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Willem Ysbrandtszoon Bontekoe (June 2, 1587 – 1657) was askipper in theDutch East India Company (VOC), who made only one voyage for the company (1618–1625). He became widely known because of thejournal of his adventures that was published in 1646 under the titleJournael ofte gedenckwaerdige beschrijvinge van de Oost-Indische reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz. Bontekoe van Hoorn, begrijpende veel wonderlijcke en gevaerlijcke saecken hem daer in wedervaren ("Journal or memorable description of the East Indian voyage of Willem Bontekoe from Hoorn, including many remarkable and dangerous things that happened to him there").
Bontekoe was born inHoorn inHolland. In 1607, at the age of twenty, Bontekoe succeeded his father as captain of the ship Bontekoe. Ten years later, in 1617, the ship was taken byBarbary pirates and Bontekoe ended up at a slave market. He was bought free, but his ship was lost.
In 1618 Bontekoe enlisted in the service of theDutch East India Company. On a voyage toJava he was shipwrecked, along with part of his crew, and continued in a lifeboat. After a grueling journey, including an attack by hostile natives onSumatra, they reachedBatavia onJava. Bontekoe was given a new command and an order to harass theChinese coast.
In 1625 Bontekoe returned to Holland. After his return, he settled down in Hoorn to live a quiet life. On March 1, 1626, at the age of 38, Bontekoe married Eeltje Bruijnes.
Bontekoe might have been forgotten had he not written his journal (see above). This book is about his voyage with theNieuw Hoorn, the shipwreck, the adventurous voyage toJava in lifeboats, and his subsequent years of service in East Asia. It was first printed by Hoorn printer Jan Deutel, a Protestant member of theChamber of rhetoric who heavily edited Bontekoe's prose; Bontekoe is described as a "writer of little talent". The book is illustrated withetchings and was a bestseller in the 17th and 18th centuries: before 1800, sixty editions and many translations had been published, and it was republished a number of times in the 19th and 20th centuries. Deutel had molded Bontekoe's journal into a highly fashionable form that combined adventure, disaster, and religion to make a book with educational and literary appeal.[1]
Bontekoe set out fromTexel on December 28, 1618 asskipper of theNieuw Hoorn ("New Hoorn"), anEast Indiaman (i.e. an armed merchant ship). His destination was the town ofBantam on Java. The merchant Hein Rol had formally the upper command.
After passing the coast of Brazil, at the end of May 1619 the ship passedCape Hope, where it did not stop due to the weather. Instead it stayed for 21 days inRéunion and 9 days atÎle Sainte-Marie near the coast ofMadagascar. It departed from there on 8 September. The ship sailed alone through theIndian Ocean. By then 17 of the 216 crew members had died.
A fire, caused by a shipmate accidentally setting fire to a cask of brandy, caused the gunpowder magazine to explode and sink the ship. Of the 119 still on the ship only two survived, including Bontekoe, but he was wounded. Seventy more had escaped before the sinking in two lifeboats. They continued in the two boats; later they went on together in one. Sails were made from the shirts of the crew. They were hungry and thirsty, somedrank seawater orurine. Bontekoe did the latter too, until it became too concentrated. Sometimes there was relief by being able to catch birds andflying fish, and by rain supplying drinking water. The hunger became so severe again that the crew decided to kill the ship boys; Bontekoe writes that he was against that, and that they agreed that they would wait three more days. Just in time, 13 days after the ship wreck, they reached land where they could eat coconuts. It was an island in theSunda Strait, 15 miles offSumatra.
They went on to Sumatra, where they encountered locals from whom they could first buy food, but who later attacked them. Eleven crew members were killed, and four had to be abandoned; they had probably also been killed.
In the end, 55 survivors reachedBatavia, after encountering a Dutch fleet of 23 ships near Java under the command ofFrederik de Houtman, which saved them from going to the now-hostile Bantam. Divided over the ships they got to Batavia onJava, where Bontekoe and Rol were received byJan Pieterszoon Coen, who gave Bontekoe a new command and an order to harass the Chinese coast. He narrowly survived a hurricane, and returned to Hoorn a wealthy man. He became a trader, and twenty years after his return published his journal.[1]
The first part of the journal became the basis of a very popular children's book by authorJohan Fabricius,De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (1924), in which four teenage boys in the crew play the central roles. The book was the basis of afilm adaptation released in 2007. The city of Hoorn has a statue of Hajo, Rolf, and Padde on the quay wall.
In 1995 and 1996, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the journal's publication, a new edition, an edited collection of essays, and an annotated bibliography were published.[1]
