V.

THE TRUCE WITH SPAIN AND ENGLISH RIVALRY.

[Sidenote: Conquest and Trade in the East.]

By this time the Dutch had factories or trading stations at Masulipatam, Pulikat, and two smaller places on the eastern coast of Hindostan, they had liberty to trade at Calicut, they had entered into a new treaty with the maharaja of Kandy in Ceylon, they had factories at Bantam and Grésik in Java, and in November 1610 they entered into a treaty with the ruler of Jakatra in the same island, in which they secured the site of the future city of Batavia, they held the protectorate of Ternate, although the Portuguese still had a fort there, Neira was theirs with a monopoly of the spice trade of all the Banda islands, Batjan was theirs also, as was Amboina, they had factories at Patani on the eastern coast of the Malay peninsula, established in 1604, and at Johor at its southern extremity, also at Achin in Sumatra, at Landok in Borneo, on the island of Celebes, and in the empire of Japan. The foundation of the vast realm which they subsequently acquired in the eastern seas was thus established on the ruins of the gigantic dominions of Portugal, though much fighting was still to be done before it should be fully built up.

A great defect appeared to be the want of some local authority to control the conquests and supervise the trade. To meet this want the assembly of seventeen resolved to establish a strong government in the East, though the seat of authority was not fixed upon. On the 21st of November 1609 Pieter Both was appointed first governor-general of Netherlands India, and councillors, consisting of the principal officials, were named to assist him. He left Texel on the 30th of January 1610 with a fleet of eight ships. In a great storm off the Cape his ship got separated from the others, so he put into Table Bay to repair some damages to the mainmast and to refresh his men. In July 1610 Captain Nicholas Downton called at the same port in an English vessel, and found Governor-General Both’s ship lying at anchor and also two homeward bound Dutch ships taking in train oil that had been collected at Robben Island. The governor-general arrived at Bantam on the 19th of December 1610, and in the factory at that place, in a town belonging to an independent though friendly sovereign, an authority, soon to eclipse that of any Indian prince, was first established.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The great successes of the Dutch in the eastern seas caused the Spaniards to desire peace, and they were prepared to acknowledge the independence of the United Provinces if two conditions only could be obtained: the right of Roman Catholics to worship in public and the prohibition of the Indian trade. The archduke Albert made the first advance by sending two secret agents to the Hague at the close of 1606. The Dutch people were divided in opinion: one party, under the leadership of the prominent statesman Johan van Olden-Barneveld, favoured peace on reasonable terms, the other, under Maurits of Nassau, desired to continue the war until Spain should be thoroughly humiliated. The peace party was in the majority, and as the other European governments were urgent that hostilities should be brought to an end, in April 1607 an armistice was agreed to for eight months from the 4th of May, in order that negotiations might be entered into.

Just at this time an event occurred which greatly promoted the desire of the Spaniards for peace. A fleet of twenty-six small ships of war and four tenders, under Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk, had recently been sent by the states-general to cruise in the Atlantic. Heemskerk came to learn that a Spanish war fleet of ten great galleons and eleven smaller vessels, under command of Don Juan Alvarez d’Avila, was lying at anchor in Gibraltar Bay under the guns of the fortress. Notwithstanding the tremendous disparity of force, he determined to attack the enemy, and on the 25th of April 1607 he stood into the bay and boldly grappled with the monster galleons. It was like a fight between giants and pygmies, but so daring were the Dutch sailors that every galleon was destroyed. Before nightfall nothing of the Spanish fleet but burning fragments could be seen floating in the bay or stranded on the shore. It was one of the most brilliant naval victories ever recorded, and it was won against such odds that it seemed to be due to God alone. Heemskerk fell in the battle, killed by a cannon ball, leaving a deathless name of glory behind him. The Spanish admiral also was killed in the engagement. Unfortunately the victory was tarnished by a ferocious massacre of all the Spaniards that could be laid hold of, for which barbarous act Pieter Willemszoon Verhoeff, captain of the admiral’s ship, was chiefly responsible.

[Sidenote: Conclusion of a Long Truce.]

The Dutch now rejected the two Spanish conditions with disdain, and had it not been for the intervention of the agents of other governments, the negotiations would have been broken off. As it was, they were continued, but such difficulties were experienced in coming to terms that it was necessary to prolong the armistice from time to time, and it was not until the 9th of April 1609 that matters were finally arranged and a treaty was signed at Antwerp. Even then it was not a final peace that was concluded, but only a truce for twelve years, during which time each party was to retain whatever territory it possessed on that day, and could carry on commerce freely with the other.

The republic of the United Netherlands thereafter consisted of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Groningen, Overyssel with Drenthe except the town of Oldenzaal, which was held by the archduke, and about three quarters of ancient Gelderland, which retained that name. In this, however, the town of Groenlo or Grol was held by the archduke. South of the Schelde the republic was in possession of Sluis and Axel, with the forts along the river in Flanders, which with Flushing gave it control of the navigation of the stream and enabled it to stifle Antwerp. South of the Maas it possessed in Brabant all the territory belonging to the marquisate of Bergen op Zoom, the barony of Breda, and the land of Grave with Kuik. This territory in Flanders and Brabant was governed directly by the states-general, being of course detached from the provinces to which it properly belonged. The seven provinces were in one sense seven sovereign states, as they voted separately in the states-general, and no one of them was bound by any act to which it did not individually consent. It was the weakest form of a federal government, being rather a loose alliance than a firm union. That was its great defect, which, however, was not remedied until nearly two centuries more had passed away.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The provinces that remained under the government of Albert and Isabella covered much more ground than the present kingdom of Belgium.[36] France always coveted them, and never lost an opportunity to gnaw portions of them away. By the treaty of the Pyrenees on the 7th of November 1659 Louis XIV obtained a strip of territory containing Thionville, Montmedi, Damvilliers, Ivoix, and Marville. By the treaty of Aix la Chapelle on the 2nd of May 1668 he obtained Lille, Douai, Courtrai, and Charleroi. On the 17th of March 1677 Valenciennes was taken by the French, and on the 5th of April 1677 Cambrai fell into their hands. By the treaty of Nymegen on the 17th of September 1678 France was recognised as the owner of a slice of Belgian territory containing these cities, and by the treaty of Ratisbon on the 15th of August 1684 she acquired part of Luxemburg.

[Sidenote: Partition of Belgian Territory.]

Thus before the close of the seventeenth century Belgium had lost to France two entire provinces--Artois and Lille with Douai and Orchies--and part of Flanders containing Dunkirk, Gravelines, and Menior, part of Hainaut, containing Valenciennes, Bavay, Maubeuge, Conde, Marienbourg, and Philippeville, part of Namur containing Charlemont, part of Luxemburg containing Thionville and Montmedi, and the city and bishopric of Cambrai, which then ranked as a duchy. The present boundary between France and Belgium was not fixed until 1814.

By the treaty of Utrecht the portion of Gelderland that remained subject to Albert and Isabella in 1609, excepting the town of Venlo, which passed to the republic, and the town and district of Roermonde, which went to Austria, was ceded to Prussia and became the circle of Düsseldorf. Roermonde was added to the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1831. Luxemburg was divided into two portions by the treaty of London in 1839, one of which is now part of the German empire, and the other remains a province of Belgium. By the same treaty Limburg was divided into two sections, one of which remained to Belgium, the other became part of the kingdom of the Netherlands.

By the treaty of Munster on the 30th of January 1648, in which the king of Spain recognised the independence of the United Netherlands, the present province of North Brabant went to the republic,[37] as did also the city and jurisdiction of Maastricht and a small portion of Flanders. A map of Belgium as it is to-day is thus very different from one in 1610, but it contains the province of Liege, which did not then belong to it.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The trade of the Dutch with India now increased rapidly, but South Africa was hardly affected by it, except through the visits of passing ships and occasionally the residence of parties of Europeans for a short time on its shores.

In May 1611 the Dutch skipper Isaac le Maire, after whom the straits of Le Maire are named, called at Table Bay. When he sailed, he left behind his son Jacob and a party of seamen, who resided in Table Valley for several months. Their object was to kill seals on Robben Island, and to harpoon whales, which were then very abundant in South African waters in the winter season. They also tried to open up a trade for skins of animals with the Hottentots in the neighbourhood, but in this met with no success, as those barbarians needed all the peltry they could obtain for their own use.

In 1616 the assembly of seventeen resolved that its outward bound fleets should always put into Table Bay to refresh the crews, and from that time onward Dutch ships touched there almost every season. A kind of post office was established by marking the dates of arrivals and departures on stones, and burying letters in places indicated. But no attempt was made to explore the country, and no port south of the Zambesi except Table Bay was frequented by Netherlanders, so that down to the middle of the century nothing more concerning it was known than the Portuguese had placed on record.

The Dutch had now to fear the competition of the English in the East much more than that of the Portuguese. Our countrymen were equally enterprising and courageous, and however friendly the two nations might be in Europe, in distant lands they were animated by a spirit of rivalry which on some occasions went so far as to cause them to act unscrupulously towards each other. It will not be necessary to relate here the proceedings of the English in the eastern seas, but some references to their visits to Table Bay in those early times must be made.

[Sidenote: English Visitors to South Africa.]

They too had established an East India Company, whose first fleet, consisting of the _Dragon_, of six hundred tons, the _Hector_, of three hundred tons, the _Ascension_, of two hundred and sixty tons, and the _Susan_, of two hundred and forty tons burden, sailed from Torbay on the 22nd of April 1601. The admiral was James Lancaster, the same who had commanded the _Edward Bonaventure_ ten years earlier. The chief pilot was John Davis, who had only returned from the Indies nine months before. On the 9th of September the fleet came to anchor in Table Bay, by which time the crews of all except the admiral’s ship were so terribly afflicted with scurvy that they were unable to drop their anchors. The admiral had kept his men in a tolerable state of health by supplying them with a small quantity of limejuice daily. After his ship was anchored he was obliged to get out his boats and go to the assistance of the others. Sails were then taken on shore to serve as tents, and the sick were landed as soon as possible. Trade was commenced with the Hottentots and in the course of a few days forty-two oxen and a thousand sheep were obtained for pieces of iron hoop. The fleet remained in Table Bay nearly seven weeks, during which time most of the sick men recovered.

On the 5th of December 1604 the _Tiger_--a ship of two hundred and forty tons--and a pinnace called the _Tiger’s Whelp_ set sail from Cowes for the Indies. The expedition was under command of Sir Edward Michelburne, and next to him in rank was Captain John Davis. It was the last voyage that this famous seaman was destined to make, for he was killed in an encounter with Japanese pirates on the 27th of December 1605. The journal of the voyage contains the following paragraph:--

“The 3rd of April 1605 we sailed by a little island which Captain John Davis took to be one that stands some five or six leagues from Saldanha. Whereupon our general, Sir Edward Michelburne, desirous to see the island, took his skiff, accompanied by no more than the master’s mate, the purser, myself, and four men that did row the boat, and so putting off from the ship we came on land. While we were on shore they in the ship had a storm, which drove them out of sight of the island; and we were two days and two nights before we could recover our ship. Upon the said island is abundance of great conies and seals, whereupon we called it Cony Island.”

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 9th of April they anchored in Table Bay, where they remained until the 3rd of the following month refreshing themselves.

On the 14th of March 1608 the East India Company’s ships _Ascension_ and _Union_ sailed from England, and on the 14th of July put into Table Bay to obtain refreshments and to build a small vessel for which they had brought out the materials ready prepared. The crews constructed a fort to protect themselves, by raising an earthen wall in the form of a square and mounting a cannon on each angle. They found a few Hottentots on the shore, to whom they made known by signs their want of oxen and sheep, which three days afterwards were brought for barter in such numbers that they procured as much meat as they needed. They gave a yard (91·4 centimetres) of iron hoop for an ox, and half that length for a sheep. After bartering them, the Hottentots whistled some away and then brought them for sale again, which was not resented, as the English officers were desirous of remaining on friendly terms with the rude people. For the same reason no notice was taken of the theft of various articles of trifling value.

Boats were sent to Robben Island to capture seals, as oil was needed, and many of these animals were killed and brought to the fort. After cutting off the oily parts the carcases were carried to a distance as useless, but for fifteen days the Hottentots feasted upon the flesh, which they merely heated on embers, though before the expiration of that time it had become so putrid and the odour so offensive that the Europeans were obliged to keep at a great distance from it.

[Sidenote: English Visitors to South Africa.]

Great quantities of steenbras were obtained with a seine at the mouth of Salt River, and three thousand five hundred mullets were caught and taken on board for consumption after leaving. The object of refreshing was thus fully carried out, as was also that of putting together the little vessel, which was even made larger than the original design, and which when launched was named the _Good Hope_.

Mr. John Jourdain, an official of the East India Company, who was a passenger in the _Ascension_, and from whose journal this account is taken, with some others ascended Table Mountain. From its summit they saw the same sheet of water on the flats which Antonio de Saldanha a hundred and five years before had mistaken for the mouth of a great river, and which Mr. Jourdain now mistook for an inland harbour with an opening to the sea by which ships might enter it. He, however, unlike his Portuguese predecessor, had an opportunity afterwards of visiting the big pond and ascertaining that his conjecture was incorrect.

Mr. Jourdain was of opinion that a settlement of great utility might be formed in Table Valley. In words almost identical with those of Jansen and Proot forty years later he spoke of its capabilities for producing grain and fruit, of the hides, sealskins, and oil that could be obtained to reduce the expense, of the possibility of opening up a trade in ivory, as he had seen many footprints of elephants, and of bringing the Hottentots first to “civility,” and then to a knowledge of God.

After a stay of little more than two months, on the 19th of September the _Ascension_ and _Union_ sailed again, with the _Good Hope_ in their company.

From this date onward the fleets of the English East India Company made Table Bay a port of call and refreshment, and usually procured in barter from the Hottentots as many cattle as they needed. In 1614 the board of directors sent a ship with as many spare men as she could carry, a quantity of provisions, and some naval stores to Table Bay to wait for the homeward bound fleet, and, while delayed, to carry on a whale and seal fishery as a means of partly meeting the expense. The plan was found to answer fairly well, and it was continued for several years. The relieving vessels left England between October and February, in order to be at the Cape in May, when the homeward bound fleets usually arrived from India. If men were much needed, the victualler--which was commonly an old vessel--was then abandoned, otherwise an ordinary crew was left in her to capture whales, or she proceeded to some port in the East, according to circumstances.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The advantage of a place of refreshment in South Africa was obvious, and as early as 1613 enterprising individuals in the service of the East India Company drew the attention of the directors to the advisability of forming a settlement in Table Valley. Still earlier it was rumoured that the king of Spain and Portugal had such a design in contemplation, with the object of cutting off thereby the intercourse of all other nations with the Indian seas, so that the strategical value of the Cape was already recognised. The directors discussed the matter on several occasions, but their views in those days were very limited, and the scheme seemed too large for them to attempt alone.

In their fleets were officers of a much more enterprising spirit, as they were without responsibility in regard to the cost of any new undertaking. In 1620 some of these proclaimed King James I sovereign of the territory extending from Table Bay to the dominions of the nearest Christian prince. The records of this event are interesting, as they not only give the particulars of the proclamation and the reasons that led to it, but show that there must often have been a good deal of bustle in Table Valley in those days.

[Sidenote: English Visitors to South Africa.]

On the 24th of June 1620 four ships bound to Surat under command of Andrew Shillinge, put into Table Bay, and were joined when entering by two others bound to Bantam, under command of Humphrey Fitzherbert. The Dutch had at this time the greater part of the commerce of the East in their hands, and nine large ships under their flag were found at anchor. The English vessel _Lion_ was also there. Commodore Fitzherbert made the acquaintance of some of the Dutch officers, and was informed by them that they had inspected the country around, as their Company intended to form a settlement in Table Valley the following year. Thereupon he consulted with Commodore Shillinge, who agreed with him that it was advisable to try to frustrate the project of the Hollanders. On the 25th the Dutch fleet sailed for Bantam, and the _Lion_ left at the same time, but the _Schiedam_, from Delft, arrived and cast anchor.

On the 1st of July the principal English officers, twenty-one in number,--among them the Arctic navigator William Baffin,--met in council, and resolved to proclaim the sovereignty of King James I over the whole country. They placed on record their reasons for this decision, which were, that they were of opinion a few men only would be needed to keep possession of Table Valley, that a plantation would be of great service for the refreshment of the fleets, that the soil was fruitful and the climate pleasant, that the Hottentots would become willing subjects in time and they hoped would also become servants of God, that the whale fishery would be a source of profit, but, above all, that they regarded it as more fitting for the Dutch when ashore there to be subjects of the king of England than for Englishmen to be subject to them or anyone else. “Rule Britannia” was a very strong sentiment, evidently, with that party of adventurous seamen.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 3rd of July a proclamation of sovereignty was read in presence of as many men of the six ships as could go ashore for the purpose of taking part in the ceremony. Skipper Jan Cornelis Kunst, of the _Schiedam_, and some of his officers were also present, and raised no objection. On the Lion’s rump, or King James’s mount as Fitzherbert and Shillinge named it, the flag of St. George was hoisted, and was saluted, the spot being afterwards marked by a mound of stones. A small flag was then given to the Hottentots to preserve and exhibit to visitors, which it was believed they would do most carefully.

After going through this ceremony with the object of frustrating the designs of the Dutch, the English officers buried a packet of despatches beside a stone slab in the valley, on which were engraved the letters V O C, they being in perfect ignorance of the fact that those symbols denoted prior possession taken for the Dutch East India Company. On the 25th of July the Surat fleet sailed, and on the next day Fitzherbert’s two ships followed, leaving at anchor in the bay only the English ship _Bear_, which had arrived on the 10th.

The proceeding of Fitzherbert and Shillinge, which was entirely unauthorised, was not confirmed by the directors of the East India Company or by the government of England, and nothing whatever came of it. At that time the ocean commerce of England was small, and as she had just entered upon the work of colonising North America, she was not prepared to attempt to form a settlement in South Africa also. Her king and the directors of her India Company had no higher ambition than to enter into a close alliance with the Dutch Company, and to secure by this means a stated proportion of the trade of the East. In the Netherlands also a large and influential party was in favour of either forming a federated company, or of a binding union of some kind, so as to put it out of the power of the Spaniards and Portuguese to harm them. From 1613 onward this matter was frequently discussed on both sides of the Channel, and delegates went backward and forward, but it was almost impossible to arrange terms.

[Sidenote: Proposed Alliance of English and Dutch.]

The Dutch had many fortresses which they had either built or taken from the Portuguese in Java and the Spice islands, and the English had none, so that the conditions of the two parties were unequal. In 1617, however, the king of France sent ships to the eastern seas, and in the following year the king of Denmark embarked in the same enterprise, when a possibility arose that one or other of them might unite with Holland or England. Accordingly each party was more willing than before to make concessions, and on the 2nd of June 1619 a treaty of close alliance was entered into at London between the two Companies, which was ratified by their respective governments.[38]

It provided that all past differences should be forgotten, and all persons, ships, and goods detained by either side be immediately released. That the servants of each Company should act in the most friendly manner towards those of the other, and give them assistance when needed. That commerce in all parts of India should be free to both. That joint efforts should be made to reduce the price of products in India to a fixed and reasonable rate, and that a selling price in Europe should be agreed upon from time to time, below which it should not be lawful for either party to dispose of them. That pepper should only be purchased in Java by a commission representing both parties, and be equally divided afterwards between the two Companies. That the Dutch Company should have two-thirds of the trade at the Moluccas, Banda, and Amboina, and the English one-third. That twenty ships of war from six to eight hundred tons burden, armed with thirty heavy cannon, and carrying one hundred and fifty men each, should be maintained in the eastern seas for the protection of commerce, half by each Company. And that a council of defence should be established, consisting of four of the principal officers on each side, to appoint stations for the ships and to engage and pay land forces.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

There were thirty-one articles in all, of which the above were the principal, the others referring to matters of less importance, but dealing with them in the same spirit. The treaty was intended to bring the two East India Companies into as close a union as that existing between the different provinces of the Netherlands republic.

The rivalry, however,--bordering closely on animosity--between the servants of the two companies in distant lands prevented any agreement of this nature made in Europe being carried out, and though in 1623 another treaty of alliance was entered into, in the following year it was dissolved. Thereafter the great success of the Dutch in the East placed them beyond the desire of partnership with competitors.

While these negotiations were in progress, a proposal was made from Holland that a refreshment station should be established in South Africa for the joint use of the fleets of the two nations, and the English directors received it favourably. They undertook to cause a search for a proper place to be made by the next ship sent to the Cape with relief for the returning fleet, and left the Dutch at liberty to make a similar search in any convenient way. Accordingly on the 30th of November 1619 the assembly of seventeen issued instructions to the commander of the fleet then about to sail to examine the coast carefully from Saldanha Bay to a hundred or a hundred and fifty nautical miles east of the Cape of Good Hope, in order that the best harbour for the purpose might be selected. This was done, and an opinion was pronounced in favour of Table Bay. In 1622 a portion of the coast was inspected for the same purpose by Captain Johnson, in the English ship _Rose_, but his opinion of Table Bay and the other places which he visited was such that he would not recommend any of them. The tenor of his report mattered little, however, for with the failure of the close alliance between the two companies, the design of establishing a refreshment station in South Africa was abandoned by both.

[Sidenote: Disasters in Table Valley.]

Perhaps the ill opinion of Table Bay formed by Captain Johnson may have arisen from an occurrence that took place on its shore during the previous voyage of the _Rose_. That ship arrived in the bay on the 28th of January 1620, and on the following day eight of her crew went ashore with a seine to catch fish near the mouth of Salt River. They never returned, but the bodies of four were afterwards found and buried, and it was believed that the Hottentots had either carried the other four away as prisoners or had murdered them and concealed their corpses.

This was not the only occurrence of the kind, for in March 1632 twenty-three men belonging to a Dutch ship that put into Table Bay lost their lives in conflict with the inhabitants. The cause of these quarrels is not known with certainty, but at the time it was believed they were brought on by the Europeans attempting to rob the Hottentots of cattle.

An experiment was once made with a view of trying to secure a firm friend among the Hottentots, and impressing those people with respect for the wonders of civilisation. In 1613 two Hottentots were taken from Table Valley on board a ship returning from India, one of whom died of grief soon after leaving his home.[39] The other, who was named Cory, reached England, where he resided six months and learned to understand and speak a little English. He was made a great deal of, and received many rich and valuable presents from benevolent people. Sir Thomas Smythe, the governor of the East India Company, was particularly kind to him, and gave him among other things a complete suit of brass armour. He returned to South Africa with Captain Nicholas Downton in the ship _New Year’s Gift_, and in June 1614 landed in Table Valley with all his treasures. But Captain Downton, who thought that he was overflowing with gratitude, saw him no more. Cory returned to his former habits of living, and instead of acting as was anticipated, taught his countrymen to despise bits of copper in exchange for their cattle, so that for a long time afterwards it was impossible for ships that called to obtain a supply of fresh meat.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Mr. John Jourdain, when returning from India to England, put into Table Bay on the 25th of February 1617. A few lean calves were obtained on the day the ships anchored, but nothing whatever afterwards, though at one time about ten thousand head of cattle were in sight. Mr. Jourdain and a party of sixty armed men went a short distance into the country, and he was of opinion that through the roguery of “that dogge Cory” they would have been drawn into a conflict with some five thousand Hottentots if they had not prudently retired. Thereafter he believed no cattle would be obtained except at dear rates, for the Hottentots no longer esteemed iron hoops, copper, or even shining brass. A fort, he considered, would be the only means of bringing them to “civility.” On this occasion Mr. Jourdain remained in Table Bay eighteen days, of which only four were calm and fine.

According to a statement made by a Welshman who was in Table Bay in August 1627, and who kept a journal, part of which has been preserved,[40] Cory came to an evil end. The entry reads: “They” (the Hottentots) “hate the duchmen since they hanged one of the blackes called Cary who was in England & upon refusall of fresh victuals they put him to death.”

[Sidenote: English Convicts sent to Table Valley.]

It has been seen what use the Portuguese made of convicts when they were exploring unknown countries, or when there were duties of a particularly hazardous or unpleasant nature to be performed. The English employed criminals in the same manner. In January 1615 the governor of the East India Company obtained permission from the king to transport some men under sentence of death to countries occupied by savages, where, it was supposed, they would be the means of procuring provisions, making discoveries, and creating trade. The records in existence--unless there are documents in some unknown place--furnish too scanty material for a complete account of the manner in which this design was carried out. Only the following can be ascertained with certainty. A few days after the consent of the king was given, the sheriffs of London sent seventeen men from Newgate on board ships bound to the Indies, and these were voluntarily accompanied by three others, who appear to have been convicted criminals, but not under sentence of death. The proceeding was regarded as “a very charitable deed and a means to bring them to God by giving them time for repentance, to crave pardon for their sins, and reconcile themselves unto His favour.” On the 5th of June, after a passage from the Thames of one hundred and thirty-two days, the four ships comprising the fleet arrived in Table Bay, and on the 16th nine of the condemned men were set ashore with their own free will. A boat was left for their use, and to each a gun with some ammunition and a quantity of provisions was given.

Of some of these convicts the afterlife is known. Two were taken on to India by Sir Thomas Roe, one of whom, Duffield by name, returned with him to England, where he requited the kindness shown to him by stealing some plate and running away. Of those set ashore in Table Valley, one, named Cross, committed some offence against the Hottentots shortly after the ships sailed, and was killed by them. The other _seven_[41] escaped to Robben Island, where their boat was wrecked. They lived five or six months on the island, when an English ship put into the bay, and four of them made a raft and tried to get to her, but were drowned on the way. The next day the ship sent a boat to the island, and took off the other three. They behaved badly on board, commenced to steal again as soon as they reached England, and were apprehended and executed in accordance with their old sentences.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

In one of the ships that brought these convicts in 1615 Sir Thomas Roe, English envoy to the great Mogul, was a passenger. A pillar bearing an inscription of his embassy was set up in Table Valley, and fifteen or twenty kilogrammes weight of stone which he believed to contain quicksilver and vermilion was taken away to be assayed in England, but of particulars that would be much more interesting now no information whatever is to be had from the records of his journey.

Again, in June 1616, three condemned men were set ashore in Table Valley from a fleet under Commodore Joseph on its way to the East. A letter signed by them is extant, in which they acknowledge the clemency of King James in granting them their forfeited lives, and promise to do his Majesty good and acceptable service. Terry, who was an eye witness, says that before they were set ashore they begged the commodore rather to hang them than to abandon them, but he left them behind. The _Swan_, one of the vessels of the fleet, however, was detained in Table Bay a day or two longer than her consorts, and she took them on to Bantam in Java.

[Sidenote: Scanty Information supplied by Englishmen.]

There may have been other instances of the kind, of which no record is in existence now, but this seems unlikely. It is certain that no information upon the country, its inhabitants, or its resources was ever obtained from criminals set ashore here.

No further effort was made by the English at this time to form a connection with the inhabitants of South Africa, though their ships continued to call at Table Bay for the purpose of taking in water and getting such other refreshment as was obtainable. They did not attempt to explore the country or to correct the charts of its coasts, nor did they frequent any of its ports except Table Bay, and very rarely Mossel Bay, until a much later date. A few remarks in ships’ journals, and a few pages of observations and opinions in a book of travels such as that of Sir Thomas Herbert, from none of which can any reliable information be obtained that is not also to be drawn from earlier Portuguese writers, are all the contributions to a knowledge of South Africa made by Englishmen during the early years of the seventeenth century. Though our countrymen were behind no others in energy and daring, as Drake, Raleigh, Gilbert, Davis, Hawkins, and a host of others had proved so well, not forgetting either the memorable story of the Revenge, which Jan Huyghen van Linschoten handed down for a modern historian to write in more thrilling words, England had not yet entered fully upon her destined career either of discovery or of commerce, the time when “the ocean wave should be her home” was still in the days to come.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The Danes were the next to make their appearance in the Indian seas. Their first fleet, fitted out by King Christian IV, consisted of six ships, under Ove Giedde as admiral. On the 8th of July 1619 this fleet put into Table Bay, where eight English ships were found at anchor, whose officers treated the Danes with hospitality. Admiral Giedde remained here until the 5th of August, when his people were sufficiently refreshed to proceed on their voyage. On the 30th of August 1621 he reached Table Bay again in the ship _Elephant_ on his return passage from Ceylon and India, and remained until the 12th of September. Before leaving he had an inscription cut on a stone, in which the dates of both his visits were recorded.

_Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel. A History of the Successful Struggle of a few Hollanders and Huguenots against Tyranny and Corruption._

SKETCH III.