruse Murphy referred to De Vries’s work as Voyages from Holland to America, but, as this article will encompass more than just these voyages, a more comprehensive title was needed.

2

David William Voorhees, “Tying the loose ends together: putting New Netherland studies on a par with the study of other regions,” in Revisiting New Netherland: Perspectives on Early Dutch America, ed. Joyce D. Goodfriend (Boston, 2005), 322.

3

4

Ibid., 327.

Summer 2017

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in New Netherland, however. Benjamin Schmidt, for example, uses the Journal to illustrate the “Tyranny abroad” of the Dutch, leading to the fall of New Netherland in 1664.5 Yet quite ironically, Schmidt, even as he studied the Dutch imagination of the New World, seemed to have used De Vries as a largely objective source. De Vries is simply labeled as a New Netherland promoter, placing him in the shadow of other New Netherland authors such as Adriaen van der Donck and Johannes Megapolensis.

Donna Merwick also highlighted Kieft’s War using the Journal, interpreting it as a plea from De Vries, to the Dutch, to get away from the Americas.6 But in both cases, the source heuristics of the Journal are almost completely neglected. All of De Vries’s other voyages, which were already hinted at on De Vries’s self-portrait, almost seemed forgotten. In fact, only Willem Frijhoff seems aware of the need to explain the whole source, and its problems for historians; “but the intrepid De Vries, who enjoys the reputation of a straightforward sailor, an adventurous entrepreneur, and a shrewd negotiator, still waits for a historian able to disentangle in his journal fact and fiction, events and interpretation, stupid prejudice and sound judgment.”7 Bruno Latour provides a stepping-stone on how to interpret the Journal. In 1987, Latour constructed his hypothesis on why a nation sent out explorers, and what purpose their journals and descriptions of these voyages had—a theory he called the “centers of calculation.” Every voyage, every new discovery, and each account of them was meant to return to the fatherland.

Every narrative about the “discovery” was meant to inform future travelers, to give them an advantage. A process of accumulation was started, giving the nation as a whole an advantage over another on.8 Every narrative thus had its contribution to make to the accumulation of knowledge.

In the same way, New Netherland narratives had their purpose and contribution to the well-being of the Dutch Republic.

Adriaen van der Donck’s Description of New Netherland, for example, was meant to promote New Netherland and attract new settlers to the colony. John Easterbrook discovered patterns of cosmopolitanism in Van der Donck’s work to indicate that everyone could become a Hollander in New Netherland.9 Meanwhile, Ada van Gastel emphasized the threat the English—and Director Petrus Stuyvesant—posed to New

Netherland, and how Van der Donck demanded that the Dutch Republic take over the colony.10 So, as nice and adventurous as these descriptions may have seemed, they all had a specific message to pass on.

By consequence, the question arises as to what message De Vries wanted to give to the Dutch Republic. In short, why did De Vries publish his Journal in 1655? What contribution was there to make? Why did he wait so long—over ten years after his last voyage—to publish it?

Keeping in mind Latour’s theory, I will answer this research question with the aid of Norman Fairclough’s framework for Critical Discourse Analysis. This version of CDA uses three levels of analysis; the macro-, meso-, and micro-level.11 Some elements of these levels can already be reconstructed with the aid of secondary literature.

Nonetheless, the size and diversity of the Journal suggest they will need special treatment. The macrolevel of Van der Donck’s Description illustrates this. One could expect De Vries’s Journal to refer to this level the same way Van der Donck’s Description does, since both narratives are written by Dutchmen, and were published in 1655.

Yet such a comparison isn’t easily made, as there are crucial differences between the two. The Description was published shortly after Van der Donck wrote it.12 As a consequence, the macrolevel of the Description provides us with a snapshot—that is, the discontent about Stuyvesant and the West India Company and the first Anglo-Dutch War taking place. This is a major difference with De Vries’s Journal.

De Vries combined seven voyages around the world in his narrative. The first three voyages were to the Mediterranean from August 20, 1618, to August 26, 1619; June 10, 1620, to September 8, 1622; and, last, from March 1624 to October 1625.

De Vries’s fourth voyage was to the East Indies from March 1627 to June 1630. His final voyages were to the West Indies; the fifth one to New Netherland and Virginia from May 24, 1632, to July 24, 1633; the sixth one to the Wild Coast, Virginia, and New Netherland from July 10, 1634 to October 1636. And the destination of his final voyage was once again Virginia and New Netherland, from September 25, 1638, to June 21, 1644. De Vries’s narrative thus provides readers with a constant change of the macrolevel, not only chronologically, but geographically as well. On top of that, readers are confronted with the time-gap between the last travel and date of publica-

tion; a time gap of over ten years, providing us with yet another macrolevel. His voyages took place during the Dutch Revolt against Spain—some during the Twelve Years’ Truce, others after it—while publication took place during the first Anglo-Dutch War. Some voyages were to the Old World, others to the New World—which makes a world of difference, of course. Even a distinction between the East and West Indies should be made, as the WIC and VOC surely weren’t the same either. Conditions inside the Republic shifted drastically as well over these forty years, causing the mesolevel to differ too. The political landscape of the Republic changed, important factions and characters such as Maurice of Orange and Johan De Witt came and went.

This may have had important consequences to the intended audience of the Journal—in contrast to Van der Donck’s Description, where the chronological factor largely remains the same.

The extent of De Vries’s Voyages thus challenges historians, as it is difficult to include everything in one article. Nonetheless, to discover the purpose of De Vries’s Journal, I intend to include all of his travels.

De Vries put them together in one book, and I believe he had his reasons for doing so. Next, I will follow the chronological and geographical order the Journal provides; in other words, the voyages to the Mediterranean will be examined first, the voyage to the East Indies next, and finally the voyages to the West Indies will be discussed. Some simplifications will still have to be made. Since the chronological and geographical factor in the first three voyBenjamin Schmidt, Innocence abroad. The Dutch imagination of the New World, 1570–1670 (New York, 2001), 277–80.

5

Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: DutchAmerindian Encounters in New Netherland (Philadelphia, 2006), 152.

6

Willem Frijhoff, “Neglected networks: director Willem Kieft (1602–1647) and his Dutch relatives,” in Revisiting New Netherland: Perspectives on Early Dutch America, ed. Joyce D. Goodfriend (Boston, 2005), 148.

7

Bruno Latour, Science in action (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), 216–23.

8

John Easterbrook, “Cosmopolitanism and Adriaen Van der Donck’s A description of New Netherland,” Early American Literature 49, no. 1 (2014): 3–36.

9

10 Ada Van Gastel, “Rhetorical ambivalence in the New Netherland author Adriaen Van der Donck,” MELUS 17, nr. 2 (1992): 3–18.

Jan Blommaert and Chris Bulcaen, “Critical Discourse Analysis,” Annual Review of Anthropology 29 (2000): 447–66.

11

12 Adriaen Van der Donck, A description of New Netherland, published by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna (Lincoln, Nebr., 2008), xiii–xv.

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de Halve Maen

ages was almost identical—the macrolevel thus hardly changing—I will discuss these voyages in the first part of the article. The voyage to the East Indies will be handled separately—despite the rather short period of time—because of the dramatic change in macrolevel. The voyages to the West Indies will be discussed together as well. Although these last travels cover about half of the Journal, their destination stayed largely the same, which enables us to notice trends without losing too much information. At the end I will include a paragraph covering the macrolevel in 1655, so that, in the conclusion, all arguments can be put together to form an answer to my research question.

The beginning of the Journal: The Mediterranean. David De Vries was a Dutch patriot, or at least he wanted to present himself as one. This becomes clear in his first voyages. However, being a Dutch patriot implies being patriotic for a Dutch cause. At the end of the sixteenth century— prior to De Vries’s first voyages—this cause was still fragile, as the future of the Dutch Revolt was uncertain. To do the impossible, to win their independence and defeat the Spanish tyrants, Dutch historian Arie Theodorus Van Deursen wrote that the Dutch rebels needed four crucial elements: foreign support, financial capacities, a cause and

ideology worthy of the effort, and a strong leader. The first was quickly accomplished, as Philip II, King of Spain, tried and failed to expand his power in French and English territories. This drove the English, Dutch, and French right into each other’s arms. As the Atlantic World and the Indies were incorporated into the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century economy, and Amsterdam became the center of this expanding network, the financial means were also provided to the young Dutch Republic. The Reformed Church and notions of Spanish atrocities in the Dutch Republic as well as abroad formed a stable and fertile basis on which to build a Dutch identity, one that was worth dying for. And finally, the strong leader was found in William of Orange, who could balance it all out.13 These elements were all still in place, when De Vries made his first voyages at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Already on the first page of his Journal, De Vries, in a discussion with a pro-Spanish Dutch citizen, acknowledged their existence and importance. “It seems that this faction has already forgotten the Spanish tyrannies, the cruel Duke of Alva and the benefaction of the House of Nassau, and they don’t remember how William of Orange came to these lands as a Moses, with an army from Germany paid from his own

Adriaen van der Donck’s Beschryvinge van NieuwNederlant (Description of New Netherland).

Although Van der Donck completed his work in 1653, the book’s publication was delayed until 1655 due to the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War.

pocket.” De Vries departed from his interlocutor, saying, “if you touch my [Orange] flag, I would have had to put you down with a bullet.”14 No doubt could therefore exist as to what audience De Vries aimed for with his journal. By praising William of Orange “by whom we have become so powerful and rich, and prosperous above our neighbors,”15 De Vries proved his loyalty towards the symbol and father of the Dutch Revolt, a clear signal that he wished to be seen as a Dutch patriot. In fact, by stressing his loyalty, the Spanish atrocities of Alva and the importance of economic opportunities, almost all elements for a Dutch victory were already mentioned. This journal was indeed written by a Dutch patriot.

De Vries’s readiness to kill for patria illustrates well the hovering threat in the Republic during the Twelve Years’ Truce, which was operative during these voyages to the Mediterranean. The Truce introduced a temporary peace between the Dutch Republic and Spain, but nonetheless it was only a break; the war wasn’t over yet. The Spanish menace was kept alive and the Dutch Rebels—including De Vries—kept expressing their patriotic cause. But at the same time, this Dutch cause was almost falling apart as internal problems arose in the Dutch Republic. Probably the most important of these is the famous struggle between Maurice of Orange and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the two most important figures in the Republic at that time.

The religious landscape of the Republic was divided between the Remonstrants (Arminianists) and Contra-Remonstrants (Gomarists). Oldenbarnevelt openly chose the side of the Remonstrants while Maurice of Orange defended its counterpart.

On top of that, both men quarreled about political affairs as well. As the Truce was almost over, the United Provinces soon had to renew foreign alliances. Discussions, however, arose as to who that ally should be. Johan van Oldenbarnevelt wanted to re-establish relations with France; Maurice of Orange opted for an alliance with England. Because of a general mistrust towards Catholic France, the United Provinces chose an alliance with Protestant England.

Oldenbarnevelt had bet on the wrong horse, A. Th. Van Deursen, “De Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden,” in Geschiedenis van de Nederlanden, eds.

J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts (Amsterdam, 2014), 149.

13

14

De Vries, Korte historiael, 3–4, author’s translation.

15

De Vries, Korte historiael, 4, author’s translation

Van Deursen, “De Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden,” 165–67.

16

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This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

The execution of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt by beheading in the Binnenhof of The Hague on May 13, 1619. was charged with treason, and executed on May 13, 1619.16 On June 28, 1619, De Vries received notice of this execution. His answer could hardly be more patriotic.

We understood that Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was beheaded in the Binnenhof of The Hague, because he (by means of the Arminians) wanted to change the Country into a bloodbath, and take away the authority of Prince Maurice of Orange (who had risked his life for the Country) although he knew how William of Orange aided these Lands with an army consisting of thousands of Men, and was murdered so injuriously because of the well-being of the Country. It appears that he meant to continue with Prince Maurice and fundament the Country differently, much like the Spaniards did with his Lord Father William.

But thank God the malefactors got what they deserved.17 It wasn’t enough to state his opinion about these matters and praise Maurice of Orange, De Vries had to compare Oldenbarnevelt with the Spanish tyrants as well.

Of course this was completely normal, as Oldenbarnevelt was charged with treason and conspiring with the Spanish. But by making a clear reference to these perceptions, it becomes obvious again to whom the journal was intended, and what place De Vries took in this. His journal was written by, and meant for, a Dutch patriot. And because De Vries was a patriot, everything he did or would do was to be considered an act of patriotism as well.

Yet De Vries’s Journal does not explicitly refer to the political dimension of Olden-

barnevelt’s downfall. He actually seemed to have good relations with both England and France in these earlier voyages. In fact, Oldenbarnevelt and his Arminians are hardly mentioned at all anymore; it seems that De Vries only used them to once again prove his loyalty towards the House of Orange, targeting his journal at the right audience.

Instead of arguing about political matters, he seems to have emphasized economic possibilities and opportunities. Of course, this could be considered patriotic as well, since the financial capacities of the Dutch were one of their primary strengths. His description of these voyages—and the fact that he published them—contribute to this patriotic context. These first pages of his journal were intended to direct the journal toward Dutch patriots. The next pages contained their message. As De Vries sailed in the Mediterranean, he gave abundant information on what he saw and experienced.

Almost everywhere he went, he mentioned what kind of winds one could expect at that particular place in the Mediterranean, how long it took to go from one place to another, how deep the water was, and how to sail into a harbor properly. Every problem one could encounter at sea was solved by De Vries. To give but one brief example: some days after his departure from Texel, he found out that his ship had taken on water due to woodworm. De Vries mentioned how he had it removed.18 Detailed descriptions like these contained important information for fellow Dutch patriots, sailors in particular. Eliminating the problems a Dutch sailor could have experienced—or at least providing him with the solution—De Vries tried to stimulate these men to make commercial voyages as well, to fulfill the economic

ambitions of the Provinces. That was the message De Vries wanted to give to the Dutch in these voyages. De Vries made an example of himself, and gave instructions to the Dutch patriots.

Likewise, the bigger problems De Vries was confronted with would contain more important messages. During these first voyages to the Mediterranean, the Spanish weren’t the biggest problem, nor was it woodworm. It was the “Turks”—whom he had already mentioned in his self portrait— who proved to be the real pain.19 The combativeness of De Vries against these Turkish privateers is remarkable. Almost every time he encountered such a privateer, he raised his blood flag, meaning that no prisoners will be taken and they would fight to the death. Even if he hardly survived such a battle—“they were surprised that I wasn’t taken . . . because I had only a small ship with fourteen canons”20 Other people would try to convince him of the dangers—“the captain said to me ‘we are merchant ships, we should defend, not attack against these warships, because if an accident should occur, we would not be able to make up the effort.’”21 De Vries didn’t back down.

And his combativeness proved fruitful, as De Vries was involved in the downfall of the notorious pirate Sulayman Reis, “De Veenboer” in Dutch, undoubtedly a traitor in his eyes. De Vries praised himself for these actions, and inserted heroic homages about these battles into his Journal.

Others praised him as well for his combativeness and courage. Philippe Emmanuel de Gondi, Baron de Montmirail, distinguished De Vries with a diamond ring.

“Wear this ring in my honor, always be pious, and always cherish your Fatherland,” the French Duke said, while giving De Vries his reward.22 This fit perfectly in the patriotic tone De Vries used. The allies of the Republic aided him in these confrontations, as they too battled these Turks. In January 1621, De Vries encountered an English fleet returning from the coast of Algiers. Their mission was to destroy a Turkish fleet on the coast, but they failed; the fire didn’t spread to the other Turkish ships. “Too bad,” said De Vries in a brief 17

De Vries, Korte historiael, 17, author’s translation.

18

De Vries, Korte historiael, 5.

De Vries makes no distinction between Turkish people.

19

20

De Vries, Korte historiael, 31, author’s translation.

21

De Vries, Korte historiael 39–40, author’s translation.

22

De Vries, Korte historiael, 51, author’s translation.

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description of these events, “because there were over sixty Turkish ships over there that would have been destroyed, it would have made the use of the Mediterranean much safer for the Christians, and the English could have gained an eternal memory of praise and courage for their actions.”23 This was a noteworthy and positive mention of the English as an ally. During the Dutch Revolt in the 1620s, the Republic and its allies went into the offensive. Combativeness would be rewarded; dying for the Republic was considered a virtue. According to De Vries both elements thus were crucial ideals for a Dutch patriot. And he presented himself as an example on how to put these ideals into practice. His Dutch audience should take note.

The encounters between De Vries and the Turks contribute something else as well to the final message—albeit more subtle and indirect. Willem Kieft, before he became the New Netherland director, actively encountered Turkish privateers in his early years. Kieft was sent out in 1630 to free some Dutch prisoners from these privateers on the Algerian coast. According to the Breeden Raedt, Kieft wanted more money to free the prisoners, as the ransoms demanded by the privateers were too high. Kieft’s lack of diplomatic skills were highlighted, but at the same time he was accused of greed, as he could have

kept some of the money for himself and let the Dutch, literally, pay for it.24 De Vries’s patriotic battles with the same Turkish privateers must have certainly rung a bell with his audience in 1655. They must have automatically made the contrast between De Vries and Kieft in their minds. And given De Vries’s testimony on Kieft’s lack of capabilities in his later voyages—the Dutch making the contrast, and having this prejudice about Kieft in this part of the Journal already— was exactly what De Vries wanted. This shows that De Vries used his voyages prior to New Netherland and Kieft as a preamble, a run-up towards his journeys to the Americas. It also suggests that every voyage and description De Vries made contributed to the same message in 1655. Additionally, it indicates that De Vries colored his Journal. Since all of De Vries’s encounters with the Turks happened in 1619–1623, and Kieft’s in 1630, De Vries could never have met Kieft during these voyages, nor could he have made his patriotic statements as a reaction on Kieft’s failure. Kieft still had to make his mistakes in the Mediterranean, yet De Vries already alluded to them. We can see the editing hand of De Vries in this, as he explicitly chose these voyages to be in his Journal, and even colored them to some extent. De Vries subtly emphasized Kieft’s mistakes in the Old World, before he would mention

Jan Goeree and Casper Luyken “Débarquement et maltraitement de prisonniers à Alger” (“Landing en mishandeling of prisoners in Algiers”).

Amsterdam Historic Museum, Amsterdam.

them in the New World.

This New World was still an ocean away though, out of reach for the most part of these first voyages. Yet De Vries had attempted to get there already. In June 1620, shortly after departing on his second voyage, De Vries arrived at the colony of TerraNova, Canada, for the purposes of trade. De Vries only stayed there for some weeks. He provided the reader with a small description of the land, alongside instructions on how to get there.25 Thus, before the Dutch West India Company was even founded, De Vries had already seen the riches of the New World. And, of course, he wanted to let his fellow Dutch patriots see them as well.

But again there was someone who would threaten his ambitions, just as the Turks had in the Mediterranean. In March 1624, De Vries wanted to depart on his third voyage.

First stop was, again, the colony of Terra Nova. This time, however, De Vries never made it there. In 1624 the WIC was already established, and they saw De Vries’s voyage as a threat to their own charter. De Vries protested, but nevertheless the WIC ended up confiscating his ship. As a sort of quiet resistance, De Vries decided to invest his time in something else. Having no ship, he went to France where he fought alongside Benjamin de Rohan, Duke of Soubise, for the preservation of the Edict of Nantes—a battle that they won.26 It is certainly significant that De Vries inserted these two events—the conflict with the WIC on the one hand, the battle in France on the other—in immediate succession. De Vries did this, again, to stress the contrast between the two. If all of his actions were to be considered as patriotic—sailing to the New World to enrich the Republic, fighting for the Edict of Nantes—the actions of the WIC against him were to be considered as unpatriotic. Similar to the allusion to Kieft and the Turkish encounters, De Vries used this conflict to look ahead at what was to come. This was a preamble as well for times when De Vries would criticize the WIC much more directly.

Yet again, De Vries used the war in France to subtly guide his audience toward certain biases, not unlike the way he handled Kieft and the Turkish privateers.

As noted before, De Vries fought in France 23

De Vries, Korte historiael, 38, author’s translation.

24

Frijhoff, “Neglected networks,” 174.

25

De Vries, Korte historiael, 26–27.

26

De Vries, Korte historiael, 70–76.

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for the preservation of the Edict of Nantes.

In other words, he fought for the cause of the innocent Huguenots, protecting them from religious prosecution—something the Dutch suffered under the Duke of Alva as well. And, according to Donna Merwick, a parallel between these innocent Huguenots and, not surprisingly, innocent Indians, was very much alive in seventeenth-century Europe. Both the Dutch and Huguenots considered themselves and the Indians as martyrs. All of them were victims of violent tyrants; the tyrant of the latter being the Spanish, and, later on, Willem Kieft.27 De Vries thus used these events as a discourse as well, to prove his patriotism on the one hand, but to hint at native innocence on the other hand, and all without mentioning them explicitly.

These voyages to the Mediterranean therefore show that De Vries had a definite hand in editing his Journal. He chose what he wanted to say and when he wanted to say it. He could have inserted whatever description or action he wanted, if it only contributed to the final message in 1655.

The voyages to the Mediterranean—and possibly the other ones as well—were colored orange, so to speak. By using seventeenth-century Dutch biases already present in the Republic, such as the notion of native innocence, De Vries subtly guided his audience through the Journal and toward the situation in 1655. At the end of the Mediterranean, De Vries had proclaimed that his journal was to be considered patriotic and was destined to be an example for future Dutch patriots. Tyrannies were condemned, and more specifically, native innocence was proclaimed. And at the end, Kieft’s lack of capabilities were already hinted at. It would take a New World to make him the complete tyrant De Vries wanted him to be.

The East Indies: The Fourth Voyage.

Before De Vries returned to the Americas, he sailed under the Dutch East India Company—the WIC’s older brother—to the East Indies.28 The VOC was chartered in 1602, and its network reached from the Maluku and Banda Islands and Coromandel in India, to Japan and even Australia.

Competition with other countries over the East Indies soon developed, however, something De Vries would take note of as well. Although they were official allies in the Eighty Years’ War, the French, Danish, and, above all, the English tried to start revolts amongst the natives, to weaken the

position of the Dutch VOC. In this they succeeded: on the Banda Islands for example, several Dutch colonists were killed.29 To Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies since 1618, it was evident that more radical policies were needed. According to Coen, monopolies had to be enforced against the English and the natives, violently if necessarily. The will and interests of the natives was of secondary importance, a “hard hand” crucial. Coen put his theories into practice, as he was responsible for the violent conquest of Jakarta/Batavia from the British in 1619, and the bloody retaliations against natives on the Banda Islands in 1621. The second big point on Coen’s agenda was peopling the East Indies, rather than merely building up trading posts. Coen stressed the importance of experience and talent, that only men who had proven their capabilities would be employed in the Dutch Indies. Ironically, Coen himself seemed to have grown tired of the East Indies, as he returned to the Republic in 1623.

In March 1627, Coen returned to Batavia for a rematch and became governor-general for the second time.30 Among the company that brought him was Jacobus Bontius and De Vries, probably writing his journals. De Vries used the same design as in his previous voyages—that is, mentioning what kind of winds one could expect, which routes were taken, and what problems could be expected. This was indeed a continuation of De Vries’s previous journeys. But what was unique to this voyage was that it provided the Journal with a discourse to use against Kieft. Kieft would become governor in the West Indies, just as Jan Pieterszoon Coen was governor in the East Indies during this voyage of 1627. This would be an ideal opportunity for De Vries to compare the policies and effectiveness of Kieft with those of Coen; to set Kieft’s New Netherland against Coen’s Batavia. To do this, De Vries made sure his descriptions of the East Indies were similar to those of the Americas. He mentioned the problems that were present in the East Indies, and how Coen—according to his agenda items—solved them. Those solutions could then be used to compare with the ones Kieft provided.

As noted before, De Vries made mention of other European presences, notably the English, rather quickly. When De Vries sailed into the Table Bay in 1627 on his way to the East Indies, a dispute arose between him and some English ships. Eventually, both reminded each other about their alli-

ances, and no harm was done.31 This dispute with the English wasn’t meant to emphasize Coen’s policies, as no violent enforcing was necessary. Rather, this dispute was meant to show the first cracks in Anglo-Dutch relations in De Vries’s Journal. Keeping Coen’s victory over the English at Batavia in mind, De Vries could refer to these deteriorating Anglo-Dutch relations and make allusions to Coen’s policies against the English at the same time. The English weren’t the allies of the Mediterranean anymore; they were the competitors of the East Indies.

Although De Vries didn’t observe Coen’s fierce policies against the English, he did witness them directly against the local Javanese. And, according to De Vries, these natives did indeed pose a problem that had to be dealt with. De Vries stressed the threatening nature of the Javanese multiple times.

It seems that they are very bold, when they come to Batavia by night with their canoes to catch us. . . . Of our People, no one can further strengthen Batavia at all, although the Maluku and Banda Islands have high need of it. The Javanese have become very courageous and bold since two years, because of the cowardice of our own few people.32 But these descriptions were only used to show that Coen indeed had reasons to be cruel against them. In February 1628, Batavia was besieged by the Javanese.33 Governor Coen and his soldiers fought them off, giving the Javanese no clear opportunities to attack. The day after these attacks, a whole crowd of Dutchmen—including De Vries—went outside the fort, under Coen’s command. To retaliate, Coen set the surrounding woods on fire, caught the animals trying to flee from it, and cut off their tails, “which was funny to watch.”34 De Vries thus seemed to have been very convinced of Coen’s policies, he even found them entertaining. Coen proved to be combative, and he effectively protected and fought for 27

Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow, 166.

The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC, in Dutch.

28

29 Jan Kuipers, De VOC. Een multinational onder zeil (Zutphen, 2014), 61–77.

30

Ibid., 77.

31

De Vries, Korte historiael, 95.

De Vries, Korte historiael, 106–107, author’s translation.

32

33

Kuipers, De VOC, 77.

34

Korte historiael, 116, author’s translation.

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Andries Beeckman (1628– 1664) “The Castle of Batavia, seen from Kali Besar West,” 1656. (c. 1661) Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

Dutch interests. He made Batavia an enriching extension of the Republic. Coen’s first agenda item was thus effectively put into practice, and De Vries claimed to have seen it with his own eyes.

But Coen did more than just enforcing and protecting Dutch monopolies. To illustrate this, De Vries emphasized the opportunities that could be found in the East Indies, giving the Journal a promotional angle. In May 1629, on his way home, De Vries passed the Danish Fort Dansborg in Tharangambadi, India. The Danish didn’t prove to be as competitive as the English were, however, “because they did not receive any ships to load their goods on, they wanted to sell the whole Fort.”35 After a brief description of the fort and the products that could be acquired there, De Vries wanted to stress that this was indeed an opportunity for the Dutch to prosper more than their neighbors. De Vries proved that public opportunities were plentiful in these Dutch East Indies, for “if we had the money and the people for it, we could certainly accomplish something here.”36 But there were private opportunities as well, because De Vries himself “who came as a captain and skipper . . . was, on the grounds of good reports and his own experience . . . promoted to Chief Merchant.”37 Of course, this strengthened De Vries’s reputation and authority. It was a compliment to Coen as well, as he was the one that promoted De Vries. Coen created opportunities in the East Indies, his policies enriched the Republic. According to De Vries, Coen’s agenda proved effective.

De Vries thus provided the rhetorical framework of how a colony should be

managed, a patriotic example of a governor.

That was what this voyage was all about.

Coen’s policies indeed seemed to work, as opportunities were plentiful in the East Indies. On top of that, Coen showed the same combativeness—as De Vries had in the Mediterranean—to protect these opportunities, defeating all who threatened them. In short, Coen was a Dutch patriot.

De Vries’s audience should, again, take note of Coen’s agenda. This fourth voyage thus was a perfect continuation of the previous ones. Until now, the Journal had made its audience ready for the New World. Subtly, it functioned as a guide, giving a path to follow, so when the audience would read about the mismanagement in New Netherland, they would automatically think back to the Mediterranean and Coen. Notions about tyrannies and atrocities, loyalties towards Orange, innocence of Indians, and flourishing colonies were already proclaimed. De Vries’s audience was indeed ready to visit the New World again.

The Voyages to the Americas. A lot had happened since De Vries’s conflict with the WIC in 1624. Chartered in 1621, and based on the VOC’s charter, it was the company’s goal to attack Spain in the Atlantic, relieving military pressure from the Republic.

Aside from that, commercial profits should enrich the Republic, and trade should provide it with much needed revenues for the war.38 The WIC was thus designed as a military machine, to attack the Spanish interests abroad. Its “Grand Design” was meant to disrupt the whole Spanish Atlantic network, capturing Salvador de Bahia— capital of Spanish Brazil—and disrupting

the sugar trade, attacking West Africa and the slave trade, and seizing Spanish ships in the Caribbean. Not everything went according to plan, however. The WIC had to give Bahia up in 1625, after a short Dutch occupation. Attacks on Elmina and Luanda failed miserably as well. On top of that, the WIC didn’t succeed in attracting enough private investors, blocking everyone who tried to trade in WIC territory, as had happened to De Vries in 1624.39 In those first years, the East Indies and VOC indeed seemed to offer more opportunities.

But better times were coming, or so it seemed. Despite the failed invasions on Elmina, the WIC still became the leading commercial power in West Africa.

Privateering in the Caribbean proved rewarding too, culminating with Piet Hein, who captured the Spanish silver fleet in 1627, providing enough financial means to start expanding into northern Brazil. In 1630, the WIC commenced its conquest of Pernambuco.40 Even New Netherland looked appealing for a while, as the WIC’s monopoly was loosened. A system of patroonships was installed, allowing private investors (patroons) to start their own colonies, govern them themselves, and receive tax exemptions. In return, these patroons were expected to promote colonization and acknowledge the company’s monopoly on 35

De Vries, Korte historiael, 129, author’s translation.

36

Korte historiael, 107, author’s translation.

37

Korte historiael, 115, author’s translation.

Mark Meuwese, Brothers in Arms, Partners in Trade.

Dutch-Indigenous Alliances in the Atlantic World, 1595–1674 (Leiden, 2012), 25.

38

39

Ibid., 40.

40

Ibid., 38.

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the fur trade.41 For De Vries, the benefits of a patroonship seemed to compensate for the obligations, as he had already seen the riches of the New World in 1620. When the WIC thus reached out to De Vries in 1632 to ask him if he wanted to be part of such a patroonship in New Netherland, he accepted the offer and sailed to the New World.

That was the material reason De Vries gave. He had, of course, discursive reasons as well. Just like in the East Indies, De Vries immediately stressed the opportunities of this New World completely in line with Dutch biases at the beginning of the seventeenth century. De Vries acknowledged the military advantages of the New World: “if we were to fight again with our archenemy, the King of Spain, we could do him and his West Indies great harm from this Land.”42 He inserted promising descriptions of the country: “some places of the Land are fertile, some are not, but usually it is full of minerals, and the mines abound in multiple metals, yielding as much as some places in the East-Indies.”43 And when in contact with Kieft, De Vries would proclaim native innocence as well. All those characteristic notions of the New World—recognizable to a Dutch audience, since generations of authors had already proclaimed them— were included, making De Vries’s Journal look promoting. This makes perfect sense in several ways. Since De Vries had short-term

obligations as a patroon, he had to promote these lands, as “we could have more if the land were populated.”44 But this last sentence also reveals that the New World fit perfectly in the Journal as a discourse as well, as De Vries almost used the exact same words in the East Indies to emphasize Coen’s policies and the opportunities they brought. These passages commenced the subtle and discursive comparison of this New World with the East Indies. By acknowledging the riches and opportunities of the New World, De Vries meant that if something should go wrong in the New World, it wasn’t the land’s fault. The same opportunities could be found in the East Indies, and everything seemed to work just fine over there. Both colonies could, in essence, enrich the Republic.

After acknowledging the opportunities, De Vries began to mention everything that seemed to go wrong in the New World and every problem he encountered. But again, De Vries had already encountered these problems before, in the East Indies. The first problem was the natives. And although De Vries proclaimed native innocence, he stressed their guilt as well. In 1632, upon arriving in New Netherland, De Vries “found here and there a skull and bones of our People, whom they had killed; there were also skulls of our horses and cows whom they had also killed, and we saw no

Savages.” Some weeks after this incident, they even attempted an attack on De Vries himself, “the land was our enemy because of the Savages.”45 It made De Vries sail to the colony of Virginia instead of New Netherland in March 1633, “insofar as the war amongst the Savages, which was so dangerous to us, and all the corn was destroyed by the Savages, and we didn’t think much of interest was to be found in the Great River [the Hudson] at Fort Amsterdam either.”46 A second obstacle in the New World was—like in the East Indies—the other European presences. Spanish ships proved to be ubiquitous in the Americas, a violent encounter with one of them being quickly made. In 1631, during De Vries’s first voyage to New Netherland, he encountered the “Spanish tyrannies” abroad for the first time, as he “would have landed some People on Tortuga, but we found that the French there were killed by the Spaniards.” 47 In 1635, the same hap41

Den Heijer, Geschiedenis, 80–81.

42

Korte historiael, 275, author’s translation.

43

Korte historiael, 196, author’s translation.

De Vries, Korte historiael, 236, 238–45, own translation.

De Vries incorporated complete paragraphs of Megapolensis in his narrative, which, I believe, he did to strengthen this promotional angle.

44

45

Korte historiael, 155, 158, 162, author’s translation.

46

Korte historiael, 165, author’s translation.

47

Korte historiael, 148, author’s translation.

Arnoldus Montanus, Novum Amsterodamum circa 1650 This map first appeared in Montanus’ book De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld, published in Amsterdam in 1671. It depicts New Amsterdam as it looked in 1650.

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pened with the English on Tortuga.48 This is almost a metaphorical statement; the English and French, allies of the Republic, butchered by Spanish tyrannies. The English didn’t persist in the victim’s role, however. De Vries had already shown the first cracks in Anglo-Dutch relations in the East Indies—a development that reached its climax in the New World. New Netherland was surrounded by English settlements: Virginia in the south, New England in the north. When the English went to expand their boundaries and discover “unsettled” territories, the interests of De Vries and the Dutch Republic were threatened. In April 1633, some English people sailed into New Netherland’s territory and Fort Orange to trade. De Vries protested, as this wasn’t their land to trade on. Director Van Twiller—Kieft’s predecessor—let them pass and went back to his real business, drinking wine.49 De Vries started to use insulting names for the English and even explicitly referred to the East Indies. “I told him [Van Twiller] that if the English did something to us in the East Indies, we should strike back at them, for no prosperity could be obtained otherwise, because their nature is very haughty, they think they deserve everything.”50 It is remarkable how De Vries kept stressing this English threat.

In 1635, during his sixth voyage (the second one to the Americas), he encountered some English people at Fort Nassau. According to De Vries, they had plans to occupy the fort “because our people weren’t in there . . . We should occupy it again, otherwise it will be lost to the English.”51 Anglo-Dutch relations quickly deteriorated hereafter, in the Journal. In April 1636, the English were to blame for the failure of De Vries’s colony on the Wild Coast. When a Spanish ship came to this colony, De Vries’s own people and some English visitors saw fit to kill the Spaniards on it and claim the ship for themselves.

When they had control of the ship, the English betrayed them and sold the Dutchmen as slaves. “And so they left our precious colony. If they had stayed, they should have had fifty thousand guilders on cotton, oriaene and tobacco, but these layabouts got what they deserved for leaving this colony . . . The English are a treacherous people, they would sell their own father as a servant in these Islands.”52 The loss of De Vries’s colony is, again, almost a metaphorical culmination of Anglo-Dutch relations in De Vries’s Journal. The English and Dutch, former allies in the Dutch Revolt, defeated

the Spanish, but in the end, the Dutch were betrayed. The Spaniards were no longer the tyrants, they had become the victims.

The English were no longer the allies, they became the new tyrants. And the Dutch, deprived of their riches in the New World and of their own freedom, ended up with nothing.53 Yet the natives and the English weren’t always portrayed as bad by De Vries. At times, he even explicitly proclaimed native innocence, contrary to the skulls and bones in 1633. As De Vries founded his colony in Guyana in September 1634, during his second voyage to the Americas, he encountered a native village “where they received us well, when we told them we were Hollanders, and they told us to sit down, and gave us food and drinks . . .

They are a combative people . . . The chief of these people was loyal to the Christian Nations, except Spain whom he wouldn’t hear a word of.”54 The contrast with the natives in New Netherland couldn’t be bigger.

The same ambivalence is used for the English presence. In spite of their expansion plans—and unhealthy climate—De Vries maintained good contacts with English Virginia. He made promising descriptions of the qualities and products of the land, some of which even seemed to approach the quality of the Dutch Republic’s.55 Despite a certain disease in Virginia—which, according to De Vries, killed every newly arrived settler—the colony seemed to flourish.

While sailing in Virginia in March 1633, De Vries encountered “between thirty and forty ships . . . who come here every year to collect tobacco and sail with it to England.” De Vries even gained some goats from Sir John Harvey, governor of Virginia, “because he had heard that there weren’t any goats in New Netherland.”56 The English, as well as the Natives, seemed friendly and helpful in one spot, but deadly and deceiving in another.

But, of course, this ambivalence corresponded with De Vries’s discursive message. According to De Vries, the English were treacherous by nature, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they wanted to expand into Dutch territory. And, in the end, the English tried the same in the East Indies as well, but were blocked by Coen. The fact that the English succeeded in expanding into the New World could only mean that something—or someone—allowed them to do so. Someone wasn’t enforcing the Dutch monopoly in the New World enough, which made the English thrive above New Neth-

erland. The same argument could be made for the natives as well; countless books and journals already emphasized the native’s innocence, as natural allies of the Dutch.57 Therefore someone made them aggressive and deadly in New Netherland, someone made them turn against their natural allies.

And even if the natives weren’t so innocent, the natives in the East Indies weren’t all that innocent either: local Javanese even sieged Batavia. But again Coen withstood these sieges and protected the Dutch. And exactly that was what De Vries wanted to show with these voyages to the Americas.

There was no “Coen” in New Netherland, there was no strong leader who could protect the Dutch interests against attacks and channel opportunities toward the Republic.

Instead, someone—the WIC officials, and, more particularly, Willem Kieft—made sure everything went wrong in the New World.

Wouter Van Twiller—New Netherland director from 1633 to 1638, predecessor of Willem Kieft—was the first to receive De Vries’s wrath for neglecting Coen’s policies. The Indian attacks were indirectly Van Twiller’s fault, because “they [the WIC] gave the Savages too much freedom, that’s where the accidents came from.”58 The unfavorable commercial circumstances were his—and the WIC’s—fault as well, as no investments were made. When Van Twiller asked De Vries how the whaling went, he answered “that they were madmen who recommended whaling at such great expense . . . Samuel Godin, an administrator of the WIC and the Noordsche Company in Amsterdam, should have known how to investigate it first, with small expenses.”59 New Netherland was chaotic, the WIC and its director unable to provide the promised opportunities. Virginia on the contrary seemed to be orderly and prosperous, even giving basic aid to their Dutch neighbors.60 Van Twiller’s ignorance reached its apex 48

Korte historiael, 212.

49

Korte historiael, 174–75.

50

Korte historiael, 175, author’s translation.

51

Korte historiael, 219, author’s translation.

52

Korte historiael, 220–21, author’s translation.

53

Schmidt, Innocence Abroad, 293–310.

54

Korte historiael, 190–93, author’s translation.

55

Korte historiael, 171–72.

56

Korte historiael, 171, author’s translation.

57

Schmidt, Innocence Abroad, 311–20.

58

Korte historiael, 159, author’s translation.

59

Korte historiael, 174, author’s translation.

60

Korte historiael, 171.

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in April and May 1633 when he permitted an Englishman to sail—and expand—into New Netherland, while prohibiting De Vries’s return to Holland, threatening him with guns. “The madness of this Director” was proven; “the musketeers were mocked by all bystanders, and they shouted that they [the musketeers] should have prevented the Englishman sailing here, instead of our own patroons, who are trying to improve the land.”61 Coen would have turned in his grave.

Van Twiller had to leave De Vries’s Journal, however, to make way for a new director. By the time De Vries returned to New Netherland in 1638, during his seventh and final documented voyage, it was indeed Willem Kieft who was in office. Almost immediately, De Vries started to demonize Kieft, as he brought all-out war to New Netherland. It all started when Kieft blamed the natives for stealing and killing some of the company’s pigs—which was, according to De Vries, carried out

by Dutch colonists themselves instead of natives—while violently demanding corn from them. Kieft later sent Cornelis van Tienhoven to investigate the theft, but he ended up torturing and killing the natives— “such Tyrannies were done by Company Servants, so no peace can be made with the Inhabitants . . . big frictions began to occur amongst the Savages.”62 In 1641, the natives took revenge for these tyrannies by killing De Vries’s own people in Vriessendael. Kieft again re-

sponded with a military expedition—back and forth action, completely devastating the colony. In 1643, Kieft started yet another campaign against the natives, beginning of the notorious Kieft’s War. De Vries tried to convince him of the disastrous effects of such a campaign—“continue this work, if you want to break the mouths of the Savages, but you will kill our Nation”—but Kieft wouldn’t listen.63 Kieft’s War had commenced. To describe and dramatize the events of Kieft’s War, De Vries incorporated in the Journal a part of the popular pamphlet Breeden Raedt—the same one he alluded to in the Mediterranean—benefiting from its shocking descriptions about Kieft’s War. In it, Kieft is compared with the Duke of Alva, his massacre of hundreds of innocent natives contrasted with the peaceful actions of the Prince of Orange.64 But why couldn’t Kieft’s actions be considered protective measures? Coen started violent expeditions against the natives on the East Indies as well. What made the two differ so much in the Journal? This is where the voyages to the Mediterranean come in. De Vries had already alluded to Kieft’s lack of capabilities, and had proven his own patriotic example. Kieft failed in the Mediterranean, De Vries seemed to succeed. That was the prejudice De Vries wanted to give to his Dutch audience, so that his statement about Kieft in New Netherland would become more acceptable and believable. On top of that, Kieft always made the first move, as the natives

were, literally, innocent. Even if the natives were to blame, the actions of Kieft were still uselessly destructive, as there was no possibility to take revenge, because “they [the natives] didn’t live in one spot.”65 In the eyes of De Vries, the contrast with Coen’s successful retaliations couldn’t be bigger.

Even if some men would defend Kieft’s policies, that everything was done to protect New Netherland and Dutch interests, De Vries emphasized that the WIC and Kieft made sure that there wasn’t much to protect after all. According to De Vries, the WIC directors filled their own pockets, arguing about which director should gain what land. “Once the Company got a good ‘Piet-Heyn’ booty . . . they didn’t care anymore whether or not to build up Fort Orange . . . And because of all these disputes, the Land didn’t become populated, although there were enough connoisseurs who would have populated the land by a patroonship.”66 If the opportunities in New Netherland weren’t destroyed by war, the directors made sure that they were “drunk up and pissed out.”67 De Vries even referred to the East Indies, as he was “amazed that the WIC sent such jesters to the country, who didn’t know anything but to drink. In the East Indies they wouldn’t even be assistants, and because of this the Company will fall, because in the East Indies they don’t make someone a Director [Commandeur] before he has served for a long time and has proven his capabilities. . . .

This is why the WIC will fall.”68 De Vries almost explicit referred to Coen’s policies here—peopling the colony with capable men—and how the WIC, Van Twiller, and Kieft failed tremendously to accomplish it.

De Vries had proven it; New Netherland’s directors were the opposite of Coen. Yet the question remains: what did this mean to an audience in 1655?

1655: Year of Publication. In 1655, De Vries could, as an old man, look back on his life and the actions he had taken. Jan Pieterszoon Coen had already died of illness in 1629, but his beloved Batavia was 61

Korte historiael, 176–77, author’s translation.

62

Korte historiael, 245–47, author’s translation.

63

Korte historiael, 264, author’s translation.

Korte historiael, 265; Schmidt, Innocence Abroad, 280.

64

New Netherland Natives from David Pietersz de Vries's Korte Historiael (1655), with animals typical for the region, including a beaver (left, behind the woman) and a turkey (middle background).

65

Korte historiael, 156, author’s translation.

66

Korte historiael, 247–48, author’s translation.

67

Korte historiael, 248, author’s translation.

68

Korte historiael, 178, author’s translation.

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Portrait of William II, prince of Orange, painted after his untimely death in 1650 in Amsterdam of smallpox at the age of twenty-five. Portrait after Gerard van Honthorst.

Mauritshuis, The Hague.

still healthy. Wouter van Twiller and Willem Kieft were dead as well—the latter drowned in a shipwreck in 1647. New Netherland struggled to survive, but survive it did.

In fact, under Kieft’s successor, Petrus Stuyvesant, New Netherland underwent an unprecedented period of prosperity.69 But that was not yet the case in 1655.

Stuyvesant was in office by then, but he had to clean up the mess Kieft had left behind.

Tensions with the natives were still felt and mutual distrust and hostile attitudes persisted. Anxiety was ubiquitous in the colony, ultimately resulting in the Peach War of late September 1655.70 On top of that, Stuyvesant had to deal with increasing European competition over North America. New England and Virginia were expanding, and even Sweden had started a colony along New Netherland’s borders. It made authors from New Netherland such as Adriaen van der Donck write a wake-up call to the Dutch. Van der Donck’s Description of New Netherland contained clear promotional and political messages; New Netherland was threatened by its European—mostly English—and native neighbors. He stressed the abundant riches and possibilities of the colony to attract as many settlers as possible, and block English and native offenses. “We should actually gain people,” Van der Donck said, “because those living in New Netherland or similar colonies turn into Hollanders as effectively as those from abroad who become citizens here and always remain loyal to us.”71 Thus the Republic had to act fast if it wanted to

benefit from the colony.72 The Republic had other problems to deal with, in the interior as well as the exterior.

In 1648, the Peace of Münster officially put an end on the Eighty Years’ War, giving the Dutch their long-desired independence. Yet not everyone wanted peace with the Spanish tyrant. William II of Orange, grandson of William I, wanted to continue the war to prove his military capabilities and strengthen his political position in the Republic. The States weren’t convinced, and a stalemate between Stadtholder and States occurred.

But as the Republic rushed towards a political crisis, William II suddenly met his death in 1650, thus blocking all political actions he could have taken. William’s infant son, William III, was supposed to succeed his father and become the new Stadtholder. But the States, keeping in mind the ambitions of Willem II, objected. The First Stadtholderless Period had begun, simply leaving the function of Stadtholder vacant. Peace with Spain was preserved, the States won over the Stadtholder, Johan de Witt became the most important political figure of the Republic, and the House of Orange’s prestige was seriously damaged.73 Even though peace with Spain was sustained, war times were not over yet for the Republic. Already in 1651, three years after the Peace of Münster, England promulgated the Navigation Acts, declaring economic war with the Dutch Republic. This escalated into a military conflict in 1652. The first Anglo-Dutch War had commenced. It would be the first of three armed conflicts

between the two European Powers. But in 1654, this first war was over, and the Republic and England negotiated and signed the Treaty of Westminster. It failed to contain the English threat, however.

The Navigation Acts were maintained, imposing limits on the Republic’s welfare.

Dutch territories abroad—New Netherland for example—were intimidated by English expansion, almost forcing Dutch authors such as Van der Donck to write promotional essays. On top of that, the Treaty of Westminster included a secret agreement, known as the Act of Seclusion, depriving any member of the House of Orange of the right to ever claim the throne of England.

And as William II was married to Mary Stuart, their offspring, William III, thus directly deriving from both the House of Orange and the House of Stuart, chances were that claim would indeed be made.

The Republic refused to accept such a demand from England. But nonetheless, the State of Holland agreed with England to vote against William III if he ever had ambitions to become Stadtholder. The Republic had to all intents and purposes lost the first Anglo-Dutch War, and its future seemed uncertain in 1655.74 Former allies turned against them, Dutch claims were violated, the natural leader of the Dutch Revolt was already seriously threatened.

Both from within and without, the Republic was being torn apart. The new giant of the seventeenth century, then enjoying its Golden Age, was now about to be reduced to a dwarf on the map of Europe. During these desperate times, David Pieterszoon De Vries published his patriotic Journal.

Conclusion.

We have felled the Spanish Tyranny and their Inquisition; Because of Nassau’s and Orange’s sword, God gave the Netherlands the victory.

Now Orange is dead, and left us in distress, God wants to let the young scion of Orange grow and bloom, for the prosperity of our Netherlands, very excellent.75 De Vries ended the Journal with this 69 Henk Den Heijer, Geschiedenis van de WIC. Opkomst, bloei en ondergang (Zutphen, 2013), 85.

70

Merwick, The Shame and The Sorrow, 194–202.

71

Van der Donck, A Description, 130.

72

Easterbrook, “Cosmopolitanism,” 34.

Van Deursen, “De Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden,” 185–90.

73

74

Ibid., 194–95.

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poem, functioning as some sort of epilogue to his journeys. It projected the whole message De Vries wanted to give. The young scion he mentioned—De Vries used the word spruytjen—was of course William III of Orange, who was deprived of his natural rights in the Republic and in England. Throughout the Journal, De Vries had emphasized his loyalty towards this House of Orange, praising William I and Maurice and demonizing their enemies. And now, in 1655, these enemies seemed victorious: “Orange is dead,” as De Vries put it. These indeed seemed desperate times; Orange had to bloom again, pick up its sword, and defeat its enemies. De Vries’s Journal had shown how the Prince of Orange was victorious over Oldenbarnevelt and Spain.

Now, in 1655, the Prince of Orange had to be victorious once more, this time over Johan de Witt and England.

But to be victorious, more people than just the Prince of Orange had to rise again.

De Vries envisioned more than just William III with the word spruytjen; the whole Republic had to wake up. It was time the Dutch patriots rose as well, that they picked up their arms and fought for the Dutch cause. After the defeat against England, they had to make the Republic prosper again, and De Vries’s Journal offered them an example on how to do this. Everything De Vries wrote down, every voyage and description he included in the Journal, served this purpose. By constantly providing his audience with instructions, remarks on the weather and the terrain, and solutions to possible problems, De Vries gave Dutch patriots a path to follow and an authority

to trust. Step by step, voyage by voyage, De Vries’s Journal told the Dutch how to check the English threat. It showed how this English threat had evolved throughout the years—from allies in the Mediterranean, to competitors in the East Indies, to enemies in the Americas. Next, the Journal gave an example of how to efficiently curtail this English threat, and enrich the Republic —as Governor Coen did in the Dutch East Indies.

And, finally, the Journal provided a situation where the contrary was done, where the English thrived upon the Dutch and expanded in Dutch territories, which was all the fault of Van Twiller, Kieft, and the WIC. It ended with a cliffhanger, however, as De Vries left New Netherland in the midst of Kieft’s War. But by then, Dutch patriots should have known what to do; the Dutch cause in the Americas wasn’t finished. Given the build-up towards another devastating war in New Netherland—the Peach War— now, more than ever, a good and patriotic governor was needed there. The Journal would guide him in becoming Coen, instead of another Kieft. The Dutch Americas had to be built up like the East Indies. And as the Americas had already proven their military use in the Eighty Years’ War, they would certainly be of use in the Anglo-Dutch Wars as well. The voyages to the Americas thus weren’t the end; in fact, the whole Journal was only the beginning. The Dutch patriots, together with William III, had to write the next chapters themselves. They had to defeat the English. They had to make the Republic great again.

So in the end, all of De Vries’s voyages around the world were a mere extension

William III, the hope of Dutch Orangists. Jan Davidsz de Heem and Jan Vermeer van Utrecht, portrait of the young Prince of Orange, surrounded by a garland of flowers and symbols of the House of Orange (c. 1659). Museum of Fine Arts, Lyons, France.

of the Dutch Republic. Every voyage and description was colored orange and all of his voyages were influenced by the political situation of the Dutch Republic. That does not mean everything about De Vries has been said. More detailed distinctions between the several voyages and their appropriate contexts can still be made.

The Wild Coast, for example, didn’t seem to occupy the same space in De Vries’s Journal than New Netherland did. The same ambivalence can be found in descriptions of natives; one tribe seemed more “innocent” than the other. In the end, the Journal leaves us with a lot of speculation on De Vries as an individual. One thing that warrants investigation is De Vries’s urge to meet—and dine—with the upper levels of society. Furthermore, De Vries’s hatred towards Willem Kieft could reveal his own personal ambitions. Given that both men were commercially active in La Rochelle, France, De Vries and Kieft may have had more intimate contacts outside of New Netherland. De Vries was even born in La Rochelle, and it is known that Kieft made an economic misstep there, losing a lot of money.76 De Vries could have been a commercial partner of Kieft—thus De Vries could have lost money as well. And money was of course important to De Vries, as he was a commercial skipper. It would explain his hostility toward Kieft, expressed throughout the whole Journal. Perhaps De Vries even was some sort of mercenary in the battle in France, recovering his lost money. On top of that, De Vries must have had plenty of financial capital in his later voyages—as starting colonies wasn’t exactly cheap. He earned his capital, at least partially, by smuggling goods from the New World.77 This was of course against the charter of the WIC, and another reason for De Vries to criticize the company. So in the end, De Vries’s crusade against the WIC and Kieft, and his patriotic message for the Republic, could all be a cover-up for De Vries to justify his own actions. It could even be that there was a trial going on against him, and De Vries published his Journal to win popular support. This is an alluring piece of speculation, perhaps worthy of investigation, but outside the range of this article. David Pieterszoon De Vries’s Journal certainly holds more secrets waiting to be revealed.

75

De Vries, Korte historiael, 280, author’s translation.

76

Frijhoff, “Neglected networks,” 170–76.

Korte historiael, 176–77. De Vries explicitly mentioned that he wouldn’t let the WIC investigate his ship.

77

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De Halve Maen on aVOC Cities Tour in the Netherlands.

by Eduard T. van Breen The reconstructed ship Halve Maen in the harbor of Hoorn.

T

HE DUTCH EAST INDIA ship Halve Maen (Half Moon) is one of the best known ships in the world.

Her voyage in 1609 led to the founding of New Netherland, the present states of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The first full size replica of the Halve Maen was built by the people of the Netherlands in 1909, after Queen Wilhelmina and her government elevated the historic ship as a symbol of the mutual heritage between the two nations. The second and current replica was built by Andrew A. Hendricks, MD, who, upon its completion, donated the ship to the New Netherland Museum, a notfor-profit foundation established in 1989 to manage the ship, of which orgnization he has remained chairman of ever since.

The ship’s construction fulfilled Dr. Hendricks’s dream to recreate this historic icon as an educational instrument to underscore the important Dutch contributions to the American way of life For over twenty-five years the Halve Maen has represented New Netherland in maritime events, hosted an annual “voyage of discovery” on the Hudson River for students and hundreds of thousands of visitors, and been in numerous films, including a Walt Disney Eduard van Breen is a member of the board of directors of the New Netherland Museum.

He lectured extensively on the Halve Maen’s history and is author of The Spirit of the Half Moon. He also wrote several articles detailing newly discovered history of the original ship, which greatly benefited from his on board experience the current Halve Maen.

The author thanks all those who contributed photographs for this article.

movie. In 2009, Queen Beatrix bestowed upon Dr. Hendricks knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau for his unwavering and continuous contributions, not only to the New Netherland Museum Foundation but to other Dutch-American organizations such as the New Netherland Institute and the New Netherland Project, as well as his leadership and contributions to The Holland Society of New York. In 2014, Dr. Hendricks fullfilled another of his dreams, to see the Halve Maen sail upon Dutch waters and revitalize Queen Wilhelmina’s 1909 vision that the Halve Maen is a symbol of the mutual heritage between the nations.

In 2015, a loan agreement was made between the New Netherland Museum and the Westfries Museum in the City of Hoorn, Netherlands. The Halve Maen would promote New Netherland in the Netherlands. The ship arrived in Hoorn on May 23, 2015, with a magnificent ceremony.3 Later that summer, from August 19th-23rd, 2015, the Halve Maen participated in Sail Amsterdam15 and was the only American tall ship representing the United States for the celebration.4 The year 2016 proved another special year for the Halve Maen when it undertook a voyage of discovery of the six historic Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagny or VOC) cities which sponsored the Halve Maen’s original 1609 voyage.

What is a VOC City? As “VOC Cities” had direct bearing on the founding of New Netherland, the reader may be interested to know how and why six cities obtained the VOC label.

After it became apparent that Christopher Columbus had explored some unknown islands by sailing west from Spain in 1492,

Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI in Rome gave Spain at the request of the Spanish crown exclusive rights to all undiscovered lands west of a line stretching from pole to pole 100 leagues (about 320 miles) west of the Cape Verde Islands. The Portuguese, however, objected because its status and rights in the Atlantic were overlooked. Portugual’s objections were settled with the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which moved the line of demarcation further west to 370 leagues and including the eastern part of Brazil.

The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas proved not inconvenient for Europe’s super power, Spain. Spain would control the Americas with their silver and gold, while the Portuguese would control the sea route around Africa for the spice trade and a large portion of Brazil.

Meanwhile, by the late sixteenth century, the Dutch, with their efficient ships and excluded from the New World trade, began to dominate Europe’s important trade in bulk goods, such as grain. Prohibited by Spain to trade such vital commodities directly for luxury goods in Mediterranean ports, they were allowed to bring the goods to market in Portugal, and especially through the entrepôt city of Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands (present-day Belgium). The exchange of goods made Antwerp the emporium of Europe in the latter half of the sixteenth century.

As the Dutch war of independence from Andrew A. Hendricks, “Contributions of New Netherland to American Culture,” de Halve Maen 61, no. 3 (Fall 1988): 9–10.

1

Andrew A. Hendricks, “Construction of the 1988 Half Moon,” de Halve Maen 66, no. 3 (Fall 1993): 42–47.

2

Andrew A. Hendricks, “Journey to the Netherlands: The Arrival of the Half Moon in the City of Hoorn,” de Halve Maen 88, no. 2 (Summer 2015): 35–38.

3

Andrew A. Hendricks, “Sail Amsterdam 2015 and the Half Moon,” de Halve Maen 88, no. 4 (Winter 2015), 83–84.

4

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Spain heated up, however, ready access to luxury goods began to dwindle. Two major events restricted the trade severely: Portugal was united under the Spanish crown, making all of New World trade Spanish, and the fall of Antwerp to the Spanish in 1584 ensured total Spanish control. The entrepreneurial Dutch, with their fast fleets, began bypassing Antwerp and Lisbon altogether and by 1593 some 400 Dutch ships were trading directly with Mediterranean ports and, increasingly, further away with Africa’s Ivory Coast and Brazil. By 1595, Dutch merchants decided it was time to challenge the Spanish monopoly in the New World and explore routes to the spice markets themselves. That year they outfitted a fleet of four ships to take the southeast route around Africa to the Indies.

Until then, and since the mid-1590s, the various Dutch attempts to reach the forbidden Spice Islands had been limited to finding a shorter and safer northeast or northwest route. This so-called “route over the top of the earth” had proved to be elusive.

The idea of a northern route had never lost popularity, and fourteen years later the Halve Maen attempted to find this shorter route for the VOC by sailing 3,300 miles to Manhattan. The hope was to find a connecting and open strait to the Indies, like the Magellan Strait in the Southern Hemisphere, which also cut through land, allowing a southwest route to the luxury markets. But let us return to the voyage of discovery of 1595.

The Dutch fleet returned in August 1597, proving that the distant Spice Islands could be reached directly from the Dutch Republic.

From that moment on, Dutch fleets were outfitted at a rapid pace to obtain the valuable luxury goods in markets located in the Banda and Java seas, in present-day Indonesia, a round trip of some 28,000 miles.

These fleets were financed by numerous independent Dutch business consortiums, which had sprung up in the major cities of the Republic. Each consortium sent fleets of ships to the lucrative Spice Islands. By 1602, no less than sixty-five ships in fifteen different convoys sailed back and forth to the Indies, bringing a tremendous volume of goods into Europe in addition to the spices transported by Portuguese ships.6 Inspired by the Dutch consortiums, the English formed their own East India Company in 1600. It was of minor consequence at that time, with less than a handful of ships reaching the Spice Islands by 1602.

A more insidious threat to profits was the fact that all the independent Dutch consortiums created rising supply costs while lower-

ing sales prices. This activity was noticed by the Dutch Government. Since competition was not in anyone’s best interest, in 1602 the States General strongly persuaded the competing companies to unite into one corporation, the United East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC). The government’s action came with a carrot: the VOC would receive official state monopoly over all the trade goods coming from the areas reached by the southeast routes around Africa, or southwest routes reached through the Magellan Strait.

Soon the independent companies united in two ways: first, they grouped into a “subsidiary” per city of origin, called a kamer, or chamber in English. Each chamber had its own board of directors, made up of the largest local shareholders. Every chamber was then represented in the executive board of the overall VOC, known as the Heren XVII. Representation within the Heren XVII reflected the value that each chamber had contributed to the total initial capitalization of ƒ 6,424,578.

Each chamber was labeled after the city in which the subsidiary had been formed, with the exception of the Zeeland chamber, which was named after the province and comprised of the cities of Middelburg and Vlissingen.

These cities thus became known as “VOC cities.” The six VOC chambers were: Amsterdam (the largest with ƒ 3.7 million), Zeeland (ƒ 1.3 million), Enkhuizen (ƒ 0.5 million), Delft (ƒ 0.5 million), Hoorn (ƒ 0.3 million), and Rotterdam (ƒ 0.2 million).7 Each city was responsible for building and outfitting its own ships and having its own warehouses under a system of pre-approvals and reconciliations at the executive board level, the mentioned Heren XVII, which met every six months.

It was during an interim period that the issue of hiring, or not hiring, the English pilot

Henry Hudson arose. On December 29, 1608, the Amsterdam chamber made the unilateral decision and took the initiative to go ahead with a 1609 voyage of discovery.

Subsequently, on February 6, 1609, the Amsterdam chamber purchased the Halve Maen from Jan Jansz van Hellmont, confident that it could convince the full board of the Heren XVII when it next convened.8 The voyage of the Halve Maen, the founding of New Netherland, and the chain of events that helped forge modern America can thus be traced back to the initiative of a few entrepreneurial businessmen on the second floor of the VOC building on the Hoogstraat in Amsterdam on that last Monday in December 1608.9 The VOC operated successfully for two centuries and today in the Netherlands each of the six cities proudly displays VOC buildings, warehouses, streets, harbors, and other testimonials to its rich VOC history that began four centuries ago.

The Golden Age in the Netherlands, driven on shore by entrepreneurial business acumen, can only be fully explained by including the Dutch advanced maritime know-how at the time. Indeed, advanced shipwrights, efficient shipbuilding, and fast and economical ships are part of the Golden Age story. Yet, not since the eighteenth century had a VOC ship graced the harbor of any VOC city—until the Halve Maen arrived on the scene in 2015.

F. S. Gaastra, De Geschiedenis van de VOC (Zutphen, 2007), 19.

5

Ibid., 17. In 1591–1601, the Portuguese sent forty-six ships, compared to sixty-five Dutch ships between 1595–1602.

6

J. G. van Dillen, “Aandeelregister Oost Indische Compagnie” (‘sGravenhage,1958), 35.

7

Eduard T. van Breen, Spirit of the Half Moon (New Netherland Museum, 2016), 9-16.

8

More details on newly discovered facts on the Halve Maen can be found in The Spirit of the Half Moon www. emporiumofnewnetherlandmuseum.org

9

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de Halve Maen

VOC Tour 2016

U

NDER THE LEADERSHIP of Ad Geerdink, Director of the Westfries Museum, a tour was arranged for the Halve Maen to all six VOC cities in 2016. In each city a separate theme highlighted various aspects of VOC history.

Hoorn, October 14, 2016: Departure.

That Friday one could easily imagine being in the first decade of the seventeenth century. The crew of the replica ship Halve Maen, surrounded by families and friends, and all dressed in seventeenth-century costumes, made their way through the narrow, winding, cobblestone streets in the unchanged VOC city of Hoorn. They arrived at the very same Schipperskerk (Skipper’s Church) where prayers were held before each long voyage during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Just as then, our crew and friends arrived at a full church where the congregation counted many notables from the current city council such as Ben Tap and Judith de Jong. The theme was to reenact a departure of a VOC ship about to undertake a three-year voyage, a typical minimum for a back-and-forth voyage to the Indies. Many crewmembers would

Attendees, dressed in seventeenth-century costume, attentively listen to the speeches at the Schipperskerk, Hoorn. Photo Benno Ellerbroek Photography. spend a longer time away from home, if they came back at all.

Westfries Museum director Ad Geerdink, dressed in seventeenth-century costume and speaking from the raised pulpit, reenacted that solemn moment in the church.

Geerdink had composed a special poem to say farewell to the crew and to pray for a safe return. Councilwoman Judith de Jong followed, wishing the crew well and reminding skipper Bram Nijenhuis of the special cargo he was carrying, namely the goodwill of the city of Hoorn. Her speech was followed by a serenade of seventeenth-

Right: loading the Halve Maen at the pier in Hoorn and (below) with a final “Hurrah!” and a waving crowd, the Halve Maen departed Hoorn for Enkhuizen on October 14, 2016.

Facing page, the Halve Maen docked at the city of Hoorn

century songs and soon thereafter the entire congregation and crew made their way out of the Schipperskerk through the winding streets to the harbor where the Halve Maen was moored, ready to sail. There, from a pier packed with onlookers and with a final “Hurrah!” and a waving crowd, the seventeenth-century ship departed, through the harbor opening toward the horizon, just as it would have sailed in the first decade of the seventeenth century.

Enkhuizen, October 14–17: The Mercantile Spirit. The arrival of the Halve Maen that late Friday afternoon on the roadstead of the VOC city Enkhuizen was a sight to be seen. Skipper Bram, with the help of local tugs, navigated the ship through the narrow lock into the center of town and, for the first time in several centuries, the beautiful cay of the innercity canal was charmed with a VOC ship.

The arrival was met by Enkhuizen’s city officials dressed in seventeenth-century costumes, who invited the Halve Maen crew to a reception in a stately patrician home overlooking the canal.

The Halve Maen’s visit coincided with a month-long celebration of Enkhuizen’s mercantile past. In its local museum, the world’s oldest surviving stock certificate was on display; a VOC document dating from 1606 for 150 guilders in the name of Pieter Harmensz. That Friday night, the Halve Maen crew hosted a well-attended informal party for all the companies that had been helpful to the ship, such as De Gier Maritiem and Ventis Boatyards.

Throughout the weekend, the ship was open to the public while guided walking tours connected the ship with VOC merchant sites in town. On Saturday evening, a celebration was held in the local church,

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The Halve Maen arrives in the center of the VOC city of Enkhhuizen.

Westerkerk, organized by the City of Enkhuizen to commemorate its merchant past. Several hundred people attended the reception and dinner. The church buzzed with speeches about VOC exploits and, specifically, Ad Geerdink thanked Dr. Andrew Hendricks for sharing his vision of the Halve Maen with the people of the Netherlands. Throughout the dinner, seventeenth-century music entertained the guests and dignitaries.

On Sunday afternoon it was time, though too soon, to say goodbye to the beautiful city of Enkhuizen—the ship had to depart in order to be in time before the locks of Amsterdam closed near midnight. Again, the Halve Maen set sail over familiar waters, once known as the Zuiderzee, in the wake of the original ship that had then been under

the command of skipper Maarten Pietersen before February 1609. Maarten had hailed from the village of Schellinkhout located in between Hoorn and Enkhuizen.10 Amsterdam October 17–19: the Dutch and the Golden Age. In the middle of Sunday night, the Halve Maen arrived in a special spot once again. Just like the year before during Sail Amsterdam15— the 2015 international tall ship festival in Amsterdam—the Halve Maen was in the same geographical place. This spot is exactly where the Halve Maen would have been in 1609, the mooring location of the VOC. Certainly many forefathers of Holland Society Members would have crossed these same waters themselves. The ship moored next to the Scheepsvaart Museum,

the Dutch Maritime Museum, close to the Dutch West India Company (WIC) building and point of departure to New Netherland. It was a beautiful setting next to the non-operating, replica eighteenth-century ship Amsterdam. That image evoked the memory of that 1611 chart and the first and only drawing of the original eighty-ton Halve Maen and the much larger 800-ton Banda, first published precisely 400 years later in this magazine.11 Throughout the next days, the Halve Maen was moored on the Amstel River in front of the Hermitage Museum where it was welcomed by Amsterdam dignitaries and the directors of the Scheepsvaart Museum. The arrival of the Halve Maen coincided with the musuem’s exhibition “The Dutch and the Golden Age.” The trip from the Scheepsvaart Museum to the Hermitage Museum was further memorable as the Halve Maen maneuvered through the Amsterdam canals—a sight that few 10

Van Breen, Spirit of the Half Moon, 16.

E. T. van Breen, “An Extraordinary Discovery: A Contemporary Picture of Henry Hudson’s Ship, the Half Moon” de Halve Maen 84, no. 3 (Fall 2011): 44–51

11

The Halve Maen moored beside the Scheepsvaart Museum, the Dutch Maritime Museum, in Amsterdam, the replica eighteenth-century ship Amsterdam to the left.

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Above; The Halve Maen sailing along Amsterdam’s Heerengracht canal.

Right: The Halve Maen on the Amstel River in front of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam. on shore, or onboard, will ever forget, as the seventeenth-century Amsterdam houses were the perfect backdrop for the seventeenth-century ship. On Wednesday October 19, invited guests came on board to make a tour of the Amsterdam “IJ,” on

the broad water in back of the railroad station, Centraal Station. The next stop was Kamer Zeeland.

Middelburg, October 22–23: Freedom and Slavery. For the trip from Amsterdam

to Middelburg, skipper Bram Nijnenhuis chose the inland route. For the next three days the ship turned heads throughout the low lands as it often cruised the canals and rivers high above traffic and people in the low polders. On Saturday it arrived in the center of Middelburg, the rich and beautiful VOC city and capital of the province of Zeeland.

A large crowd awaited the Halve Maen’s arrival, and, throughout the weekend, the ship had many visitors. In town, lectures were given about another aspect of the VOC, freedom and slavery. On Monday, short trips were made from Middelburg to the ancient port of Veere, where in 1595, the first independent East India fleet had departed toward the Spice Islands.

At this time, Dr. Andrew Hendricks, as Chairman of the New Netherland Museum, arrived from the United States and joined the crew.

Delft October 27: the Glory of Delft. In Delfshaven, the ancient seaport of landlocked Delft, near Rotterdam, the Halve Maen moored next to the Museum of the eighteenth-century warship, Delft. That Thursday evening, a series of lectures paid tribute to this city’s rich VOC history.

Rotterdam October 28-30: the VOC Mentality. The Halve Maen made its way from Delfthaven along the Rijn Canal,

Left top and bottom: the Halve Maen docked in the historic VOC city of Middelburg.

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The tranquil character of the waterways of Middleburg, above, contrast with Rotterdam’s modern skyline, above right. passing the tall Euromast and the 1950s SS Rotterdam. At drawbridges, twentyfirst century traffic had to stop for our seventeenth-century transportation vehicle, allowing the ship to finally arrived at its destination in the center of Rotterdam by the Maritime Museum. That evening an informal party was held to thank Dr. Hendricks and crew. For the next few days, visitors crowded the ship and, on Sunday evening, the tour was concluded by a speech given by former Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who heralded the enterprising spirit of the VOC. Unfortunately, the original Dutch VOC headquarters in Rotterdam is the only VOC building of the six cities that has not survived. German bombing raids destroyed the structure during World War II.

Barneveld, October 26. A few days earlier, as the Halve Maen continued to Delfshaven, Dr. Hendricks, representing The Holland Society of New York, met with the Asje van Dijk, mayor of the city of Barneveld in the province of Gelderland.

At this meeting Hendricks explained the contribution that the ancestors of the members of The Holland Society had made to New Netherland and their connection to the province of Gelderland. Not only Killiaen van Rensselaer stemmed from Gelderland, but other famous Dutchmen who had played an important role in New Netherland, such as Wolfert van Bijler, Arent van Curler, and Wouter van Twiller, who had all shared a birthplace in the province. Indeed, Dr. Hendricks’ ancestor, Hendrick Willemsz., had emigrated from Barneveld, Gelderland, to New Amsterdam prior to 1669.12 During their meeting, the Mayor Van Dijk and Dr. Hendricks exchanged gifts, forging a bridge between Barneveld and New Netherland. Soon thereafter the city council of Barneveld adopted a resolution to explore further avenues for cooperation.

The meeting proved a catalyst for cultural exchanges where Barneveld’s regional Nairac Museum and the New Netherland Museum will hold a joint exhibit about the immigrants of New Netherland. 13 Henceforth, we hope to encourage future American visits to the Netherlands to also visit Barneveld and other cities from the region, such as Nijkerk.

Mayor Asje van Dijk and Dr. Andrew Hendricks exchanging gifts in Barneveld, Gelderland.

The Tour Declared A Success! Without a doubt the Halve Maen underscored the VOC history in the Netherlands; but Dr. Hendricks’ vision and creation also played an important ambassadorial role of representing New Netherland in the Netherlands. Along the way, millions saw the Halve Maen in the news media. Countless learned that the VOC not only traded with the Spice Islands and China but was also responsible for the founding of New Netherland through the voyage of the Halve Maen in 1609.

“The VOC tour with the Halve Maen was a tremendous success,” Ad Geerdink stated at the conclusion of the 2016 tour. “We were able to tell the VOC story in all its facets.

Not only was there a great interest on board the ship itself, but the tens of thousands of people along the route were able to see it in person.” Countless pictures were shared through social media. The traditional press, both regional and national, spent much time on the Halve Maen’ s VOC tour. For Geerdink there were many highlights, such as the “departure from Hoorn, the large dinner in the church in Enkhuizen, the gorgeous city tour through the Heeren Canal in Amsterdam and the big and enthusiastic reception in Middelburg.”

The ship is all well and good and we hope that all Americans will have a chance to visit the ship in the Netherlands and explore our mutual Dutch-American heritage as we follow in the wake of the original Halve Maen.

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Van Breen, Spirit of the Half Moon, 20–21

The Nairac Museum in conjunction with the New Netherland Museum will sponsor this exhibition entitled “In the Wake of the Half Moon . . . to New Netherland 1609–1664.” The exhibit will include information about New Netherland settlers and the descendants of New Netherland families are invited to participate by name in this exhibition in the Netherlands.

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Book Review Lisa Jardine, Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory (New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 2008).

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LTHOUGH LISA JARDINE (1944–2015) died too early in her productive life, her work as historian of the early modern period remains as lively and fresh as when she wrote it between five and thirty years ago. A daughter of Jacob Bronowski and Rita Coblentz, she was born in Oxford, England, and trained in and taught history in England. Her father, a mathematician, historian of science, theater author, poet, and inventor, was the creator of the influential BBC series “The Ascent of Man,” and he eventually worked as philosopherauthor at the Salk Institute in California.

Clearly Lisa grew up in a historically challenging household.

Between 1990 and 2011 Jardine was the Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary University of London. An author of more than fifteen historical studies, her work often draws upon Renaissance era material culture, historic art, and seventeenthcentury science and mathematics, putting them within the multi-cultural countries that then constituted Europe. More information about her life and fascinating studies are to be found on line.

Those interested in Dutch overseas expansion will find her book Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory (2008) a particularly revealing and intriguing work that bears on the history of the American colonies, especially New York. At the outset, Jardine tells that her book is about cultural exchange between England and the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century. She became acquainted with an extraordinarily rich such exchange when she wrote biographies of naturalist Robert Hooke and architect Christopher Wren: Hooke enjoyed a close communication with Christiaan Huygens, an intermediary who kept Hooke in touch with Dutch lens makers, while Wren soaked up newly burgeoning Amsterdam’s evocation of Classical and neo-Classical styles in its most modern

buildings. And that wasn’t all. She would eventually find that at the time of the Glorious Revolution, England had been successfully invaded. Her book is then the story, a “narrative . . . on an almost epic scale,” of William III, Prince of Orange, who led the Netherland’s invasion of Britain at Torbay in November 1688.

Over the seventeenth century, so much drew the two highly competitive northern European countries relatively close together—art, science, music, poetry, and technologies. One of these was migration, which was widely experienced in both England and in the Netherlands. Jardine examines whether migration impacted the distinctive, coherent tastes, attitudes, and beliefs of a country; or did migration contribute to any country’s national medley of intersecting tastes, styles, and influences.

The first chapter begins with the narrative of William III’s invasion of England, illustrated by the stunning painting, Abraham Storck’s “William of Orange sets out to invade England.”

(Throughout the book approximately ninety color illustrations accompany the text.) William’s Secretary, Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687), accompanied him and kept journals detailing these events.

Jardine makes use of the remarks of this poet, composer, and sometimes artist and also draws on observations by other contemporaries, both Dutch and English, advancing the story of this naval and military adventure.

The second chapter deals with the question of why the Dutch invasion was “edited out” of English history from the early eighteenth century forward in time. Dutch William and his wife Mary, daughter of Roman Catholic King James and former Duke of York, were truly welcomed by Parliament and also by many, if not most, English people: James was a distinctly unpopular ruler. Nonetheless, the Dutch military takeover of London and other English locales between 1688 and 1690 was harsh and sometimes worse. Jardine and others have noted that the invasion and its attendant military effects were so “improbable” that subsequent generations of scholars and historians simply erased it from their record. This became easy to do because of William’s Declaration, a piece

of propaganda based on Thomas Locke’s ideas of government. The Declaration was printed in pamphlet that was widely distributed across England immediately after the invasion.

But that was not all. Jardine also reveals that a threat of French invasion of England also made William and Mary’s arrival in England all the more welcoming. She was, after all, the newly Roman Catholic James’s Protestant daughter.

William’s journey between Torbay and London detoured for a visit to Wilton House, a grand estate of the Herbert family. It was famous for its French-inspired gardens. Under William, himself a garden lover, such fine garden design would expand across England, dramatically changing garden design at Kensington Palace and Hampton Court. The rich, dense rococo style that not only shaped geometric and botanical beauty but also made room for plant materials brought from all over the world. For Jardine, this episode was particularly revealing of William’s interest and also of his methods.

In subsequent chapters, additional and differing aspects of how the Dutch came to rule England are considered. Jardine describes the marital politics that led to the “uniting” of English and Dutch royal families. And then a series of topics are covered: William’s princely cultural diplomacy; Dutch influence on English art; double portraits and marriages; Anglo-Dutch music; Anglo-Dutch shared passions for gardening; importing a rich material culture; Anglo-Dutch adventures in science and with microscopes; and Anglo-Dutch economic experiences in global competition and money markets.

In her chapter on Anglo-Dutch influence abroad, Jardine’s dense, compressed history of New Netherland and its evolution into New York is set forth. Though it does not entirely conform with the understanding of all modern scholarship in America and Europe, it is nonetheless an eloquent and very helpful presentation by a modern British historian intent on opening windows and clearing out old cobwebs.

—Ruth Piwonka

Independent Scholar

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Here and There in New Netherland Studies

Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation Makes Gains

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HE VAN HOESEN HOUSE Historical Foundation (VHHHF) has been granted access to the Jan Van Hoesen House (c 1730) in Claverack, New York, for ongoing study and preservation. The VHHHF began in 2005 when local citizens gathered to address the deterioration of this brick Dutch farmhouse. The house had been abandoned in the 1960s when the land it occupies was acquired by a local businessman who then developed the adjoining fields into a mobile home park. Since then, the house has remained undisturbed at the edge of this new community. The house was listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 1979. In 2009 the Preservation League of New York State selected the Van Hoesen House for inclusion on its "Seven To Save” list in honor of New York State's Quadricentennial Celebration.

Although the house’s metal roof and brick walls have protected the building’s integrity, in the past decade deterioration has accelerated—especially in mortar joints and footings. VHHHF is working with the property owners to reach the best solution for the preservation of the house. The VHHHF is currently building its 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization to prepare for the long-term preservation of this example of early eighteenth-century Hudson Valley vernacular Dutch architecture. For further information contact Ed Klinger contact@ vanhoesenhouse.org or write Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation, P.O. Box 254, Claverack, NY 12513

New Amsterdam History Center Event

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N MONDAY, November 6, 2017, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, historians Wim Klooster and Dennis J. Maika will conduct a dialogue about Dutch trade and entrepre-

neurship on the seventeenth-century world stage. The conversation, entitled “New Amsterdam in the Dutch Atlantic” will be held at The Netherland Club of New York, 3 West 51st Street, in Manhattan. Klooster and Maika will cover such topics as the operation of both state-sponsored commercial monopolies and private entrepreneurship, the practical aspects of arranging trade, cooperation as well as competition between representatives of European empires, the impact of “sustained warfare” in the seventeenth century, and the Dutch commercial legacy in the Atlantic World and New York.

A question and answer period will follow.

The event is sponsored by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and has received funding through a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation.

Admission $10; $15 at the door; Free for New Amsterdam History Center members.

Space is limited, so reservations are encouraged. For further information email info@ newamsterdamhistorycenter.org, or call 212-233-1245.

Society Activities

Relocation of The Holland Society Office and Library

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T A MEETING of The Holland Society Trustees in June, it was determined to leave the Society’s ornate offices in the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Building at 20 West 44th Street for less expensive space. The Holland Society was donating much of its collections to the New York State Library, home of the New Netherland Research Center. As Society President Andrew Terhune wrote, “The space we have occupied for the past ten years is ideal for what it was conceived to be, but with the relocation of the bulk of our library to the New Netherland Research Center, we no longer need to rent such a large space.

Nor can we afford it in Midtown Manhattan, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.” In July, the Library was transferred New York State Library in Albany, where the books were unpacked and shelved in the stacks for cataloging.

The New York State Library will begin the cataloging process starting with family genealogies, and every book that the New York State Library catalogs and keeps will reflect that the Holland Society donated the collection.

The relocation of The Holland Society Headquarters to a temporary location at 708 Third Avenue was also completed during the week of July 17–23. It was anticipated that this set-up would only last a few months.

Meanwhile, due to the small quarters, most of the Society files were placed in storage until a larger space becomes available.

The files of the journal de Halve Maen were also moved to the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History in Hudson, New York, as well as extra copies of the magazine. In addition, the Leisler Institute houses copies of all issues of de Halve Maen going back to its first publication in 1922. The editorial office for the publication will also currently reside at the Leisler Institute in Hudson, although all queries relating to the journal

should continue to be directed to Society headquarters in Manhattan.

Executive Director Odette FodorGernaert (left) and Burgher Guard Captain Sarah Bogart in the Society’s temporary office at 708 Third Avenue.

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In Memoriam Mathias Irving Demarest Holland Society of New York Life Member Mathias Irving (“Irv”) Demarest passed away on January 5, 2015, at the University Medical Center of Princeton, New Jersey. Mr. Demarest was born on February 5, 1942, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, son of Irving Voorhees Demarest and Emily Louisa Harned. He claimed descent from David des Marest, who was born in Beauchamp, near Amiens, Picardy, France, moved to Mannheim, Palatinate, then emigrated to New Amsterdam aboard the ship Bontecou (Spotted Cow), in 1663, with his wife and four children, ages eighteen, eleven, six, and one years old.

He eventually settled on a tract which he bought on the Hackensack River in present-day Bergen county, New Jersey, Mr. Demarest became a Life Member of the Holland Society in 1960.

Mr. Demarest attended Blair Academy in Blairstown Township, New Jersey, from 1955 to 1957, and the Stanton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia, from 1957 to 1960. At Staunton he earned the rank of Second Lieutenant and was a member of the rifle drill team. Mr. Demarest served with the United States Army in Vietnam.

Mr. Demarest married Irmgard Kaiser.

The couple had a son Robert Demarest, and two daughters, Helen Demarest and Susan Demarest. His wife, Irmgard, predeceased him in 2011.

Mr. Demarest worked as a furniture designer with Tom Hassett Jr. in Watchung, New Jersey. He resided in Metuchen and South Brunswick, before moving to Monroe in 1999. In addition to The Holland Society, he was a member of the American Legion Post 401 in South Brunswick, New Jersey. Mr. Demarest was a member of the Reformed Church of Metuchen.

Mr. Demarest is survived his son, Robert Demarest and his wife Sharon; his daughter, Helen Demarest Beecher and her husband, John; and by his daughter, Susan, all of whom live in Helmetta, New Jersey.

He is also survived by three brothers, David N. Demarest of Melbourne, Florida, a Holland Society Member, James Demarest of Ames, Iowa, and Richard Demarest of Columbia, South Carolina, and by two sisters, Elizabeth Demarest Howard of

Port Orange, Florida, and Helen Demarest McTammany of Port Orange, Florida, and eight grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were made by Costello-Runyon Funeral Home of Metuchen. Visitation was held on January 9, 2016. Cremation was private.

Courtland Van Deusen III Holland Society of New York Member Courtland (“Corky”) Van Deusen III passed away at Tryon Estates, Columbus, North Carolina, on November 9, 2016, at the age of ninety-nine. Dr. Van Deusen was born on September 1, 1917, in Tstingtau, Shantung, China, where his parents were missionaries. He was the son of Courtland Calvin Van Deusen Jr. and Mary Kumler Lorenz. Dr. Van Deusen claimed descent from Abraham Pieterszen, a miller by trade, who emigrated in 1634 from Haarlem, Holland, to New Amsterdam. Dr. Van Deusen joined the Holland Society of New York in 1957.

Dr. Van Deusen came to the United States in 1928 to attend the Mount Hermon School for Boys in Gill, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1935. He then attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, from which he and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. At the Philadelphia Hospital he completed his internship and residency and became a radiologist.

Mr. Van Deusen married Dorothy (“Dottie”) Grace Smith on June 27, 1942, in Philadel-phia, Pennsylvania. The couple had four children: Christina Van Deusen, born on October 27, 1944, Courtland Van Deusen IV, April 13, 1947, both in Philadelphia, and Edward Van Deusen, born July 16, 1948, and Laurence Van Deusen, August 4, 1950, both in Niagara Falls, New York. His wife, Dorothy, predeceased him in 2000.

During World War II, Dr. Van Deusen enlisted as a Reserve Officer in August 1942. In 1945–1947, he served in the United States Army under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, attaining the rank of captain.

During this period he served as commander of the Prisoner of War Hospital in France.

In 1948 Dr. Van Deusen moved to Lewiston, New York, where he maintained

a radiology practice for thirty years. He was also a member of a partnership than ran the radiology depart-ment in the Niagara Falls Hospital until the mid-1980s.

Widely respected in his field, he was a Fellow Emeritus of the American College of Radiology and a longtime active member of the Niagara County and New York State Radiological Societies. He served as president of the Niagara Falls Academy of Medicine, and was a member of the Niagara County Medical Society, Buffalo Radiological Society, New York State Medical Society, American Medical Association, Radiological Society of North America, and College of Radiology.

After he retired, he moved to Jekyll Island, Georgia, and in 1990 became a resident of Tyron Estates.

Dr. Van Deusen was a deacon, trustee, and elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Lewiston as well as a deacon in the Presbyterian churches in Jekyll Island, Georgia, and Columbus, North Carolina.

He was active in the Rotary Clubs in Lewiston, Jekyll Island, and Columbus. He worked with the Boy Scouts of America, the Salvation Army, and the Red Feather Agency, the predecessor to the United Way, the Community Chest of Niagara, and the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Van Deusen was a member of the Niagara Club, the Niagara Falls Country Club, the Youngstown Yacht Club, and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. He was a commissioner of the Youngstown Planning Commission in 1978. He enjoyed marquetry, sailing, photography, tennis, and gold.

He was a conservative Republican in his politics.

Dr. Van Deusen is survived by his daughter Christina and sons Courtland IV Van Deusen, of Niagara Falls, New York Edward Van Deusen, and Lawrence Van Deusen of Lake View, New York, six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. A memorial service was held on Novem-ber 2016 at the Lewiston Presbyterian Church.

Phillip Owen Keirstead Holland Society Member Phillip Owen Keirstead passed away on April 4, 2017, at the Bailey Center in St. Augustine, Florida,

Summer 2017

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at the age of seventy-eight, following a four-year battle with kidney cancer. Mr. Keirstead was born on May 1, 1938, in Waterville, Maine, son of Lloyd Garrison Keirstead and Irma Robinson. He claimed descent from Hans Kierstede, a surgeon by trade, who migrated from Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany, to New Netherland in 1638. Mr. Keirstead joined The Holland Society in 1975.

Mr. Keirstead was raised in Maine and Connecticut, graduating from Hamden High School in Connecticut. He went on to matriculate at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1956–1957. He graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with a B.S. in Radio and Television in 1960. From 1960 to 1964 he served in the Connecticut National Guard, 43rd Infantry Division, rising to staff sergeant.

After leaving the military he attended the University of Iowa, Iowa City, receiving a M.A. in journalism in 1966.

Mr. Keirstead spent the next twenty years in broadcast news, first as a news anchor and reporter with WCCC AM-FM Radio in Hartford, Connecticut, 1961. He was then continuity and traffic supervisor at WNHC-television, New Haven, in 1961–1964, bureau chief and anchor WFMY-Television, Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1965–1967, news director at KFEQ-AM-television in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1967–1968, and WHCT-television in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1968–1969. In 1969 he became a New England radio editor for the Associated Press in Boston, and served as a writer and national broadcast editor in Manhattan in 1970–1971 and as editor, producer, reporter Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) News in Manhattan in 1971–1977.

Mr. Keirstead started a second career teaching broadcast journalism, first at Fordham University and then at Hunter College in New York. He joined the Faculty of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, as professor of head broadcast journalism in 1977, teaching at that school for the next twentynine years. He also was news technical editor at Television/Broadcast Magazine in Manhattan in 1981–1989, TV Technology Magazine in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1989–1991, United States correspondent for Production Solutions magazine in London after1985. During that time he

earned a Ph.D. in Communication Policy Studies from City University in London, England, in 1996. Mr. Keirstead was a Senior Fulbright Professor to India in 1983 and did many seminars around the world for the USIA. He was recipient Silver Gavel award American Bar Association, 1975, award American Medical Association, 1975, Ohio State award, 1976, and Distinguished Alumni award from Boston University in 1983.

Mr. Keirstead married Sonia-Kay Wanda Piekos in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 20, 1963. The couple had no children.

Mr. Keirstead was the author of nine books and about 1,500 articles on television news and broadcasting. In addition to his membership in The Holland Society New York, he was a member of the Royal Television Society (England), Radio-TV News Directors Association (secretary data transmission committee since 1987), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Broadcast Education Association, Society Professional Journalists (chairman subcommittee 1980–1987), International Institute Communications (London), and Asian Mass Communications and Research Center (Singapore). He enjoyed gardening and collecting antiques. He was Democrat in his politics.

Phil is survived by his wife Sonia-Kay. Craig Funeral Home Memorial Park of St. Augustine, Florida, handled funeral arrangements.

Edgar Lyle Van Nuis Holland Society of New York Member Edgar Lyle Van Nuis, passed away on July 5, 2017, at the age of ninety-four. Mr. Van Nuis was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on January 30, 1923, son of Percy Lyle Van Nuis and Clara Weigel. He claimed descent from Auke Jansen, who came to New Netherland from Amsterdam in 1651. Mr. Van Nuis became a Member of The Holland Society in 1945.

Mr. Van Nuis graduated from Highland Park High School in 1941. He then was a Cadet at Virginia Polytechnic Institute when his education was interrupted while he served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army during WWII, as a member of Cannon Company, 422nd Infantry Regiment, 106th

Infantry Division. He served from 1943 to 1945 in the European Theater of Operations in Belgium and Germany where he was awarded a Purple Heart, Combat Infantry-man Badge, European Campaign Medal with two Battle Stars and a Victory Medal. His service is documented in The Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, Veteran’s History Project. Mr. Van Nuis graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1947 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and in 1949 with a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering. Throughout his life, Ed was a proud Virginia Tech alumnus and Hokie sports supporter.

Mr. Van Nuis married Jane LeCato in Toms River, New Jersey, on June 18, 1949.

The couple had three children: Martha Patterson Van Nuis, born on February 12, 1952, and Peter Lyle Van Nuis, born on December 31, 1953, both in Lakewood, New Jersey, and Cary Weigel Van Nuis, born on May 29, 1958, in Somerset, New Jersey. Mr. Van Nuis’s wife, Jane, predeceased him on July 9, 2016.

Mr. Van Nuis started out his career a research engineer for American Smelting Refining Company from 1949 to 1951. He then was Manager of Building Products Division, Gronk Manufacturing Company in 1951–1957, Manager of the Packaging Department of Bristol-Myers Products Division 1957–1960, Consultant at THINC Career Planning Corp., 1960–1976, and President of Van Nuis Co. Inc., an executive outplacement consulting service, from 1976 to 1985.

Mr. Van Nuis was a Lionel Train collector and spent much of his spare time building and running a large layout he and his youngest son built in his basement. He loved saltwater sailing, particularly when spending summers in Owls Head, Maine, with his family. He was also a Civil War buff. He had a soft spot for all animals, including the many dogs and cats the family adopted over the years. He was a member of the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick. He was Republican in his politics.

Mr. Van Nuis is survived by his daughter Martha P. Van Nuis Fugett, and sons Peter L. Van Nuis and Cary W. Van Nuis, three grandchildren, and a great grandson. The family held a private service celebrating his life. Mr. Van Nuis was interred with his family in the Elmwood Cemetery in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

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The Holland Society of New York

GIFT ITEMS for Sale

www.hollandsociety.org “Beggars' Medal,” worn by William

of Orange at the time of his assassination and adopted by The Holland Society of New York on March 30, 1887 as its official badge.

The medal is available in: Sterling Silver 14 Carat Gold $2,800.00 Please allow 6 weeks for delivery - image is actual size

100% Silk “Necktie” $85.00 “Self-tie Bowtie” $75.00 “Child's Pre-tied Bowtie” $45.00 “Lapel Pin”

Designed to be worn as evidence of continuing pride in membership.

The metal lapel pin depicts the Lion of Holland in red enamel upon a golden field. Extremely popular with members since 1897 when adoped by the society. $45.00

“Rosette”

Silk moiré lapel pin in orange, a color long associated with the Dutch $25.00

Make checks payable to: The Holland Society of New York and mail to: 20 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036 Or visit our website and pay with Prices include shipping