William Keeling (c. 1578-1620) was an English captain in the service of the English East India Company who, in command of the Hector, anchored off Banda-Neira on 8 February 8 February 1609 in the company of his factor Browne and Sidall, competed with the Dutch under Verhoeff for the Bandanese spice monopoly, concluded the secret treaty of 23 February 23 February 1609 with the chiefs of Poeloe Ai granting him the exclusive right to their spices, and provided protection to the Dutch factors on Poeloe Ai after the murder of Verhoeff on 22 May 1609. Keeling is the principal English figure of the Banda chapter of Van der Woude’s Van der Woude (1948) and the principal instance of the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry that would replace the Anglo-Dutch partnership of 1602.
The 1609 Banda visit
Keeling arrived off Banda-Neira on 8 February 1609 in the Hector, having dispatched the pinnas with Browne and Sidall from Bantam in December 1608 to lay in a cargo for a subsequent ship. He was welcomed by the Dutch with saluutschoten — “waaruit men mag opmaken dat de kooplui ter plaatse hen niet als gevaarlijke concurrenten beschouwden” — and obtained leave to set up a factory on Neira. While he was negotiating with the inhabitants of Lontor, two Dutch ships of the Verhoeff fleet arrived from the Moluccas; the Dutch commanders also paid Keeling a friendly visit. The friendly appearances, however, concealed an emerging commercial rivalry: when Keeling, with much difficulty, reached agreement with the Lontoreezen on the purchase price, the Dutch offered a higher price, forcing Keeling to buy the products from his competitors in order to load his ship. “We payed the Hollanders under-hand price, else we must have been idle.”
The secret treaty of 23 February 1609
Keeling took his revenge on 23 February 23 February 1609 by concluding a secret treaty with the chiefs of Poeloe Ai, granting him the exclusive right to “all their Spice (…) and not to sell or part with the Hollanders one Cattee thereof”. The Dutch attempted to prevent the treaty but failed. On 8 April 8 April 1609 the Verhoeff fleet of nine ships and four jachts arrived off Banda-Neira, joining the two Dutch ships already at anchor; the Dutch now had overwhelming force in the roadstead. The Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry at Banda had begun in earnest.
The Verhoeff affair and the protection of the Dutch factors
When the Bandanese ambush of 22 May 1609 killed Verhoeff and forty-six of his men, the Bandanese also attacked the Dutch factors on the islands; on Poeloe Ai the Dutch were taken under Keeling’s protection. Keeling’s role in the murder affair has been the subject of controversy: De Jonge suggested that Keeling may have played a “dubbelhartige rol” — a double-dealing role — and may have secretly co-operated with the Bandanese. Van der Woude rejects the suggestion: “Er is ook geen reden om aan te nemen dat Keeling op de een of andere wijze een dubbelhartige rol zou hebben gespeeld, of voor de Bandaneezen partij hebben gekozen”. Keeling, who was at Ai when the murder took place, had traded with the Bandanese while remaining on good terms with the Dutch, and had proved himself “in zeer moeilijke omstandigheden voor zijn taak berekend”.
The Dutch intimidation
After the murder, the Dutch sought to intimidate Keeling into leaving. In late July 1609 they ordered him in writing “to withdraw with his ship from forth our Road out of our Fleet, and without the command of the Artillery of the Foretresse of Nassau, within the time of five daies”. Keeling refused: “that unlesse I were otherwise commaunded then bij words, I would ride here till I were laden, which would be within five and twentie daies at the uttermost”. Only when his ship was loaded did Keeling accept a credit letter for his outstanding claims against the Bandanese — to be paid by the Dutch office in Bantam — and leave the roadstead.
Significance
William Keeling is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal English figure of the Banda chapter and the principal instance of the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry that would replace the Anglo-Dutch partnership of 1602. The secret treaty of 23 February 1609 with the chiefs of Poeloe Ai was the principal English commercial achievement at Banda and the proximate cause of the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry that would harden into the conflicts of the 1610s and the Ambonese murder of 1623. Keeling’s protection of the Dutch factors on Poeloe Ai after the murder of Verhoeff on 22 May 1609 — and Van der Woude’s defence of his conduct against the charge of double-dealing — also frames the Anglo-Dutch relationship at Banda as one of rivalry moderated by chivalric courtesy, a courtesy that would itself dissolve in the conflicts of the 1620s. Keeling’s role in the Dutch-Atjeh relationship was indirect: the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry at Banda was the consequence of the Anglo-Dutch commercial partnership at Atjeh in 1602, and the dissolution of the partnership was the proximate cause of the Dutch monopoly-by-force policy that Coen would execute at Banda after 1614.
See Also
- English East India Company
- Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff
- Murder of Verhoeff at Banda (May 1609)
- Capture of the Portuguese carrack off Atjeh (October 1602)
- James Lancaster
- Jan Pieterszoon Coen
- Discours of 1 January 1614
- Banda-eilanden
- Poeloe Ai
- Acheh
- 1602
- 1609
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 X (pp. 312-318).
Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, by Samuel Purchas, Vol. II (Glasgow, 1905), pp. 530-543.
William Keeling (c. 1578-1620) was an English captain in the service of the English East India Company who, in command of the Hector, anchored off Banda-Neira on 8 February 8 February 1609 in the company of his factor Browne and Sidall, competed with the Dutch under Verhoeff for the Bandanese spice monopoly, concluded the secret treaty of 23 February 23 February 1609 with the chiefs of Poeloe Ai granting him the exclusive right to their spices, and provided protection to the Dutch factors on Poeloe Ai after the murder of Verhoeff on 22 May 1609. Keeling is the principal English figure of the Banda chapter of Van der Woude’s Van der Woude (1948) and the principal instance of the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry that would replace the Anglo-Dutch partnership of 1602.
The 1609 Banda visit
Keeling arrived off Banda-Neira on 8 February 1609 in the Hector, having dispatched the pinnas with Browne and Sidall from Bantam in December 1608 to lay in a cargo for a subsequent ship. He was welcomed by the Dutch with saluutschoten — “waaruit men mag opmaken dat de kooplui ter plaatse hen niet als gevaarlijke concurrenten beschouwden” — and obtained leave to set up a factory on Neira. While he was negotiating with the inhabitants of Lontor, two Dutch ships of the Verhoeff fleet arrived from the Moluccas; the Dutch commanders also paid Keeling a friendly visit. The friendly appearances, however, concealed an emerging commercial rivalry: when Keeling, with much difficulty, reached agreement with the Lontoreezen on the purchase price, the Dutch offered a higher price, forcing Keeling to buy the products from his competitors in order to load his ship. “We payed the Hollanders under-hand price, else we must have been idle.”
The secret treaty of 23 February 1609
Keeling took his revenge on 23 February 23 February 1609 by concluding a secret treaty with the chiefs of Poeloe Ai, granting him the exclusive right to “all their Spice (…) and not to sell or part with the Hollanders one Cattee thereof”. The Dutch attempted to prevent the treaty but failed. On 8 April 8 April 1609 the Verhoeff fleet of nine ships and four jachts arrived off Banda-Neira, joining the two Dutch ships already at anchor; the Dutch now had overwhelming force in the roadstead. The Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry at Banda had begun in earnest.
The Verhoeff affair and the protection of the Dutch factors
When the Bandanese ambush of 22 May 1609 killed Verhoeff and forty-six of his men, the Bandanese also attacked the Dutch factors on the islands; on Poeloe Ai the Dutch were taken under Keeling’s protection. Keeling’s role in the murder affair has been the subject of controversy: De Jonge suggested that Keeling may have played a “dubbelhartige rol” — a double-dealing role — and may have secretly co-operated with the Bandanese. Van der Woude rejects the suggestion: “Er is ook geen reden om aan te nemen dat Keeling op de een of andere wijze een dubbelhartige rol zou hebben gespeeld, of voor de Bandaneezen partij hebben gekozen”. Keeling, who was at Ai when the murder took place, had traded with the Bandanese while remaining on good terms with the Dutch, and had proved himself “in zeer moeilijke omstandigheden voor zijn taak berekend”.
The Dutch intimidation
After the murder, the Dutch sought to intimidate Keeling into leaving. In late July 1609 they ordered him in writing “to withdraw with his ship from forth our Road out of our Fleet, and without the command of the Artillery of the Foretresse of Nassau, within the time of five daies”. Keeling refused: “that unlesse I were otherwise commaunded then bij words, I would ride here till I were laden, which would be within five and twentie daies at the uttermost”. Only when his ship was loaded did Keeling accept a credit letter for his outstanding claims against the Bandanese — to be paid by the Dutch office in Bantam — and leave the roadstead.
Significance
William Keeling is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal English figure of the Banda chapter and the principal instance of the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry that would replace the Anglo-Dutch partnership of 1602. The secret treaty of 23 February 1609 with the chiefs of Poeloe Ai was the principal English commercial achievement at Banda and the proximate cause of the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry that would harden into the conflicts of the 1610s and the Ambonese murder of 1623. Keeling’s protection of the Dutch factors on Poeloe Ai after the murder of Verhoeff on 22 May 1609 — and Van der Woude’s defence of his conduct against the charge of double-dealing — also frames the Anglo-Dutch relationship at Banda as one of rivalry moderated by chivalric courtesy, a courtesy that would itself dissolve in the conflicts of the 1620s. Keeling’s role in the Dutch-Atjeh relationship was indirect: the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry at Banda was the consequence of the Anglo-Dutch commercial partnership at Atjeh in 1602, and the dissolution of the partnership was the proximate cause of the Dutch monopoly-by-force policy that Coen would execute at Banda after 1614.
See Also
- English East India Company
- Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff
- Murder of Verhoeff at Banda (May 1609)
- Capture of the Portuguese carrack off Atjeh (October 1602)
- James Lancaster
- Jan Pieterszoon Coen
- Discours of 1 January 1614
- Banda-eilanden
- Poeloe Ai
- Acheh
- 1602
- 1609
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 X (pp. 312-318).
Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, by Samuel Purchas, Vol. II (Glasgow, 1905), pp. 530-543.