Cornelis Pietersz. was a Dutch vice-admiraal in the service of the VOC who, in command of two ships and a yacht, left Atjeh in August 1603 after the Zeeland factory’s closure, captured a Portuguese junk from Makassar in the Strait of Malaka, anchored at the river of Djohor on 4 November 1603, and on 7 November 1603 attacked and routed the Portuguese blockade fleet of six large ships and several smaller vessels under Estevao Teixeira de Mattos — the first major Dutch-Portuguese naval engagement at the mouth of the Djohor river and the principal Dutch naval victory in the Strait of Malaka between the Matelieff campaign of 1606 and the Dutch-Djohor conquest of Malaka of 1641.
The Atjeh departure and the Makassar junk
After the closure of the Zeeland lodge “Zeelant” in early 1603, Pietersz. was one of the Dutch commanders operating from Atjeh against the Portuguese in the Strait of Malaka. He left Atjeh in August 1603 with two ships and a yacht. In the Strait of Malaka he captured a Portuguese junk from Makassar — a smaller craft belonging to the prince of Makassar he released — and “kruiste geruimen tijd rond om Straat Singapoera te vinden” before anchoring at the river of Djohor on 4 November 1603.
The fight at the river of Djohor (7 November 1603)
At the river of Djohor Pietersz. found the Dutch factor Jacob Buys — whom Jacob van Heemskerck had left at the sultan’s court in April — with news that the sultan’s capital was being blockaded by a Portuguese fleet under Estevao Teixeira de Mattos of six large and several smaller vessels. On 7 November 1603 Pietersz. attacked the Portuguese fleet and drove it off; the pursuit, conducted in concert with some forty praus of the sultan, was unsuccessful. The sultan visited the Dutch vice-admiraal aboard his ship, where they took formal leave of each other, since no cargo was immediately available; Pietersz. then continued his planned voyage to Patani.
The Portuguese counter-offer and the sultan’s refusal
The pattern of Portuguese counter-diplomacy that Matelieff would later encounter repeated itself. A few days after Pietersz.’s departure, Portuguese galleys appeared and the sultan was offered peace on condition that he surrender the Dutch merchants — an offer the sultan refused. He strengthened his city, though no attack came; he also rejected peace proposals from the sultan of Atjeh. Van der Woude notes the strategic counterfactual: “ware de vrede tusschen de inlandsche vorsten gesloten, het zou den Hollanders met hulp van beiden weinig moeite hebben gekost Malaka in het Oosten en het Westen te blokkeeren en den Portugeeschen handel op de Noordelijke gebieden te vernietigen”.
Significance
Cornelis Pietersz. is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Dutch naval commander in the Strait of Malaka in the period between Jacob van Heemskerck’s 1603 treaty and Cornelis Matelieff’s campaign of 1606. The fight at the river of Djohor on 7 November 1603 was the first major Dutch-Portuguese naval engagement at the mouth of the Djohor river and the principal instance of Dutch naval support for the sultan of Djohor against the Portuguese blockade. Pietersz.’s relief of the blockade — and the sultan’s subsequent refusal to surrender the Dutch merchants to the Portuguese — confirmed the Dutch-Djohor alliance that Heemskerck had inaugurated in April 1603 and that Matelieff would exploit in 1606. The episode also marks the strategic limits of the Dutch commitment to Djohor: Pietersz.’s small squadron was insufficient to maintain the blockade of Malaka, and the sultan’s strategic position remained precarious until Matelieff’s fleet arrived in 1606.
See Also
- Jacob van Heemskerck
- Cornelis Matelieff
- Matelieff’s Malaka campaign (1606)
- Djohor
- Batoesawer
- Malaka
- Makassar
- Patani
- Strait of Malaka
- Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
- Acheh
- 1603
Source
Coen, Koopman van Heeren Zeventien. Geschiedenis van den Hollandshen Handel in Indië (1598-1614), by Johan van der Woude (Amsterdam: C.V. Uitgeverij v/h C. De Boer Jr., 1948), Hoofdstuk V “Voorgangers, Hollanders en mededingers tot 1614. Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” (pp. 126-127).