Hans Decker was a Dutch sailor of the Houtman brothers’ voyage of 1599 who survived the 11 September 11 September 1599 ambush at Atjeh in which Cornelis de Houtman was killed, was taken prisoner with Frederik de Houtman and held at the Achehnese court, and — by getting a letter aboard one of the ships of Jacob Wilckens’s fleet in 1600 describing the fate of the Leeuw and the Leeuwin — was the principal source of the Dutch’ first intelligence about the fate of the Houtman brothers’ voyage. Decker is the principal Dutch captive of the early Atjeh period.
The Houtman ambush and captivity
Decker was among the survivors of the ambush of 11 September 1599 at Atjeh — the attack in which Cornelis de Houtman was killed in the cabin of the Leeuw and Frederik de Houtman was taken captive on the Leeuwin or in the sloop at Pedir. Decker was held with Houtman and the other survivors at the Achehnese court, where the sultan put them to work on his fleet against Djohor and against the Portuguese at sea.
The 1600 letter aboard Wilckens’s ship
When the four ships of Jacob van Neck’s fleet under Vice-Admiraal Jacob Wilckens anchored off Atjeh on 31 July 1600 — the first Dutch fleet to appear after the Houtman ambush — Decker was among the captives who heard the salute guns fire. Frederik de Houtman recorded in his narrative that Decker managed to get a letter aboard one of Wilckens’s ships detailing what had befallen the Leeuw and the Leeuwin: the ambush, the killing of Cornelis, the captivity of Frederik and the surviving crew. The letter was the principal source of the Dutch’ first intelligence about the fate of the Houtman brothers’ voyage.
The letter — and “andere gebeurtenissen” that had “het wantrouwen van de Hollanders opgewekt” — led Wilckens to decline the sultan’s invitation to come ashore for a visit. The sultan’s displeasure fell on Decker and the boy who had carried the letter aboard: “zoowel Hans Decker als de jongen die den brief aan boord had gebracht moesten het ontgelden”. The Portuguese at Atjeh seized the occasion to strengthen their position, pressing the sultan to cede them his strongest fort in compensation for promised help against Djohor — a demand that “bij den vorst wantrouwen wekte”.
The release (1600)
Decker remained in captivity until the arrival of Paulus van Caerden on 21 September 1600. The sultan, on Van Caerden’s arrival, released Decker and the two other surviving Dutch captives — “klaarblijkelijk om de mededingers der Portugeezen zijn goede gezindheid te betuigen, althans om hen gunstig te stemmen”. The release was the principal diplomatic achievement of Van Caerden’s Atjeh visit and the proximate cause of the negotiations that produced the pepper contract of 28 December 1600.
Significance
Hans Decker is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Dutch captive of the early Atjeh period and the principal source of the Dutch’ first intelligence about the fate of the Houtman brothers’ voyage. His letter aboard Wilckens’s ship in 1600 — describing the ambush, the killing of Cornelis, and the captivity of Frederik — was the first concrete intelligence the Dutch received of the Houtman brothers’ fate, and led Wilckens to decline the sultan’s invitation to come ashore. Decker’s release by Van Caerden in 1600 was the principal diplomatic achievement of the Van Caerden visit and the proximate cause of the pepper contract of 28 December 1600. Decker’s role also frames the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship as one in which the Dutch captives at the sultan’s court — Decker, Houtman, and the other survivors — were the principal conduit of intelligence and the principal diplomatic instruments of the Dutch-Achehnese relationship.
See Also
- Houtman brothers’ visit to Atjeh (1599)
- Cornelis de Houtman
- Frederik de Houtman
- Frederik de Houtman’s Atjeh captivity (1599-1601)
- Jacob Wilckens
- Paulus van Caerden
- Paulus van Caerden’s Atjeh visit (1600-1601)
- Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
- Acheh
- 1599
- 1600
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. 110-112).