Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash [37]
Pelsaert was naturally incensed by this decision, more so when he learned that Vapoer would be paid twice what he had earned. But there was little he could do about it, and when his contract expired in March 1627 he returned overland to Surat. He arrived on the coast in May and there quarreled with the generally easygoing Van den Broecke, whom he no doubt blamed for Vapoer’s appointment. Van den Broecke did what he could to mend the damage, begging his old friend to stay in India, but Pelsaert was too proud to let that happen. He insisted on returning to the Netherlands instead.
Still smarting from his treatment at the hands of the VOC, the merchant took ship in Surat 10 days before Christmas. He was given a cabin in the old Dordrecht, sailing as a guest of the fleet president, commandeur Grijph. Pelsaert passed the time while he waited for the ship to sail in the company of Grijph; a fellow upper-merchant, Wollebrand Geleynssen de Jongh*12; and the recently appointed skipper of the Dordrecht. The skipper’s name was Ariaen Jacobsz.
The Dordrecht was Ariaen’s first major command after a decade spent working in the inter-island trade. He ought to have been anxious to make a good impression, but the heat and the humidity of Surat brought out the worst in Jacobsz. For whatever reason, Pelsaert irritated him—perhaps it was the upper-merchant’s self-importance. Within days the two had fallen out to a dangerous degree.
The dispute that was to cause so much trouble on the Batavia had a most mundane beginning. Ten years in the draining climate of the Indies had given Jacobsz an unhealthy love of alcohol, and he refused to moderate his habits in the presence of three senior officers of the VOC. One night in Surat harbor the skipper became drunk and grievously insulted Pelsaert before the other merchants. Next day commandeur Grijph was forced to rebuke him, “saying that that was not the manner to sail in peace to the Fatherland, and that he must behave himself differently.” Jacobsz blamed Pelsaert for this public dressing-down. Henceforth, as the skipper was later to explain, he always hated Pelsaert.
Grijph’s presence prevented matters from going any further on the journey to the United Provinces, and Pelsaert arrived home in June 1628. The merchant spent July and August engaged in a successful campaign to win back the favor of the Gentlemen XVII. He had already composed two special reports—a chronicle and a remonstrantie, or dissertation, concerning trade in the subcontinent—in an effort to establish himself as an expert on Indian affairs; now he made a new suggestion for finding favor with the Mogul emperors. Jahangir, he pointed out, had never shown much interest in the gifts of Western emissaries. But he did seem to like jewels and silver.
Pelsaert’s plan was to send large quantities of special silver plate to India. These goods, which he called “toys,” would be carefully commissioned to suit the local tastes identified in his remonstrantie and could be relied upon to impress the Moguls with the power of the VOC. Items of silverware could be given as gifts, sold at the imperial court, or exchanged for spice. The toys would make a memorable impression and might also win favor and new trading privileges for the Dutch.
Impressed by Pelsaert’s detailed knowledge of Indian affairs, the Gentlemen XVII agreed to commission plate to the upper-merchant’s specifications. In doing so they took a considerable risk, for the final cost of the consignment of silver was almost 60,000 guilders. But so great was the VOC’s new confidence in Pelsaert that he now received not just a new and better contract, but instructions