are they so much bound as to the English who hath fostered and nursed them vp to this greatnesse but the English what Nation hath shed so much blood lost the the liues of so many gallant Captaines Commanders and Souldiers to ayde and defende them as the English What Nation hath lent them and spent vpon them so much money and treasure as the English haue done when they were in their extreemest weaknesse and pouerty when and where did the English euer fayle them If for these causes the English haue deserued at the Hollanders hands to haue their shippes taken and made prize their goods confiscate and conuerted to their owne vses their Captaines Souldiers Factors Mariners taken prisoners held in miserable seruitude clogged with yorns kept in stockes bound hand and foote tied to stakes haling and pulling them with ropes about their neckes spurning them like dogges throwing them headlong downe rockes and clifts killing murthering staruing and pining them to death enforcing them to carry lime and stone for their buildings Landing them amongst the Pagan people without all prouision whatsoeuer exposing them to the mercy of miscreants of whom notwithstanding they sound better vsage then of the Hollanders When as the Hollanders robbed and spoyled other Nations vnder the English coulers pretending to disgrace the English that they were English men counterfeiting the coyne of other nations charging the English with the same Laying the English whom they held as prisoners aboue hatches where the Sunne scorched them in the day and where their ordutes and pisle fell vpon them in the night till they grew more loathsome and filthie then Leapers barring the English as much as in them lay from all commerse and trade in the Indies As all these perticulars are directly to be proued by men yet liuing who either endured or their eyes saw what is heare reported and will be ready vpon all occasions either with their liues or oathes to iustifie for truth what they haue endured and what they haue seene with their eyes Let all the world iudge whether English men haue deserued these vsages at the Hollanders hands VVhere as some people either affected to the Hollanders or thinking it to strange and monsterous that Christians should domineare ouer Christians with such inhumane and barbarous cruelty rather tyranoy except the English had prouoked them heauily thereunto Let all such who harbour any such conceits reade and consider what is before answered to such obiections the Hollanders in their declaration being charged in the two first Currants with may of these extreame wrongs inflicted vpon the English they make no deniall of them make a chalenge that the English did ayde and assist the Bandineses against them it hath formerly bene alleaged and sufficiently proued by their owne confession that the English did not maintaine the Ileanders by way of opposing against the Hollanders but they did as much as in them lay to defend the right of the King of England they did defend that right which they had by consent they did defend that people who did so freely and friendly trade and trafficke with them other causes then their so honest so iust agreeing with the Lawes of God of nature and Nations they neither do or can alleadge any some other inconsiderat people who enuy the prosperity of the East-Indian Merchants will further say to cloase with the Hollanders that these extremities were offered in India onely and no where else to the English for proffe of the contrary wee of the East-Indian Company do chalenge all the Merchants which trauaile or trafficke East VVest North or South to deliuer their knowledge what indignities they haue endured from the Hollanders in Turkey in the Straights in Moscony in Groynland at Neusoundland and where not so that not onely the East-Indian Company hath onely cause to complaine yea they wrong Englishmen in their owne seas at home as is generally knowne Now because Hollanders may say that they are charged with generalities without perticular instances Generall speaches beeing a common cause to aggrauate causes and be auoyded except the Generall bee proued by perticulars because they shall find that wee cannot want of particulers our of infinite there shal bee heare following deliuered some by men yet liuing who haue both seene them and endured them In the Roade of Patanye in the East-Indies the 17. of Iuly 1619. the two ships called the Sampson and the Hound riding there at Anchour three ships of the Netherlands set vpon them with might and maine after fiue howers fight eleuen of the men in the Sampson were slaine out-right and fiue and thirty men of the same ship were wounded maymed and dismembred at this time Captaine Iorden was Captaine of the Sampson and did hang vp a flagge of Truce and withall sent Thomas Hackwell Maister of the Sampson to the Netherlanders to parlee about a peacc The Examination of Thomas Hackwell the 25. of Ianuary 1621. Thomas Hackwell being sworne and examined vppon certaine Articles ministred on the behalef of the right worshipful the English company of Merchants trading to the East India aforesaid saith and deposeth thereto as followeth TO the first of the said Articles he saith deposeth by charge of his oath that in the Roade of Pattany in the East India vpon the 17. day of Iuly 1619. last past the Sampson whereof this examinant was Master and the Hound belonging to the English Company were forceably assaulted by three ships of the Hollanders viz. The Angell the Morning Starre and the Burgarboate whereof Hendricke Iohnson was commander and after fiue glasses fight two houres and a halfe eleuen of the sayd ship the Sampson her men being slaine outright fiue dismembred and about thirty otherwise wounded Captaine Iourdaine being then in the sayd ship the Sampson and Commander of her caused a flagge of truce to be hung out and sent this examinant in the Sampsons boate aboard the Flemmings to treate with them for a peace and at the hanging out of the said flagge of truce and when this examinant left the said Captaine Iourdaine to goe aboord the Flemmings he was wel But aboue halfe an houre after the said flag of truce was so hung out and this examinant was in parlee with the Flemmings about the sayde peace Captaine Iourdaine not exspecting any violence from the Flemmings during the sayd Parlee shewed himselfe aboard the Sampson before the main Mast vpon the gratings where the Flemmings espying him most treacherously and cruelly shot at him with a Musket and shot him into the body neere the heart of which wound he died within halfe an houre after And this hee saith by charge of his oath To the second hee saith That after the said Ships the Sampson and the Hound were surprized by the Hollanders in the said fight at Patany as aforesaid the greatest part of their men by the command of the Dutch were brought aboord the Angell their Admirall And there notwithstanding diuerse of them in the
said fight were much burnt with Gun-pounder and wounded with splinters and thereby suffred miserable torment yet they the sayd Dutch most vnchristianly and inhumanly caused and forced them to put their legs downe through the gratings and so seized them and tyed them to the Capsten Barres insomuch that still as any man had occasion to goe and ease himselfe his legs were so swelled by reason of the extraordinary hard tying of them that the Carpenter was alwaies fetched to make bigger the holes at which they were put downe to get out their legs againe And this he saith by charge of his oath is most true To the third he saith That he knoweth that the Dutch at Iackatra doe cause all China men residing and bartering there to pay monthly 6. shillings vppon a head or else you shall not sell any commodity there to the English and this he hath seene diuers of China men pay at Iackatra To the fourth he saith That vpon the third day of March last was twelue month aboard the new Zealand then riding in Bantam roade this examinant with three or foure oathes did heare one Clause Derickson then vpper stearsman of the Dutch ship called the Southern-Indraught sayd that the States in Holland had bin plotting that warre betweene the English and the Dutch in the Indie seuen yeares before To this last Article is witnesse Thomas Hackwell William Shaples Henrie Backtasel Bartholomew Churchman Antony Piccot The deposition of Bartholomew Churchman I do affirme that they haue many times termed vs slaues to the king of Holland that we should all be sent to the Moluccaes to rowe in their Gallies and so be kept bond-slaues vnder them during our liues More I affirme that they haue kept 12. of vs in a dungeon at Poloway and 24. at Aomboyna by the comand of Lawrence Riall then Generall but now returned into Holland where they pist and vppon our heads and in this manner we lay vntill such time as we were broken out from top to toe like lepers hauing nothing to eate but durty Rice and stinking raine-water insomuch as if it had not beene for a Dutch woman named mistresse Cane some poore Blackes that brought vs a little fruite we had all starued in that place as many of our company did besides the extremitie which they vsed to manyothers which they had in prison at other Ilands where they perished leauing their wiues and children here in England ready to starue for want of maintenance The names of the 10. other men which lay in Poloway are these Bartholomew Churchman Iacob Lane Kellam Throgmorton Mathew Willis William Burris Cassarion David George Iaokson George Pettice Walter Stacy Rhichard Phillips At Amboyna Richard Swanley William Brookes and 12. more whose names I well know not nor cannot remember put into a dungeon with forty Indians all in a hole hauing no place to ease themselues Bartholomew Churchman The last of October 1617. Iohn Tucker affirmeth That the Dutch men tooke the Dragon the Expedition the Beare and the Rose and deliuered onely the Rose and that there being in the Dragon a present from the King of Achai for the King of England called by them a Creese that is to say a Dagger which they doe detaine to this houre This is true I vnder written do affirme and testifie that it was not done by base Rognes as they term it but some of the principall Commanders Iohn Tucker After the taking of these ships there were aboue three hundred and fiftie men set out of the foure shippes which were on shoare exposed vnto the mercie of the Indians where they found more curtesie then of the Hollanders otherwise they had all perished That all these abuses and many more which wee haue formerly receiued by them are true we will maintaine vpon our oathes and with our liues against any of their Nation or others that shall gaine-say this trueth Yet notwithstanding all this being by the goodnesse of almighty God returned into our owne Countrey wee haue no satisfaction for these intollerable iniuries nor any consideration for two thirds of our wages most barbarously kept from vs. Articles of abuses done by the Hollanders at the Iland of Moloccas and other places of the East Indies aswell against our Soueraigne Lord the Kings Maiestie as also against vs and other Englishmen since the yeare of our Lord one thousand fixe hundred and sixteene not onely before the Peace but also since vntill the moneth of March one thousand six hundred and twentie that we came out of the Indies in the good Shippe called the Iames. The second day of the month of February in the yeare of our Lord 1616. the Swanne was surprized and taken by the Hollanders at the Ilands of Banda and her men kept prisoners till the eight and twenty of Aprill following At which time the Hollanders carried fiue and twenty of the English to the Moloccaes where they were very hardly and inhumanely vsed being fettered and shackelled in the day time and close locked vp a nights And from the month of Maie vntill the end of September they were compelled to carrie stone and lime for the building of Forts there which if any refused to do they were kept in Stocks and Irons till they would worke and were notwithstanding also very hardly vsed for their victualls insomuch that the one halfe of them died through their hard vsage When wee were first taken wee were possessed of diuerse goodes prouisions and meanes wherewith to relieue our selues which they presently tooke from vs and left vs not so much as wherewith to couer our bodies Whereof when we complained to Iohn Ellias who was Lieutenant to one Garret Derickson in the Trow hoping that he would haue had some commiseration of our miseries and long lying in Irons bad vsage for want of meate drinke lodging and other things The sayd Ellias and the rest of his company did thereupon and many other times say vnto vs That he cared not for vs nor for any of our Countreymen and that if they should take vs and hang vs vp wee had our deserts Yea they vsed other grosse and base speeches not fit to bee spoken of We affirme that the said Iohn Ellias and his companie said that they had little need of Englishmen for they in Holland were able of a sodaine to make and furnish 24000. of flat-bottomd boates such as Parma would haue landed vpon the English shore in 88. And also sayd that they had of their owne Nation and Countreymen at the least 40000. strong in England that presently vpon the least occasion would rise in Armes and bend their forces speedily against vs in our owne Countrey We affirme that Laurence Ryall who was their Generall caused Grates and Cages to be made in their Shippe and did put vs therein and carryed vs in them bound in Irons from Port to Port amongst the Indians and thus in scornefull and deriding manner and sort spake vnto the Indians as followeth
Behold and see heere is the people of that Nation whose King you care so much for But now you may heereby plainely behold how kindly wee vse his Subiects making them beleeue that Englishmen were their Vassals and Slaues Besides all this they kept many of vs fast bound and fettered in Irons in most loathsome and darke stinking dungeons and gaue vs no sustenance but a little durtie Rice to eate and a little stinking raine-water to drinke So that many of our English fainting in their sights for want of competent sustenance or other lodging at their hands for want whereof many dyed who were fetcht out of the Dungeons and so basely buried more like Dogges then Christians About the fift of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred and nineteene wee hauing ouer-passed many hungrie dayes and cold nights Lodging in cold Irons and darke Dungeons and thinking it not possibly able for vs to endure those miseries any longer made meanes that some of vs came to Iohn Peter Socoma their Generall that now is and desired his Lordship which Title hee duly lookes for in the East Indies that hee would consider of our extreame wants and miseries and helpe vs to some better sustenance And further wee desired him that hee would bee so much our friend as to ease vs of our Irons but for the day time Whereupon the sayd Generall most wickedly replyed with base speeches and bade vs bee gone and trouble him no more for if wee did hee would cause vs all to bee hanged speedily So that wee were forced to returne from whence wee came with heauie hearts hauing no hope but in the Almightie to whom wee prayed to turne their hearts and to release vs of our miseries Vpon the thirteenth of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred and nineteene the Dutch went a-shore at Iaparre and there they wickedly and maliciously burnt downe the Towne and the English House there and from thence forcibly tooke away the English Flagge and in great disdaine of our Countrey trayled our Flagge after them in the durt through the Towne and towed it aboord their shippe at their boats stearne but what they did with it afterwards we know not Vpon the eighteenth day of the moneth of Nouember and in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and nineteene they tooke one Bartholomew Churchman and clapt him vp in Irons and set him where hee sate in the raine and coldc stormes of the night and in the day time where the hot Sunne shone vpon him and scorched him without any shelter at all and this they did to him only because he strucke a base fellow that spake such words against our late Queene Annes Maiestie as are not fit to be repeated which words as also diuers other which they spake against our dread Soueraigne wee dare not relate as being too odious to be vsed in a subiects mouth touching his Prince Howbeit might licence and freedome of speech be granted vs to make knowne the base flaunderous and detracting speeches of that Nation against our King and Countrey that we might not incurre any danger of his Maiesties displeasure by the repeating them it would sufficiently make knowne the pride and crueltic of that people who did not then let to say that they made no account of our King nor any of his subiects The seauenteenth day of the moneth of March and in the yeere of our Lord God euerlasting one thousand sixe hundred and nineteenth their Gouernor of the Moloccas gaue order for the release of the English there and appoynted thirtie of them to be carried to Aombonias from thence to be sent into England or Holland But the gouernor of Aombonias perceiuing them to be arriued hee vtterly refused to discharge them and forced them to serue in their 3. ships that went to the Manelees as men of waire which if any refused to doe they were to rowe in their Gallies chained like vnto slaues in which voyage to the Manelees foureteene of our men went in the Saint Michael which were lost and neuer since heard on whose names doe follow George Trigges Iohn Edwards Iames Welch Iohn Crocket William Nichols Robert Gilbert Matthew Gilbert Giles Lipscombe Arthur â—ap Edward Parker William Vese Iohn King Iohn Ouer and William Smith Chirurgeon Wee affirme that they hauing Arrian Ellis Edward Reade and William Ponell 3. Englishmen prisosoners in their ship called the Bantam they chained them in Irons and layed them in the Beake-head straitly prohibiting all others to come neare them to giue them any other foode then their allowance which was so small that meere hunger compelled those three prisoners to throw the dice who should cut each others throat and so they did throw the dice to that end but were disclosed before anie of them were slaine so that they were thereupon sundred and sent into other ships They haue taken our men and without any cause haue stripped and whipped them openly in the market place they haue also beaten vp their Drumme and called the Blackes together to see it done They will not suffer vs to weare or spread in our English houses in those parts where they haue any command any colours that are our Kings colours The Coppie of a Letter sent vnto the Dutch in the East Indies from their English Captiues at the Iland of Monoboca the nineteenth day of March one thousand sixe hundred and eighteene and deliuered vnto Captayne William Iohnson Commaunder of the Angell COnsideration in things of difficultie is requisite and therefore much requisite in these our vnchristian-like miseries But because this hath beene but sleightly respected we are now resolued to tell you of all your perfidiousnesse First Grippe got aduantage to surprize our shippes and made a vowe not to touch life nor goods in any sort But since the contrary hath beene so much proued that Grippe and his confederates are now seene to be forsworne as shortly after their actions did shew in taking away euen those things which with their consent wee did saue and bring aboord your shippe called the Trowe At that time we being indungeoned at Pollaway besides all the Pagan-like vsage of that cruell man Laurence Ryall we were by Vanhoose kept in such extreame miserie with stinking water and Rice halfe full of stones and durt scarce able to keepe life and soule together that had not Derrickson Van lame graunted the English at Pollo-Roone free accesse to Pollaway to bring vs reliefe wee had beene all ere this time starued for want But we passed away that time in expectation of better fortunes which you haue all from time to time promised yet now againe our miseries are thrice redoubled for since wee came to this place you haue not onely vsed vs most basely in other things but also haue taken away from vs euen that poore sustenance which wee bought with our owne monies and this hath bene done by that enuious