Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff

Properties2
tagsperson, dutch, navigator, colonial, voc, atjeh, malaka, banda, military, naval, 17th-century, murdered
aliasesPieter Verhoeff, Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff, Verhoeff (admiraal), Admiraal Verhoeff, P. W. Verhoeff

11 min read

Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff (c. 1575-1609) was a Dutch admiraal in the service of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie who commanded the fleet of nine ships and four jachts that left Texel on 22 December 1607 with the secret instruction of 11 April 1608 to seize Banda and attack Malaka, conducted the abortive Malaka expedition of 1608, and was murdered with forty-six of his men at Banda on 22 May 1609 in the Bandanese ambush near Rada — the event that fixed the Dutch on the path of coercive monopoly that Coen would later execute. Verhoeff’s fleet included the young Jan Pieterszoon Coen as onderkoopman, and the experience of the voyage — particularly the murder of the admiraal — shaped Coen’s entire later policy.

The fleet and the secret instruction

The Verhoeff fleet of nine ships and four jachts — “bestaande uit 9 schepen en vier jachten”, with 1942 souls aboard — left Texel on 22 December 1607. The fleet’s secret instruction, dispatched from Holland on 11 April 1608 after the fleet’s departure and reaching Verhoeff at Bantam on 26 December 1608 by fast jacht, committed the VOC to a new monopolistic policy: “de eylanden van Banda op ‘t allerhoochste gerecommandeert, als sijnde dese landen der Compagnie daer aen op ‘t alderhoochste gelegen”. The instruction, supplemented by the further instruction of 4 May 1609, completed the policy framework: the Twelve Years’ Truce with Spain had just been signed; the Dutch were to use the truce to entrench the Company’s position before Spain could regain its strength. Verhoeff was to obtain the Banda spice monopoly by treaty or by force, and to attack Malaka if possible.

The outward voyage and the Atjeh call

The fleet called at Atjeh on the outward voyage — the first VOC fleet to do so since the founding of the Company. The Atjeh call was a brief affair: the sultan of Atjeh’s reception was cordial, but Verhoeff did not pursue commercial negotiations, his instructions being directed to Banda and Malaka. The fleet also called at Mozambique, where after a seven-week siege Verhoeff abandoned the attack on the Portuguese fort; at Calicut on the Malabar coast, where he confirmed the treaty that Steven van der Haghen had made with the zamorin on 11 November 1604; and at Bantam, where the secret instruction of 11 April 1608 finally reached him.

The Malaka expedition (1608)

The full account of Verhoeff’s Malaka expedition is given in the entry on the expedition itself. In summary: he appeared before Malaka on 23 November 1608, having spent some weeks in the Strait of Malaka hunting Portuguese merchant craft; the sultan of Djohor refused to help, having opened peace negotiations with the Portuguese; the Portuguese set an abandoned hulk ablaze on the roadstead and sent their fleet out to engage the Dutch at Ilha da Pedra, where they were driven off; Verhoeff, learning from his factor at Batoesawer that no help would come, decided against a siege and raised the blockade. He then sailed to Djohor, where he pressed the sultan to honour the second Matelieff accord of 23 September 1606 and to permit the Dutch to build a fort; the sultan refused. Verhoeff gave the sultan money to rebuild the burned capital, left two ships at the river mouth, replaced the factor Van den Broeck with Jacques Obelaer, and sailed for Bantam on 8 February 1609.

The Banda expedition and the murder (May 1609)

The fleet then sailed to the Banda islands to execute the secret instruction. Verhoeff arrived off Banda-Neira on 8 April 1609 with nine ships and four jachts, joined by the English ship Hector under William Keeling. He presented to the Bandanese chiefs a letter from Prince Maurits demanding the spice monopoly and permission to build a fort; after protracted negotiations, the Bandanese gave formal consent but quietly evacuated women and children to the hills. On 22 May 1609 Verhoeff landed with a breeden raad of 150 soldiers for a “vriendschappelijke bespreking” near Rada, walked into an ambush, and was killed with forty-six of his men. The expression “op syn Admiraels Verhoeven leeren bitcharen” — “to consult on Admiral Verhoeff’s bench” — became a Dutch proverb for walking into a trap.

The murder was the principal instance of Dutch-Indies violence in the pre-Coen period and the proximate cause of the VOC’s coercive monopoly policy. The vice-admiraal Simon Hoen assumed command, retaliated against the Bandanese, concluded the so-called eeuwig verbond of 10 August 1609 by which Banda-Neira was ceded to the VOC in perpetuity, and built Fort Nassau on the ruins of the old Portuguese lodge. The fort, and the policy it represented, would define the Dutch position at Banda for the next decade — until Coen’s conquest of 1621.

Significance

Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Dutch admiraal of the strategic turn from the western to the eastern archipelago and the principal victim of the Bandanese resistance to the Dutch monopoly. His Malaka expedition of 1608 was the last Dutch attempt to take Malaka before the Dutch-Djohor conquest of 1641 and marked the abandonment of the Dutch-Djohor military alliance. His murder at Banda on 22 May 1609 was the proximate cause of the VOC’s coercive monopoly policy at Banda and the foundation of Coen’s later argument that monopoly could only be obtained by force. The fleet he commanded included the young Coen as onderkoopman, and the experience of the voyage — particularly the murder of the admiraal — shaped Coen’s entire later policy. Verhoeff’s secret instruction of 11 April 1608 was, in Van der Woude’s analysis, the legal foundation of the Coen programme of monopoly-by-force.

See Also

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), Hoofdstukken II, V, X (pp. 51-65, 130-131, 312-318).

Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff (c. 1575-1609) was a Dutch admiraal in the service of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie who commanded the fleet of nine ships and four jachts that left Texel on 22 December 1607 with the secret instruction of 11 April 1608 to seize Banda and attack Malaka, conducted the abortive Malaka expedition of 1608, and was murdered with forty-six of his men at Banda on 22 May 1609 in the Bandanese ambush near Rada — the event that fixed the Dutch on the path of coercive monopoly that Coen would later execute. Verhoeff’s fleet included the young Jan Pieterszoon Coen as onderkoopman, and the experience of the voyage — particularly the murder of the admiraal — shaped Coen’s entire later policy.

The fleet and the secret instruction

The Verhoeff fleet of nine ships and four jachts — “bestaande uit 9 schepen en vier jachten”, with 1942 souls aboard — left Texel on 22 December 1607. The fleet’s secret instruction, dispatched from Holland on 11 April 1608 after the fleet’s departure and reaching Verhoeff at Bantam on 26 December 1608 by fast jacht, committed the VOC to a new monopolistic policy: “de eylanden van Banda op ‘t allerhoochste gerecommandeert, als sijnde dese landen der Compagnie daer aen op ‘t alderhoochste gelegen”. The instruction, supplemented by the further instruction of 4 May 1609, completed the policy framework: the Twelve Years’ Truce with Spain had just been signed; the Dutch were to use the truce to entrench the Company’s position before Spain could regain its strength. Verhoeff was to obtain the Banda spice monopoly by treaty or by force, and to attack Malaka if possible.

The outward voyage and the Atjeh call

The fleet called at Atjeh on the outward voyage — the first VOC fleet to do so since the founding of the Company. The Atjeh call was a brief affair: the sultan of Atjeh’s reception was cordial, but Verhoeff did not pursue commercial negotiations, his instructions being directed to Banda and Malaka. The fleet also called at Mozambique, where after a seven-week siege Verhoeff abandoned the attack on the Portuguese fort; at Calicut on the Malabar coast, where he confirmed the treaty that Steven van der Haghen had made with the zamorin on 11 November 1604; and at Bantam, where the secret instruction of 11 April 1608 finally reached him.

The Malaka expedition (1608)

The full account of Verhoeff’s Malaka expedition is given in the entry on the expedition itself. In summary: he appeared before Malaka on 23 November 1608, having spent some weeks in the Strait of Malaka hunting Portuguese merchant craft; the sultan of Djohor refused to help, having opened peace negotiations with the Portuguese; the Portuguese set an abandoned hulk ablaze on the roadstead and sent their fleet out to engage the Dutch at Ilha da Pedra, where they were driven off; Verhoeff, learning from his factor at Batoesawer that no help would come, decided against a siege and raised the blockade. He then sailed to Djohor, where he pressed the sultan to honour the second Matelieff accord of 23 September 1606 and to permit the Dutch to build a fort; the sultan refused. Verhoeff gave the sultan money to rebuild the burned capital, left two ships at the river mouth, replaced the factor Van den Broeck with Jacques Obelaer, and sailed for Bantam on 8 February 1609.

The Banda expedition and the murder (May 1609)

The fleet then sailed to the Banda islands to execute the secret instruction. Verhoeff arrived off Banda-Neira on 8 April 1609 with nine ships and four jachts, joined by the English ship Hector under William Keeling. He presented to the Bandanese chiefs a letter from Prince Maurits demanding the spice monopoly and permission to build a fort; after protracted negotiations, the Bandanese gave formal consent but quietly evacuated women and children to the hills. On 22 May 1609 Verhoeff landed with a breeden raad of 150 soldiers for a “vriendschappelijke bespreking” near Rada, walked into an ambush, and was killed with forty-six of his men. The expression “op syn Admiraels Verhoeven leeren bitcharen” — “to consult on Admiral Verhoeff’s bench” — became a Dutch proverb for walking into a trap.

The murder was the principal instance of Dutch-Indies violence in the pre-Coen period and the proximate cause of the VOC’s coercive monopoly policy. The vice-admiraal Simon Hoen assumed command, retaliated against the Bandanese, concluded the so-called eeuwig verbond of 10 August 1609 by which Banda-Neira was ceded to the VOC in perpetuity, and built Fort Nassau on the ruins of the old Portuguese lodge. The fort, and the policy it represented, would define the Dutch position at Banda for the next decade — until Coen’s conquest of 1621.

Significance

Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Dutch admiraal of the strategic turn from the western to the eastern archipelago and the principal victim of the Bandanese resistance to the Dutch monopoly. His Malaka expedition of 1608 was the last Dutch attempt to take Malaka before the Dutch-Djohor conquest of 1641 and marked the abandonment of the Dutch-Djohor military alliance. His murder at Banda on 22 May 1609 was the proximate cause of the VOC’s coercive monopoly policy at Banda and the foundation of Coen’s later argument that monopoly could only be obtained by force. The fleet he commanded included the young Coen as onderkoopman, and the experience of the voyage — particularly the murder of the admiraal — shaped Coen’s entire later policy. Verhoeff’s secret instruction of 11 April 1608 was, in Van der Woude’s analysis, the legal foundation of the Coen programme of monopoly-by-force.

See Also

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), Hoofdstukken II, V, X (pp. 51-65, 130-131, 312-318).

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