Recherchevaartuigen — literally search vessels — were the light craft employed by the Dutch on the coast of Atjeh to prevent the importation of ammunition and other oorlogscontrabande (war contraband) into the territory in defiance of the blockade and the scheepvaartregeling. Their number was one of the specific points of contention in the Atjeh debate of 16 November 1897, the government having requested three.
Function
The purpose was stated most plainly by Kuyper: “Die recherchevaartuigen moeten dienen om te beletten dat er niet voortdurend ammunitie in Atjeh worde ingevoerd.” — Those search vessels must serve to prevent ammunition being continually imported into Atjeh. The problem they addressed was that the deep-draught warships of the Dutch navy could not penetrate the rivers and creeks of the Acehnese coast, through which small prauwen ran arms, powder and other supplies brought chiefly from Pinang.
The debate on numbers
Both a confessional and a Catholic speaker pressed for more than the three requested. Kuyper declared that it was mistaken thrift to be niggardly with them: “Daarom is het verkeerde zuinigheid karig op die recherchevaartuigen te zijn. Willen we onze positie op de kust handhaven, maakt dan op eens het aantal dier recherchevaartuigen compleet.” — Therefore it is mistaken thrift to be niggardly with those search vessels. If we wish to maintain our position on the coast, then complete at once the number of those search vessels. It was the one point on which he urged the minister to press through.
Van Vlijmen rejoiced at the request for three but added: “Liever had ik gezien dat er tien waren aangevraagd,” pointing to the statement in the Voorloopig Verslag that precisely the rivers and creeks frequently gave small prauwen the opportunity to bring in contraband and that Dutch warships could not adequately guard against it. He instanced the case cited in the Koloniaal Verslag of the running in of war contraband at Simpang Anas, and concluded: “Eerst wanneer die recherchevaartuigen in actie zijn, zal de vijand onze macht gaan gevoelen door de belemmering van den invoer van oorlogstuig.” — Only when those search vessels are in action will the enemy begin to feel our power through the obstruction of the import of war material.
The counter-argument
H. van Kol cited the Indische Gids on 17 November to argue that the whole system of interdiction had failed: the profits went to the smugglers “ondanks het uitvoerverbod der Britsche autoriteiten, en de verbodsbepalingen op den invoer, en de blokkaden der Nederlandsche Regeering; ondanks de sluiting der kusten en scheepvaartregeling.” — despite the export prohibition of the British authorities, and the prohibitory provisions on import, and the blockades of the Netherlands Government; despite the closing of the coasts and the shipping regulation.
He also included the recherchevaartuigen in the list of items of expenditure that, according to the objection of Van Heutsz in Insulinde, had to be added to the accepted figures before the true cost of the war could be reckoned.
See Also
- Scheepvaartregeling
- Oorlogscontrabande
- Abraham Kuyper
- Van Vlijmen
- Simpang Anas
- Penang
- Atjeh debate in the Tweede Kamer (16-17 November 1897)
- 1897
Source
Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898, uitgave van de Sociaaldemokratische Arbeiderspartij in Nederland (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Br P95-178, pp. 10, 23, 33–34, 68.
Acknowledgement of sources. The material in this article derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer: Debatten bij de behandeling der begrooting van Nederlandsch-Indië voor 1898 (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering.