Jacob Wilckens was a Dutch vice-admiraal who, in command of four ships of the fleet of Jacob van Neck’s first voyage to the Indies, anchored off Atjeh on 21 December 1599 — the same day the Houtman ambush had taken place three months earlier in September — and who, after his refusal to land at the sultan’s invitation, dispatched the chain of events that would lead to the Zeeland mission of 1601 and the Achehnese embassy to Prince Maurits of 1601. Wilckens is, after the Houtman brothers, the principal Dutch commander at Atjeh in the earliest Dutch-Indies period.
The Atjeh visit (December 1599)
Wilckens had sailed from the Netherlands on 21 December 1599 as vice-admiraal of four ships detached from the Van Neck fleet — the rest of the fleet under Van Neck himself following in June 1600. He arrived off Atjeh on 31 July 1600, where Frederik de Houtman — still in captivity, serving on the sultan’s fleet — heard of his arrival. Hans Decker, one of the surviving Houtman captives, managed to get a letter aboard one of Wilckens’s ships detailing what had befallen the Leeuw and the Leeuwin. 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.
Wilckens’s refusal was costly. Hans Decker and the boy who had carried the letter aboard “moesten het ontgelden” — suffered the sultan’s displeasure. 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, Van der Woude notes, “bij den vorst wantrouwen wekte”. Wilckens sailed for Bantam without concluding any commercial agreement.
The episode in context
Van der Woude treats Wilckens’s Atjeh visit as the connecting link between the Houtman ambush of 1599 and the Van Caerden visit of 1600-1601. The Houtman brothers’ misadventure had established the sultan’s willingness to use force against Dutch visitors; Wilckens’s refusal to land confirmed the sultan’s suspicion that the Dutch were a treacherous power; and the sultan’s continued detention of the surviving Houtman captives — despite Wilckens’s arrival — confirmed the Dutch conviction that the sultan was “onbetrouwbaar”. The deadlock could only be broken by a stronger Dutch mission with gifts and a letter from Prince Maurits — the mission that Paulus van Caerden would undertake in September 1600.
Significance
Jacob Wilckens is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Dutch commander at Atjeh in the immediate aftermath of the Houtman ambush and the principal instance of the Dutch caution at the Achehnese court in the earliest Dutch-Indies period. His refusal to land at the sultan’s invitation — though understandable in the circumstances — confirmed the sultan’s hostility to the Dutch and helped prolong Frederik de Houtman’s captivity. The episode also marks the first Dutch diplomatic failure at Atjeh: where the Houtman visit had produced an ambush and the Van Caerden visit would produce a contract, Wilckens’s visit produced neither. The visit thus frames the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship at its lowest point and shows the cost of operating at the Achehnese court without either gifts or force.
See Also
- Jacob van Neck
- Houtman brothers’ visit to Atjeh (1599)
- Paulus van Caerden’s Atjeh visit (1600-1601)
- Frederik de Houtman
- Hans Decker
- Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
- Prince Maurits
- Affonso Vicenti
- 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. 110-111)
Jacob Wilckens was a Dutch vice-admiraal who, in command of four ships of the fleet of Jacob van Neck’s first voyage to the Indies, anchored off Atjeh on 21 December 1599 — the same day the Houtman ambush had taken place three months earlier in September — and who, after his refusal to land at the sultan’s invitation, dispatched the chain of events that would lead to the Zeeland mission of 1601 and the Achehnese embassy to Prince Maurits of 1601. Wilckens is, after the Houtman brothers, the principal Dutch commander at Atjeh in the earliest Dutch-Indies period.
The Atjeh visit (December 1599)
Wilckens had sailed from the Netherlands on 21 December 1599 as vice-admiraal of four ships detached from the Van Neck fleet — the rest of the fleet under Van Neck himself following in June 1600. He arrived off Atjeh on 31 July 1600, where Frederik de Houtman — still in captivity, serving on the sultan’s fleet — heard of his arrival. Hans Decker, one of the surviving Houtman captives, managed to get a letter aboard one of Wilckens’s ships detailing what had befallen the Leeuw and the Leeuwin. 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.
Wilckens’s refusal was costly. Hans Decker and the boy who had carried the letter aboard “moesten het ontgelden” — suffered the sultan’s displeasure. 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, Van der Woude notes, “bij den vorst wantrouwen wekte”. Wilckens sailed for Bantam without concluding any commercial agreement.
The episode in context
Van der Woude treats Wilckens’s Atjeh visit as the connecting link between the Houtman ambush of 1599 and the Van Caerden visit of 1600-1601. The Houtman brothers’ misadventure had established the sultan’s willingness to use force against Dutch visitors; Wilckens’s refusal to land confirmed the sultan’s suspicion that the Dutch were a treacherous power; and the sultan’s continued detention of the surviving Houtman captives — despite Wilckens’s arrival — confirmed the Dutch conviction that the sultan was “onbetrouwbaar”. The deadlock could only be broken by a stronger Dutch mission with gifts and a letter from Prince Maurits — the mission that Paulus van Caerden would undertake in September 1600.
Significance
Jacob Wilckens is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Dutch commander at Atjeh in the immediate aftermath of the Houtman ambush and the principal instance of the Dutch caution at the Achehnese court in the earliest Dutch-Indies period. His refusal to land at the sultan’s invitation — though understandable in the circumstances — confirmed the sultan’s hostility to the Dutch and helped prolong Frederik de Houtman’s captivity. The episode also marks the first Dutch diplomatic failure at Atjeh: where the Houtman visit had produced an ambush and the Van Caerden visit would produce a contract, Wilckens’s visit produced neither. The visit thus frames the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship at its lowest point and shows the cost of operating at the Achehnese court without either gifts or force.
See Also
- Jacob van Neck
- Houtman brothers’ visit to Atjeh (1599)
- Paulus van Caerden’s Atjeh visit (1600-1601)
- Frederik de Houtman
- Hans Decker
- Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
- Prince Maurits
- Affonso Vicenti
- 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. 110-111).