Part 12

Though the Dutch were soon in almost undisputed possession of the valuable Spice islands, they were never able to eject the Portuguese from the comparatively worthless coast of South-Eastern Africa. That coast would only have been an encumbrance to them, if they had secured it, for its commerce was never worth much more than the cost of its maintenance until the highlands of the interior were occupied by Europeans, and the terrible mortality caused by its malaria would have been a serious misfortune to them. It was out of their ocean highway too, for they steered across south of Madagascar, instead of keeping along the African shore. But they were drawn on by rumours of the gold which was to be had, and so they resolved to make themselves masters of Mozambique, and with that island of all the Portuguese possessions subordinate to it. In Lisbon their intentions were suspected, and in January 1601 the king issued instructions that Dom Alvaro d’Abranches, Nuno da Cunha’s successor as captain of Mozambique, was on no account to absent himself from the island, as it might at any time be attacked by either the Turks or the Dutch.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 18th of December 1603 Steven van der Hagen left Holland for India with a strong armed fleet, consisting of the _Vereenigde Provincien_, _Amsterdam_, _Dordrecht_, _Hoorn_, and _West Friesland_, each of three hundred and fifty tons burden, the _Gelderland_ and _Zeelandia_, each of two hundred and fifty tons, the _Hof van Holland_, of one hundred and eighty tons, the _Delft_ and _Enkhuizen_, each of one hundred and fifty tons, the _Medenblik_, of one hundred and twenty-five tons, and a despatch boat named the _Duifken_, of thirty tons burden. In those days such a fleet was regarded as, and actually was, a very formidable force, for though there were no ships in it of the size of the great galleons of Spain and Portugal, each one was much less unwieldy, and had its artillery better placed. There were twelve hundred men on board, and the equipment cost no less than £184,947 6_s._ 8_d._

Van der Hagen arrived before Mozambique on the 17th of June 1604. Fort São Sebastião had not at the time its ordinary garrison of one hundred soldiers, owing to a disaster that had recently occurred. A great horde of barbarians, called the Cabires by the Portuguese, had entered the territory of the monomotapa, and were laying it waste, so the captain Lourenço de Brito went to the assistance of the Kalanga chief, but was defeated and lost ten or twelve Portuguese and part of his stores. Sebastião de Macedo was then in command at Mozambique. He sent a vessel with fifty soldiers to De Brito’s assistance, but on the passage she was lost with all on board. None had yet arrived to replace them, but the resident inhabitants of the island had retired to the fort with everything of value that they could remove, so Van der Hagen considered it too strong to be attacked and therefore proceeded to blockade it. There was a carrack at anchor, waiting for some others from Lisbon to sail in company to Goa. The boats of the Dutch fleet cut her out, in spite of the heavy fire of the fort upon them. She had on board a quantity of ivory collected at Sofala and other places on the East African coast, but nothing else of much value.

[Sidenote: First Siege of Mozambique.]

On the 30th of June a small vessel from one of the factories, laden with rice and ivory, came running up to the island, and was too near to escape when she discovered her danger. She was turned into a tender, and named the _Mozambique_. Then, for five weeks, the blockade continued, without any noteworthy incident. On the 5th of August five pangayos arrived, laden with rice and millet, and were of course seized. Three days later Van der Hagen landed on the island with one hundred and fifty men, but found no sign of hunger, and saw that the prospect of the surrender of the fort was remote. He did no other damage than setting fire to a single house, and as night drew on he returned on board.

He was now anxious to proceed to India, so on the 12th of August he set fire to the captured carrack, and sailed, leaving the _Delft_, _Enkhuizen_, and _Duifken_, to wait for the ships expected from Lisbon. These vessels rejoined him, but without having made any prizes, soon after his arrival at Amboina, which was assigned as the place of meeting. He then attacked the Portuguese fort on that island, which was surrendered to him on the 23rd of February 1605. Having placed a Dutch garrison in the fort, and thus secured possession of this valuable island, he sailed to Tidor, where the Portuguese had a fortress. This stronghold he gained in May 1605, but in March 1606 it was recovered by the Portuguese, who at the same time overran a great part of the island of Ternate, where Van der Hagen had obtained trading privileges. In 1605 a factory was also established by the Dutch on the island of Banda.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 12th of May 1605 Cornelis Matelief sailed with eleven ships for India. One of the most important strongholds of the Portuguese in the East was Malacca, as it commanded the navigation of the strait of the same name. Matelief entered into a treaty with the sultan of Johor at the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula, and with his assistance endeavoured to obtain possession of the stronghold, which was bravely defended by André Furtado de Mendoça. The first blockade of Malacca lasted four months, and ended by Matelief’s being obliged to retire from a very superior naval force sent from Goa. The second blockade was shorter, but though seven Portuguese ships were taken and five hundred Portuguese soldiers were killed, it was unsuccessful. At Amboina, Matelief strengthened the garrison of the Dutch fort, and gave the soldiers and sailors there permission to marry native women. He did not get possession of the Portuguese castle on Ternate, but he built Fort Orange on another part of the island, and left an effective garrison in it.

On the 28th of January 1608 Matelief sailed from Bantam in the _Oranje_ to return home. On the 12th of April he put into Table Bay, as he was badly in want of meat, and hoped to obtain as much as he needed here. In this he succeeded, for he bartered thirty-four oxen, five calves, and a hundred and seventy-three sheep from the Hottentots for pieces of old iron hoop and rings, valued at less than a halfpenny for each animal. His description of the Hottentots is one of the best of that time, and is accurate in all its details. The greatest plague in Table Valley he found to be the flies, which from this and other accounts appear to have been even more troublesome then than they are to-day. On Robben Island he killed about a hundred seals for the sake of their skins, and as he had more sheep than he needed, he left twenty there to breed. He remained in Table Bay longer than two months, and with a crew thoroughly refreshed he set sail for Holland on the 22nd of June.

[Sidenote: Second Siege of Mozambique.]

Another attempt to get possession of Mozambique was made in 1607. On the 29th of March of that year a Dutch fleet of eight large ships--the _Banda_, _Bantam_, _Ceylon_, _Walcheren_, _Ter Veere_, _Zierikzee_, _China_, and _Patane_,--carrying one thousand and sixty men, commanded by Paulus van Caerden, appeared before the island. The Portuguese historian of this event represents that the fortress was at the time badly in want of repair, that it was insufficiently provided with cannon, and that there were no artillerymen nor indeed regular soldiers of any branch of the service in it, its defence being undertaken by seventy male inhabitants of the town, who were the only persons on the island capable of bearing arms. But this statement does not agree either with the Dutch narrative or with the account given by Dos Santos, from which it appears that there were between soldiers and residents of the island one hundred and forty-five men in the fortress. It was commanded by an officer--Dom Estevão d’Ataide by name--who deserves a place among the bravest of his countrymen. He divided his force into four companies, to each of which he gave a bastion in charge. To one, under Martim Gomes de Carvalho, was committed the defence of the bastion São João, another, under Antonio Monteiro Corte Real, had a similar charge in the bastion Santo Antonio, the bastion Nossa Senhora was confided to the care of André de Alpoim de Brito, while the bastion São Gabriel, which was the one most exposed to assault on the land side and where the stoutest resistance would have to be made, was entrusted to the company under Diogo de Carvalho. The people of the town abandoned their houses and hastily took shelter within the fortress, carrying their most valuable effects with them. Van Caerden, in the _Banda_, led the way right under the guns of São Sebastião to the anchorage, where the Sofala packet and two carracks were lying. A heavy fire was opened on both sides, but, though the ships were slightly damaged, as the ramparts were of great height and the Portuguese guns could not be depressed to command the Dutch position thoroughly, no one except the master of the _Ceylon_ was wounded. Two of the vessels at anchor were partly burned, but all were made prizes after their crews had escaped to the shore.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 1st of April Van Caerden landed with seven hundred men and seven heavy guns, several of them twenty-eight-pounders, in order to lay siege to Fort São Sebastião. The Portuguese set fire to the town, in order to prevent their enemy from getting possession of spoil, though in this object they were unsuccessful, as a heavy fall of rain extinguished the flames before much damage was done. The Dutch commander took possession of the abandoned buildings without opposition, and made the Dominican convent his headquarters, lodging his people in the best houses. He commenced at once making trenches in which the fortress could be approached by men under shelter from its fire, and on the 6th his first battery was completed. The blacks, excepting the able-bodied, being considered an encumbrance by both combatants, D’Ataide expelled those who were in the fort, and Van Caerden caused all who were within his reach to be transported to the mainland.

From the batteries, which were mere earthen mounds with level surfaces, protected on the exposed sides with boxes, casks, and bags filled with soil, a heavy fire was opened, by which the parapet of the bastion Santo Antonio was broken down, but it was repaired at night by the defenders, the women and others incapable of bearing arms giving assistance in this labour. The musketeers on the walls, in return, caused some loss to their opponents by shooting any who exposed themselves. The Portuguese historian makes special mention of one Dutch officer in a suit of white armour, who went about recklessly in full view, encouraging his men, and apparently regardless of danger, until he was killed by a musket ball.

[Sidenote: Second Siege of Mozambique.]

The trenches were at length within thirty paces of the bastion São Gabriel, and a battery was constructed there, which could not be injured by the cannon on the fortress owing to their great elevation, while from it the walls could be battered with twenty-eight pound shot as long as the artillerymen took care not to show themselves to the musketeers on the ramparts. The Dutch commander then proposed a parley and D’Ataide having consented, he demanded the surrender of the fortress. He stated that the Portuguese could expect no assistance from either Europe or India, as the mother country was exhausted and the viceroy Dom Martim Affonso de Castro had been defeated in a naval engagement, besides which nearly all the strongholds of the East were lost to them. It would therefore be better to capitulate while it could be done in safety than to expose the lives of the garrison to the fury of men who would carry the place by storm. Further, even if the walls proved too massive for cannon, hunger must soon reduce the fortress, as there could not be more than three months’ provisions in it. The Portuguese replied with taunts and bravado, and defied the besiegers to do their worst. They would have no other intercourse with rebels, they said, than that of arms.

During the night of the 17th some of the garrison made a sortie for the purpose of destroying a drawbridge, which they effected, and then retired, after having killed two men according to their own account, though only having wounded one according to the Dutch statement. A trench was now made close up to the wall of the bastion São Gabriel, and was covered with movable shields of timber of such thickness that they could not be destroyed by anything thrown upon them from the ramparts. During the night of the 29th, however, the garrison made a second sortie, in which they killed five Hollanders and wounded many more, and on the following day they succeeded in destroying the wooden shields by fire.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

In the meantime fever and dysentery had attacked Van Caerden’s people, and the prospect was becoming gloomy in the extreme. The fire from the batteries and ships had not damaged the walls of the fortress below the parapet, and sickness was increasing so fast that the Dutch commander could not wait for famine to give him the prize. He therefore resolved to raise the siege, and on the 6th of May he removed his cannon.

War between nations of different creeds in those days was carried on in a merciless manner. On the 7th of May Van Caerden wrote to Captain d’Ataide that he intended to burn and destroy all the churches, convents, houses, and palm groves on the island and the buildings and plantations on the mainland, unless they were ransomed; but offered to make terms if messengers were sent to him with that object. A truce was entered into for the purpose of correspondence, and six Hollanders dressed in Spanish costume went with a letter to the foot of the wall, where it was fastened to a string and drawn up. D’Ataide declined the proposal, however, and replied that he had no instructions from his superiors, nor intention of his own, except to do all that was possible with his weapons. He believed that if he ransomed the town on this occasion, he would only expose it to similar treatment every time a strong Dutch fleet should pass that way.

Van Caerden then burned all the boats, canoes, and houses, cut down all the cocoa-nut trees, sent a party of men to the mainland, who destroyed everything of value that they could reach there, and finally, just before embarking he set fire to the Dominican convent and the church of São Gabriel. What was more to be deplored, adds the Portuguese historian Barbuda, “the perfidious heretics burned with abominable fury all the images that were in the churches, after which they treated them with a thousand barbarous indignities.” The walls of the great church and of some other buildings were too massive to be destroyed by the flames, but everything that was combustible was utterly ruined.

[Sidenote: Retirement of Van Caerden.]

On the morning of the 16th of May, before daylight, the Dutch fleet set sail. As the ships were passing Fort São Sebastião every gun that could be got to bear was brought into use on both sides, when the _Zierikzee_ had her tiller shot away, and ran aground. Her crew and the most valuable effects on board were rescued, however, by the boats of the rest of the fleet, though many men were wounded by the fire from the fort. The wreck was given to the flames.

In the second attempt to get possession of Mozambique the Dutch lost forty men, either killed by the enemy or carried off by fever, and they took many sick and wounded away. The Portuguese asserted that they had only thirteen men killed during the siege, and they magnified their slain opponents to over three hundred.

After his arrival in India Van Caerden obtained possession of a couple of Portuguese forts of small importance, but on the 17th of September 1608 he was taken prisoner in a naval battle, and was long detained in captivity.

As soon as their opponents were out of sight of Mozambique the Portuguese set about repairing the damage that had been done. In this they were assisted by the crews of three ships, under command of Dom Jeronymo Coutinho, that called on their way from Lisbon to Goa. The batteries were removed, the trenches were levelled, the walls of the ruined Dominican convent were broken down, and the fortress was repaired and provided with a good supply of food and munitions of war. Its garrison also was strengthened with one hundred soldiers landed from the ships. The inhabitants of the town returned to the ruins of their former habitations, and endeavoured to make new homes for themselves. These efforts to retrieve their disasters had hardly been made when the island was attacked by another and more formidable fleet.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

It consisted of the ships _Geunieerde Provintien_, _Hollandia_, _Amsterdam_, _Roode Leeuw met Pylen_, _Middelburg_, _Zeelandia_, _Delft_, _Rotterdam_, _Hoorn_, _Arend_, _Paauw_, _Valk_, and _Griffioen_, carrying in all between eighteen and nineteen hundred men, and was under the command of Pieter Willemszoon Verhoeff, an officer who had greatly distinguished himself after Admiral Heemskerk’s death in the famous battle in Gibraltar Bay. Verhoeff left the Netherlands on the 22nd of December 1607, and after a long stay at the island of St. Helena where he waited for the westerly winds to take him past the Cape of Good Hope, on the 28th of July 1608 arrived at Mozambique. He was under the impression that Van Caerden had certainly obtained possession of the fortress, and his object was to lie in wait for Portuguese ships in the Channel; but he was undeceived when his signals were answered with cannon balls and a flag of defiance was hoisted over the ramparts.

In the port were lying four coasting vessels and a carrack with a valuable cargo on board, ready to sail for Goa. In endeavouring to escape, the carrack ran aground under the guns of the fort, where the Dutch got possession of her, and made thirty-four of the crew prisoners. These were removed, but before much of the cargo could be got out the Portuguese from the fortress made a gallant dash, retook the carrack, and burned her to the water’s edge. Two of the coasters were made prizes, the other two were in a position where they could not be attacked.

Within a few hours of his arrival Verhoeff landed a strong force, and formed a camp on the site of the destroyed Dominican convent. Next morning he commenced making trenches towards the fortress, by digging ditches and filling bags with earth, of which banks were then made. The Portuguese of the town had retired within the fortress in such haste that they were unable to remove any of their effects, and the blacks, as during the preceding siege, were now sent over to the mainland to be out of the way. Some of the ships were directed to cruise off the port, the others were anchored out of cannon range. A regular siege of the fortress was commenced.

[Sidenote: _Third Siege of Mozambique._]

In the mode of attack this siege differed little from that by Van Caerden, as trenches and batteries were made in the same manner and almost in the same places. But there were some incidents connected with it that deserve to be mentioned. At its commencement an accident occurred in the fortress, which nearly had disastrous consequences. A soldier, through carelessness, let a lighted fuse fall in a quantity of gunpowder, and by the explosion that resulted several men were killed and a fire was kindled which for a short time threatened the destruction of the storehouses, but which was extinguished before much harm was done.

On the second day after the batteries were in full working order the wall of the fortress between the bastions Santo Antonio and São Gabriel was partly broken down, and, according to the Portuguese account, a breach was opened through which a storming party might have entered. “If,” says the historian Barbuda, “they had been Portuguese, no doubt they would have stormed; but as the Dutch are nothing more than good artillerymen, and beyond this are of no account except to be burned as desperate heretics, they had not courage to rush through the ruin of the wall.” That this was said of men who had fought under Heemskerk leads one to suspect that probably the breach was not of great size, and the more so as the garrison was able to repair it during the following night. It is not mentioned in the Dutch account, in which the bravery of their opponents is fully recognised.

On the 4th of August Verhoeff sent a trumpeter with a letter demanding the surrender of the fortress. D’Ataide would not even write a reply. He said that as he had compelled Van Caerden to abandon the siege he hoped to be able to do the same with his present opponent. The captain of the bastion São Gabriel, however, wrote that the castle had been confided by the king to the commandant, who was not the kind of cat to be taken without gloves. Verhoeff believed that the garrison was ill supplied with food, so his trumpeter was well entertained, and on several occasions goats and pigs were driven out of the gateway in a spirit of bravado.

[Sidenote: _Historical Sketches._]

Sorties were frequently made by the besieged, who had the advantage of being able to observe from the ramparts the movements of the Dutch. In one of these a soldier named Moraria distinguished himself by attacking singly with his lance three pikemen in armour at a distance from their batteries, killing two of them and wounding the other.

D’Ataide was made acquainted with his enemy’s plans by a French deserter, who claimed his protection on the ground of being of the same religion. Four others subsequently deserted from the Dutch camp, and were received in the fortress on the same plea. Verhoeff demanded that they should be surrendered to him, and threatened that if they were not given up he would put to death the thirty-four prisoners he had taken in the carrack. D’Ataide replied that if the prisoners were thirty-four thousand he would not betray men who were catholics and who had claimed his protection, but if the Portuguese captives were murdered their blood would certainly be avenged. Verhoeff relates in his journal that the whole of the prisoners were then brought out in sight of the garrison and shot, regarding the act in the spirit of the time as rather creditable than otherwise; but the version of the Portuguese historian may be correct, in which it is stated that six men with their hands bound were shot in sight of their countrymen, and that the others, though threatened, were spared. Until the 18th of August the siege was continued. Twelve hundred and fifty cannon balls had been fired against the fortress, without effect as far as its reduction was concerned. Thirty of Verhoeff’s men had been killed and eighty were wounded. He therefore abandoned the effort, and embarked his force, after destroying what remained of the town.

[Sidenote: Third Siege of Mozambique.]