USA > Delaware > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 2
USA > New Jersey > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
David Pieterszoon de Vries, the author, wrote these reminiscences of a quarter of a century of world voyaging, in the leisurely retirement of later years in his ancestral city of Hoorn, in North Holland. He was born in 1593 in Rochelle on the west coast of France, whither his father went from
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INTRODUCTION
Hoorn, after the murder of William of Orange in 1584. His mother was of Amsterdam origin. When he was four years old his parents returned to Holland, and there De Vries chiefly lived, apparently in Hoorn, although he states that he was experienced in merchandising from his youth both in Holland and in France. He refers to partners in Amsterdam and Rochelle as concerned with him in his mercantile voyages. A religious man of strong Calvinistic convictions, be writes in a plain but vivid style and his book both internally and ex- ternally has well stood the tests of trustworthiness. His part in the voyages, although sometimes as commander, was usually 88 & supercargo. He was a bold and skilful seaman, and a considerable portion of the work is given to navigating and sailing directions.
The six voyages which De Vries describes began in 1618 -when he was a young man of twenty-five-with a voyage for grain to the Mediterranean, in which he took part in a suc- cessful engagement with some Turkish galleys off the coast of Greece. In his second voyage, 1620-1623, he went to New- foundland and carried a cargo of fish to the Mediterranean, . where he won a notable fight against privateers off the Spanish coast and accepted a brief service under the Duke of Guise, admiral of France. From 1627 to 1630 he was occupied with his third voyage to the East Indies, of which he gives a long account.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth voyages were made to the New World. The first and last of these American voyages include accounts of two visits to the Delaware, both of which are here presented. The first of these extracts covers the first part of the fourth voyage, from the formation of the patroon- ship in 1630 to the departure of De Vries from the Delaware, March 6, 1633. The remainder of the voyage, the part omit- ted from our text, relates to Virginia and Manhattan and the return to Holland in midsummer of the same year. The
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fifth voyage, 1634-1636, was taken up with the planting of a colony in Guiana and with trading trips to Manhattan and Virginia. In the sixth voyage, 1638-1644, De Vries was chiefly employed in vain attempts to establish settlements on Staten Island and at Tappaan (Vriesendael).1 Then he sailed again to the Delaware and from October 12 to 20, 1643, made a briefer visit to the river, as recounted in the second of the extracts of our text. After wintering in Virginia he arrived in Holland in June, 1644. Having now passed his fiftieth year, he withdrew from the adventurous life of the sea. Nothing seems to be known of him after the publication of his book.
All the parts of De Vries's book relating to Newfoundland, New Netherland, and Virginia, as translated and edited by Henry C. Murphy, were published in 1853 by James Lenox, and in 1857 by the New York Historical Society in its Collec- tions, second series, III. 1-129. The extracts concerning the Delaware, as here given, are taken from the Collections, pp. 15-32, 121-123, and carefully revised from the original Dutch text, pp. 94-107, 183-185, by Mr. A. J. F. van Laer, archivist of the state of New York.
A. C. M.
" For this period and the preceding visit to Manhattan, see Narratives of New Netherland, in this series, pp. 186-234.
FROM THE "KORTE HISTORIAEL ENDE JOUR- NAELS AENTEYCKENINGE," BY DAVID PIETERSZ. DE VRIES, 1630-1633, 1643 (1655)
AFTER I had been at home from the Indies two months, I met, at Amsterdam, Samuel Godyn, a merchant, who bade me welcome, as an old acquaintance, and asked me where I came from? I said from the East Indies. In what capacity? I told him as supercargo. He inquired whether it was my intention to remain at home. I said, yes. But he asked me if I wished to go as a commander to New Netherland; they wanted to plant a colony there, and would employ me as sub- patroon, according to the privileges [approved] by the Lords States [General], and granted by the [Council of] Nineteen of the West India Company to all patroons. I gave him for answer that the business suited me well, but I must be a patroon, equal with the rest. He said that he was content that it should be so. So we five first took steps to establish this patroonship; namely, Samuel Godyn, Gilliame van Rens- selaer, Bloemaert, Jan de Laet, and myself, David Pietersz. de Vries. But more were afterwards admitted into the com- pany; namely, Mathys van Ceulen, Nicolas van Sittorigh,1 Harinck Koeck,' and Heyndrick Hamel, and we made a con- tract with one another, whereby we were all placed on the same footing. We then equipped a ship' with a yacht for the
1 Given as Nicolaes van Sitterich in list of Directors of the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, in de Laet, Historie ofte Iaerlijck Verhael. " Johan van Harinck-houck in the same list.
'The ship De Walvis, of about 150 lasts, commanded by Captain Peter Heyes, with a cargo of bricks, provisions, a large stock of cattle and twenty-eight colonists, arrived in the Delaware in the spring of 1631. They made a settlement on the bank of the Hoorn (or Hoere) Kill, calling it Swanendael. "They engaged in whaling and farming and made suitable fortifications, so that in July of the same year their cows calved and their lands were seeded and covered with a fine crop." Five additional colonists joined the colony, probably from New Amster- dam, making the total number thirty-three. They built a brick house inside the palisades. Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, p. 240; Amandus Johnson, The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, pp., 170-171.
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[1630
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purpose of prosecuting the voyage, as well to carry on the whale fishery in that region, as to plant a colony for the culti- vation of all sorts of grain, for which the country is very well adapted, and of tobacco. This ship with the yacht sailed from the Texel1 the 12th of December, with a number of people and a considerable number of animals, to settle our colony upon the South River, which lies in the thirty-eighth and a half degree, and to conduct the whale fishery there. As Godyn had been informed that many whales kept before the bay, and the oil was worth sixty guilders a hogshead, they thought that they might realize a good profit thereon and at the same time cultivate that fine country.
The 20th of the same month, we understood that our yacht was taken by the Dunkirkers the day after it ran out of the Texel, through the carelessness of the large ship, which had lagged behind the yacht, in which there was a large cargo, intended for exploration of the coast of New France. The large ship proceeded on the voyage, having on board some people to land at the island of Tortugas in the West Indies, which island we had made a contract with sixty Frenchmen to hold for us as a colony under their High Mightinesses the Lords States [General] and the West India Company.
Anno 1631. In September our ship returned from New Netherland and the West Indies. It was said to have dis- embarked a number of people on Tortugas, but [to have] found that the French had been killed by the Spaniards, and further [to have conveyed] the rest to the South River' in New Netherland, and [it] brought a sample of oil from a dead whale found on the shore. [The captain] said that he arrived there too late in the year. This was a losing voyage to us; because this captain, Peter Heyes, of Edam, whom we had put in command, durst not sail by the way of the West Indies with only one ship of eighteen guns, where he must have made good the expense of this voyage. He was a person who was only accustomed to sail to Greenland, where they make the voyage in three or four months, and then come home.
1 The Texel, the island at the mouth of the Zuyder Zee in Holland.
" This was the colony at Swanendael, present Lewes, Delaware, thus brought there in 1631 by the ship De Walvis, and shortly after destroyed by the Indians as hereafter recounted by De Vries.
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Anno 1632. The 12th of February we again entered into an agreement to equip a ship and yacht for the whale fishery, to which many objections were raised because we had had such a losing voyage, and no returns from the whale fishery, and saw no prospect of any. But Samuel Godyn encouraged us to make another attempt. He said the Greenland Com- pany had two bad voyages with Willem van Muyen, and after- wards became a thrifty company. It was therefore again re- solved to undertake a voyage for the whale fishery, and that I myself should go as patroon, and as commander of the ship and yacht, and should endeavor to be there in December, in order to conduct the whale fishing during the winter, as the whales come in the winter and remain till March.
Before sailing out of the Texel, we understood that our little fort1 had been destroyed by the Indians, the people killed-two and thirty men-who were outside the fort working the land.
The 24th May, sailed out of the Texel with the ship and yacht, with a northeast wind.
The 26th of the same month, at night, we ran aground through the carelessness of the mates, to whom I gave par- ticular directions, before I went to bed, to throw the lead fre- quently, and keep the freighter, which was a large ship, and drew full three feet more water than we did, upon our lee; but they not following their orders, we grounded upon the Bree-Banck' before Dunkirk. We fired a shot, so that our companion came to anchor. My yacht came under my lee, but could not stand it there on account of the surf. I then made our crew lower the boat and also two Biscayan shallops" and they fled the ship. But I would not leave, and kept both of the mates by me, who dared not leave me for shame, seeing that I remained aboard. Eight or nine plain sailors remained also and I then learned to know the crew well. Those men who had appeared fierce as lions, were the first to escape in the boat. Bumping and tossing along, we got into four fathoms water, where I let the anchor fall, and set to pump-
' At Swanendael.
' Bree-Banck, one of the largest shoals before Dunkirk, in France, about four miles from the coast.
'Convenient rowboats used by Basque fishermen.
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,[1632
ing and got the ship dry. At the same time, the day broke, when we saw our boat and the two sloops tossing about; but when they saw the ship once more afloat they came on board again, and told us that had the night continued two hours longer, they would have headed for the lighthouse and rowed into Dunkirk. We weighed anchor again and sailed for the coast of England, and, on the 28th, ran into Portsmouth, and hauled the ship into the king's dock, where we repaired her.
The 10th of July, we sailed from Portsmouth to Cowes in the Isle of Wight.
The 12th of the same month, the ship New Netherland, of the West India Company, arrived here a large ship, which was built in New Netherland, and which was bound for the West Indies, whither I had good company.
The 1st of August, with a good northeast wind, weighed anchor, and made sail with my ship and yacht, in company of the ship New Netherland.
The 2d, passed Land's End, and laid our course for the Canary Islands.
The 13th, we saw Madeira on our larboard, and a Turk came towards us, but as soon as he observed that we were stout ships, he hauled off from us, and we sailed for him. The evening growing dark, I fired a shot for my yacht to come by me. When night came on, we pursued our course, but the New Netherland followed the Turk by night, which seemed to us folly, because we had not got near him by day. We then separated from the New Netherland.
The 14th, towards evening, we saw the Isle of Palms on our lee, and set our course from thence to Barbados.
The 4th of September, we came in sight of Barbados, and the next day, the 5th, towards evening, arrived at the Island of St. Vincent. The Indians put out with their canoes and came on board of us. I observed the great astonishment of this people. Their canoes or boats getting full of water, they sprang overboard, and with great dexterity lifted up both ends with their shoulders in the water, emptied out the water, and then clambered in again; many of our people, in such cir- cumstances, would have drowned, if their boat got full of water, and they had no other aid than their bodies and the sea. While here, we had fifteen good [supplies of] refreshments,
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bananas, pine apples, and various Indian fruits. We anchored in the Great Channel in 23 fathoms.
On the 5th, arrived here also the ship New Netherland, which was separated from us at Madeira.
On the 8th, we weighed anchor, and passed by the islands of Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Redonde, and Nevis, arrived the 20th1 before St. Christopher, where we found some English ships, and obtained a supply of water.
The 11th, weighed anchor, in order to sail to St. Martin. Half-way between St. Martin and St. Christopher, we met a French ship with a large sloop in company, which veered con- siderably towards us, as if he sought to commit some hostility towards us, but I kept my course and spoke him not. I let the prince's flag' fly aloft, and the red flag behind. When he saw this, he hauled off and passed at a good distance on my lee. Towards evening, we arrived at the roadstead of St. Mar- tin and let our anchor fall. We found before the fort three flutes' under Dirck Femmesz. of Hoorn, two from Water- land,' and the third an Englishman.
The 11th of September, as I lay before the fort with my yacht, the above-named master of the flutes came on board, and inquired if I had not met a French ship. I said, "Yes, sir." And whether he had not attacked me? I said, "No." Had we been a small ship, he perhaps would have done so: for he [Femmesz.] said that he [the Frenchman] had sworn to pay off the first Hollander whom he should meet, because they had shot and killed two of his men from the flute, which was not creditable to them. He told me that this French ship had come into the harbor some days ago, and that the captain was a Knight of Malta, and the vessel a royal yacht of the King of France, in search of Spaniards. When he was taken ashore by the commander of the fort, he inquired whether there was any one who could speak French. The captain of the soldiers understanding French, he requested that the captain might
1 Evidently a misprint for the 10th.
"The flag of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau, stadtholder of the Dutch republic.
" A fluit (flute) is a three-master of about 600 to 700 tons burden.
. Waterland, a district in the province of North Holland, between Amsterdam and Monnickendam.
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA [1632
go with him to interpret what should be said. So the cap- tain went from the fort with this knight in his skiff to the flutes. Having reached them, the Knight desired that they should sell him a barrel of tar, for money and kind words, as they had enough and he had long sailed in the West Indies; but they gave him a rude answer- that they did not wish to have him in their ships-if the captain of the fort wished to come on board their ships he might, but he must depart with the boat. The Knight stood perplexed at such an answer, when he had met them with every courtesy. At length he said to the captain, his interpreter, that they would return to the fort, [as] he wished to make his complaints to the commander-in-chief. Coming to the commander, he ex- hibited his royal commission, and inquired of the commander whether he had not as much right to go in the roadstead where these flutes were, as they ?- that they were friends ;- that all the ports and harbors in France were open to us. The commander said, "Yes." Then the Frenchman weighed anchor, and wished to come to anchor by them in order to ca- reen his ship a little, as the water was shallow there. When they saw the Frenchman had weighed his anchor, they hauled one behind the other, and began to fire upon him, and shot two of his men; when the Frenchman again let his anchor fall, went to the fort and complained of the hostilities which these brutes had committed against him, and desired that the commander, with his officers, should take note thereof; and made his protest. But he was lost on his return voyage, with his ship, people and all, which has caused great comfort to these shipmasters, as he would otherwise have made sport enough for them; but the quarrel was thereby terminated. This we learned afterwards.
The 12th of September, I had room made in the ship [to take in salt], in case the whale fishery in New Netherland should fail, as salt brought a good price in the Fatherland. This day the ship New Netherland arrived here, which I had left lying at St. Vincent to refresh. With her arrived the ship Gelderia, which belonged also to the Company, and also two flutes from Hoorn; of one of these, Cornelis Jansz. Niels was master; the other flute was the Falcon, and the master was named Gerrit Jansz.
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The 27th of this month, we had our cargo of salt, as much as we wanted, and made ourselves again ready to sail to Nevis, to take in wood and water, because they were both better there than at St. Christopher, and there is also a fine sandy bay for the boats to land. The captains of the flutes, who had committed the hostilities against the Frenchman, inquired of me whether they might sail with me to Nevis, in order to pro- vide themselves with wood and water, so as to sail directly for Holland, as they were afraid of the Frenchman, who had called out to them that he wished to meet them when they went to take in water; and they did not mount more than six or eight guns. I gave them for answer, that I was willing that they should sail with me, because they were our citizens, but that I could not prevent any hostility of the Frenchman happening to them, since my ship was no more defensible than theirs. If they wished, however, to sail with me, they could.
The 29th, weighed anchor with my yacht to get under sail, but they remained. By evening I arrived before the island of Nevis. I went ashore to the governor, an Englishman, named Luttelton.1 He requested me to take aboard some captive Portuguese, and to put them, on my way to St. Christopher, on board an English ship called Captain Stoon's ;? which I could not refuse him, if I had them only three or four hours in the ship. Maerten Thysz.,' from Zeeland, had put these Portuguese ashore here.
The 1st of November, took my leave of the governor of Nevis, and weighed anchor. At noon, came to the great road- stead where the English are. There was a governor, named Sir Warnar.' Here I immediately got rid of the Portuguese
1 Littleton.
' Captain John Stone (d. 1634), who figures also in the narratives of William Bradford, of Plymouth, and John Winthrop, of Boston, was an Englishman living for a time on the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies and later in Virginia, whence he engaged with his vessel in the intercolonial trade. He was not over-scrupulous in his conduct and dealings; for instance, he made the Dutch Governor Van Twiller drunk in order to secure consent to seize a Plymouth bark laden with furs. His murder by the Indians on his own ship in the Connecticut River was one of the immediate causes of the Pequot war in New England.
* Probably Admiral Maarten Thijssen, who later became famous in Swedish naval service under the name of Martin Thijson Anckarhjelm.
"Sir Thomas Warner (d. 1649), the English governor of the island of St. Christopher, appointed to that office in 1627 and knighted in 1629.
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prisoners, gave them over to the Englishman, who wished to sail in company with me to St. Martin.
The 2d, weighed anchor, with my yacht and the English- man, of London, who had the Portuguese prisoners, whom he was to carry to Porto Rico. He left his barge behind, to follow him with some goods to St. Martin. We arrived in the evening at the anchorage before St. Martin, where we found the whole fleet there still which we had left there. I asked the captains of the flutes why they had not followed me when I weighed anchor. They answered that they thanked me for the offer which I had made them, but they had determined to remain by each other, and expected that they would be ready together, and the Gelderland would go with them.
The 4th, the Englishman, expecting his boat from St. Chris- topher, knew not what it meant that it staid so long, as it should have followed us at noon. This Englishman wished much to sail with me to the latitude of Porto Rico, which I must pass.
The 5th of this month, took my leave at the fort of our governor and the captains, and weighed anchor with my yacht also; having a fair sail set, I could not wait longer for the Englishman's boat. We understood afterwards that this boat was placed in great distress; that it was driven to the leeward by a strong wind, and being in want of provisions and water, the men cast lots whom they should first kill for the others to eat for food; having at length felled one, they fed themselves therewith, till they finally reached the island of Saba, where they subsisted on what they found there, and were afterwards recovered in great distress, but he who was eaten up for their subsistence was gone.
The 14th, in the thirty-second degree of latitude, the Ber- / mudas to the east of us, encountered a severe storm from the northwest, and it was sheer luck that we managed to take in our sails; all around the waters swirled as if it were an hurri- cane; it blew so, that standing beside each other we could not understand each other. I feared when I saw the yacht, that it would finally capsize, so dreadful was it to see so small a yacht, of ten lasts, save itself from such a storm. This storm continued until the 18th, but towards the last the wind veered entirely west.
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The 1st of December, threw the lead, in the thirty-ninth degree of latitude, in fifty-seven fathoms, sandy bottom; found out afterwards that we were then fourteen or fifteen leagues1 from the shore. This is a flat coast. Wind westerly.
The 2d, threw the lead in fourteen fathoms, sandy bottom, and smelt the land, which gave a sweet perfume, as the wind came from the northwest, which blew off land, and caused these sweet odors. This comes from the Indians setting fire, at this time of year, to the woods and thickets, in order to hunt; and the land is full of sweet-smelling herbs, as sassafras, which has a sweet smell. When the wind blows out of the northwest, and the smoke is driven to sea, it happens that the land is smelt before it is seen. The land can be seen when in from thirteen to fourteen fathoms. Sand-hills are seen from the thirty-fourth to the fortieth degree, and the hills rise up full of pine-trees, which would serve as masts for ships.
The 3d of the same month, saw the mouth of the South? Bay, or South River, and anchored on sandy ground at ten fathoms; because it blew hard from the northwest, which is from the shore, and as we could not, in consequence of the hard wind, sail in the bay, we remained at anchor.
The 5th, the wind southwest, we weighed anchor, and sailed into the South Bay, and in the afternoon lay, with our yacht, in four fathoms water, and saw immediately a whale near the ship. Thought this would be royal work-the whales 80 numerous-and the land so fine for cultivation.
The 6th, we went with the boat into the river,' well armed, in order to see if we could speak with any Indians, but coming by our house,' which was destroyed, found it well beset with palisades in place of breastworks, but it was almost burnt up. Found lying here and there the skulls and bones of our people whom they had killed, and the heads of the horses and cows which they had brought with them, but perceived no Indians and, without having accomplished anything, returned on board,
1 "Fourteen or fifteen [Dutch] miles," or English leagues; forty-two or forty-five English miles, the Dutch mile being equal to three English miles.
Called Delaware Bay by the English.
" The Hoorn or Hoere Kill, the present Lewes Creek, in Delaware.
" At Swanendael, now Lewes, Delaware.
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and let the gunner fire a shot in order to see if we could find any trace of them the next day.
The 7th, in the morning, we thought we saw some smoke near our destroyed house; we landed opposite the house, on the other side of the river, where there is a beach with some dunes. Coming to the beach, looked across the river towards the house where we had been the day before, and where we thought in the morning we had seen signs of smoke, but saw nothing. I had a cousin of mine with me from Rotterdam, named Heyndrick de Liefde, and as a flock of gulls was flying over our heads, I told him to shoot at it, as he had a fowling- piece with him, and he shot one on the wing, and brought it down. With it came a shout from two or three Indians, who were lying in the brush on the other side of the river by the destroyed house. We called to them to come over to us. They answered that we must come into the river with our boat. We promised to do so in the morning, as the water was then low, and that we would then talk with them, and we went back to the ship. Going aboard, we resolved to sail in the river with the yacht, as otherwise in an open boat we might be in danger of their arrows.
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