The #Rooswijk1740 project not only focuses on archaeological research, but also on capacity building, awareness raising and historical research. For the latter the RCE cooperates with the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam, Huygens ING, the Amsterdam City Archives, and genealogists Willem-Jan van Grondelle and Els Vermij.
The following topics were subject of historical research:
Silver smuggling on VOC ships
Information about the ship, its construction and the way it was laid out on the inside
Information about the cargo the Rooswijk took on its trip
Information on the crew
Information about money or other objects given by third parties to the people on board of the ship
In 2017, the IISG released a report on preliminary findings (Dutch) and in 2018, a virtual exhibition was made in collaboration with the Huygens ING, IISG and Maritiem Portal which showcases the results of the historical research (Dutch).
Crew members identified
So far, 29 of the 237 members of the Rooswijk’s crew have been identified from documents held in Amsterdam City Archives. Those identified include a senior surgeon who travelled to the East and back several times (Gerrit Hendrik Huffelman), a 19-year-old on his first VOC voyage (Thomas Huijdekoper) and two sailors who had previously survived a shipwreck (the Westerwijk in 1737) at the Cape of Good Hope (Pieter Calmer and Jacob Morre). We know that most of the men on board the Rooswijk were born in the Netherlands, while eleven of them had German, Swedish and Norwegian backgrounds.
Many crew members of the Rooswijk were identified by research in the Amsterdam Notarial Archives. There one finds the so-called ‘obligaties’, debt certificates signed by VOC-employees at a notary shortly before departure. Also, some employees signed an authorization for relatives at home or they had their will drafted. These deeds contain not only the name of the deed owner, but also the name of the ship he was about to depart on.
Another source for names of the crew members are so-called transport letters in the Amsterdam City Archives. Transport letters authorised someone to collect a part of a crew member’s salary from the VOC. It is known that VOC personnel used these letters because of a lack of cash or credit - they used them to pay for accommodation, buy supplies for the trip to Asia or exchange them for cash.
Finally some names came up from the archives of several orphanages in Amsterdam. This concerned children who were taken in after their father had died on the Rooswijk, but also four boys who had been taken in many years before 1740 and who – 18 or 19 years old – now were enrolled on the Rooswijk.
Biographies crewmembers
Daniël Ronzieres was born in Amsterdam in 1705, as the son of a button maker. When he was 16 years old, he sailed to Asia for the first time as junior sailor on the VOC ship Kommerrust. After this first voyage he sailed as quartermaster, constable, second and first mate respectively on several ships of the Company, before joining in 1739 as skipper on the Rooswijk.
Barend Lont was first mate on the Rooswijk, which meant second-in command after skipper Ronzieres. Lont was born in 1706 in Rotterdam. When he signed on on the Rooswijk in 1739, he had already had a long career with the VOC. Already at the young age of ten he sailed as a ship's boy with the ship Rotterdam - on whichwhere his father was captain. In the years that followed, he was first a junior and ordinary sailor, and then third mate, second mate and first mate on various VOC ships.
Michiel Sanders, born in 1715 in Amsterdam, was the son of a sailmaker who had worked as a carpenter for the VOC for twenty-five years. Michael himself joined the Company at the age of 12 as a ship's boy on the ship Elisabeth. After that experience, voyages followed as sailor, third mate and second mate, and finally as second mate on the Rooswijk.
Dirk Sanders, born in 1719 in Amsterdam, was the younger brother of second mate Michiel Sanders. This was his second voyage, the first being on the ship Kerkzicht in 1738. Dirk may have been a junior seaman or even a boatswain’s mate on the Rooswijk, we do not know.
Third mate Laurens Hansen was the highest in rank on the Rooswijk with a foreign background. He was born around 1696 in the Norwegian coastal town of Kristiansand. When Hansen signed on with the VOC for the first time, in 1725, he was appointed as bosschieter (able seaman) on the ship Heesburg. After his return to the Republic two years later, it took until 1736 before he signed on for a journey on a VOC ship again, again as a bosschieter, followed by a voyage as schiemansmaat (junior boatswain’s mate) in 1737. One month after his return he got married. Six months after his marriage he embarked on the Rooswijk. His daughter was born posthumously.
In addition to Laurens Hansen, Antoni Wijland is also third mate on the Rooswijk . He was born in Amsterdam in 1713 and departed in 1732 as a sailor on the ship Gaasperdam for his first voyage for the VOC. He stayed some years in Asia before returning to Amsterdam. On his second trip to the East, Wijland had already risen to third mate, a rank which he held again at the Rooswijk. Wijland had married in 1737 and had a daughter after his death.
Cornelis Mazier was from Amsterdam, where he was born in 1706. On the Rooswijk he worked as a schieman (boatswain’s mate). His experience with the VOC dated back to 1722, when he worked on the ship Stad Leiden. In the following years, Mazier made journeys as a sailor and as bosschieter, followed by a period in which he stayed on shore, and during which five of his children were born. In 1738 he sailed for the VOC again, now as boatswain, the same rank as he held on the Rooswjk.
Pieter Beekman’s rank on board the Rooswijk is not known. He may well have been a quartermaster – the rank he held at his previous voyage - or boatswain. Beekman had been born in 1713 in or near the German city of Flensburg. In 1733 he sailed on the VOC ship Van Alsum as a sailor to Asia, where he stayed a few years before returning to Amsterdam. On his next voyage he was appointed quartermaster on the ship Kasteel van Tilburg, from which journey he returned in June 1739. Beekman married a few weeks after his return, but left again six months later for his last voyage. His daughter was born five months after his death. See was christened Pietertje.
This Swedish crew member of the Rooswijk was born in the little village of Rute, on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, 1711. In 1735 he began his VOC career on the ship Hillegonda as a bosschieter (experienced seaman), as he had gained some previous sailing experience in the Baltic. After a second trip, at the onset of which he was raised from ordinary seaman to the rank of schiemansmaat (junior boatswain’s mate), he was taken on for a journey on the Rooswijk as bootsmansmaat (boatswain’s mate), another small step up the VOC career ladder, a step which turned out to be his last.
Born in Amsterdam around 1700, Martinus van Geldrop enlisted in 1724 as ordinary seaman on the VOC ship Berkenrode. After a rather long stay in Asia, during which he worked on the island of Banda, he returned to the Republic in 1731. Between 1732 and 1739 he made at least one more voyage, from 1732-1734. After five years on shore, he decided to put to sea again and signed on as ordinary seaman on the Rooswijk.
Thomas Huijdekoper was born in 1721 in the Frisian village of Ferwerd and moved to Amsterdam in his youth, where his father started a cloth shop. After his father went bankrupt, and moreover was taken into an institution for the insane, Thomas signed on for his first voyage for the VOC and was placed on the Rooswijk, probably as a junior seaman.
The background of ordinary seaman Hendrik Haas is still largely unclear. We do know that he came from the German city of Bremen, and that voyage on the Rooswijk was probably his first voyage for the VOC.
Jan Rauw was also of German origin. Born in the city of Lübeck, he came to Amsterdam to sail for the VOC in 1737, where he was hired as a ordinary seaman on the ship Oostrust. The journey on the Rooswijk was his second one, which he also made as a ordinary seaman.
Pieter Calmer originated from Norway, from the town of Drammen, near Oslo. In 1733 he joined the VOC as ordinary seaman on the ship Delfland. After arriving in Asia, Calmer stayed there for a few years before returning to Europe. During his homeward bound voyage in 1737 he survived a shipwreck on the ship Westerwijk at the Cape of Good Hope. Back in the Republic Calmer signed up for a second journey, again as ordinary seaman, this time on the Rooswijk.
Matthijs Castermans was born in Maastricht in 1706 and was appointed corporal, one of the military men on board the Rooswijk with a rank between midshipman and sergeant. This voyage with the Rooswijk was probably his first journey with the VOC. Castermans was to sail to Asia and defend the VOC settlements there.
Soldier Johann Friderich Walter had a German background, he came from the city of Hannover. The journey with the Rooswijk was his first one for the VOC.
As a senior surgeon, Gerrit Hendrik Huffelman was responsible for medical care on board the Rooswijk. He was assisted by two helpers: the second and third surgeon. All three medical men on the Rooswijk had a German background. Huffelman himself came from the city of Hamm. He joined the VOC for the first time in 1726, as third master on the ship Karsenhof and sailed in Asia for about five years. The voyage with the Rooswijk was to be his sixth one, after two more journeys as second surgeon and two as senior surgeon. Before he left, he had heard that his younger brother Jan Huffelman, who had left for East-India in 1734, had died in Semarang on the island of Batavia. As one of his heirs he came to the VOC headquarters to receive his brother’s remaining salary on 23 December, just two weeks he himself was to depart.
Pieter Mulder was second surgeon on the Rooswijk. He was born in the German town of Soest near Hamm. Prior to his signing on on the Rooswijk, he had made two journeys with the VOC, first in 1734 as third surgeon on the Gaasperdam and then as third surgeon, on the Vreeland. The intended voyage on the Rooswijk was to be his third one.
Third surgeon on the Rooswijk was Daniël Georg Groothuijsen. He was born in the German town of Otterndorf, near the mouth of the Elbe, and was about to begin his first voyage in the service of the VOC. In the previous year he had already sailed as second surgeon, on a Dutch merchant ship on a trip to the Mediterranean.
Jacobus du Toict was on board as a junior merchant, and therefore belonged to the highest ranks on the Rooswijk. He was responsible for the administration of the cargo, the food and the salaries of the crew. He was probably going to work at a trading post of the VOC after his arrival in Asia. Du Toict was born in Leiden in 1714 from a rather prominent family. This was his first sea voyage in the service of the Company.
Matthias Bloemendaal, born in 1695 in Delden in the east of the Republic, had been a wine merchant for most of his life, trading primarily with England. After two of his clients went bankrupt however, he went bankrupt himself in 1735. The Rooswijk was his first journey overseas. He left a wife and a son. Considering his past as a wine trader, he may well have been the steward on the Rooswijk, but we do not know for certain.
Adrianus Steenbergh, born in 1724 in Amsterdam, was only fifteen years old when he joined the crew of the Rooswijk as a cabin boy. He was the son of Fredrik Steenbergh, a carpenter who had worked on the VOC wharf in Batavia for ten years. Adrianus’ mother had died when he was three, and also his two younger brothers died at a very young age.
Jacob Boon was born in Overveen, near Haarlem. Around 1734 he came to Amsterdam, where he married and worked as greengrocer. He and his wife got two daughters. After his wife and one of his daughters had died, Boon signed on for the voyage with the Rooswijk. After he died, his little daughter Anna was taken to the Aalmoezeniersweeshuis, the orphanage for the children of the poor. Anna was only five years old. It was thanks to her registration that the name of her father as crew member on the Rooswijk was found.
Jan Lindesmith was born around 1709 in the German town of Herford. When he was about twenty, he came to Amsterdam, where he signed up with the VOC as cook’s mate on the ship Hof Niet Altijd Winter. After his return to Amsterdam he married Regina Boijens, with whom he got two children. After a second journey, which he made as cook on the Vis, he embarked again and was taken on, probably again as cook, on the Rooswijk. His name was found in the register of the Aalmoezeniersweeshuis, where his surviving son Jan was taken in 1744, after his mother had died too.
Jacob Morre was born in 1709 in Amsterdam as the son of shoemaker Jacob Morre and his wife Aaltje Jacobs. Jacob had three elder sisters. When his mother died in 1732, and his father died too, one year later, Jacob was put in the Burgerweeshuis, the orphanage for children of burgers (citizens). Two elder sisters were probably taken care of by relatives, his sister Hilletje was placed in the Aalmoezeniersweeshuis. When Jacob was twenty, he went to sea as junior seaman on the Prattenbrug. For his second journey, 1736, he was hired as senior sailmaker on the Goudriaan. According to the orphanage register he departed on the Rooswijk as junior sailmaker.
Gerrit van Luijk was born in Amsterdam. His father was a bookbinder by profession. When Gerrit was taken to the Burgerweeshuis on 30 April in 1732, three days after his father’s funeral, he was eleven years old. His mother had died nine years earlier, giving birth to her tenth child. Gerrit had two elder brothers, who were placed in another orphanage. Seven years later Gerrit enlisted on the Rooswijk, together with a housemate of the same age, Jan Nutbij. Both were probably taken on as junior seamen.
Jan Nutbij, too, departed from the Burgerweeshuis for his first journey for the VOC. Jan was born in Amsterdam in 1722, two years after his elder brother Willem. Both were taken to the Burgerweeshuis in 1728, after first their mother and then their father, who had been a painter, had died. Willem died three years later in the orphanage. Jacob lived in the orphanage for eleven years, then enlisted on the Rooswijk, probably as junior seaman. Four days after his eighteenth birthday he left Texel, the next day he drowned.
Jan Terwel was eleven years old when he was put in the orphanage of the Dutch reformed church in 1733, one week after his mother’s burial. His father, a tailor, had died one year earlier. Jacob’s sister Engeltje, who was eighteen years old, was taken in by a maternal uncle. After a six years’ stay in the orphanage, Jacob left for East India on the Rooswijk, probably as a junior seaman.
Pieter Wolsgrijn was born in Amsterdam in 1706. His father was a beer carrier, who died when Pieter was two. When Pieter was nineteen he went to sea, leaving Amsterdam for East-India on the VOC-ship Susanna in 1725. He sailed as ordinary seaman on various ships, crossing the seas in Asia, for seven years. Six months after his homecoming he married Maria Toelaer. The couple got one child, called Abraham after his paternal grandfather, who died after only four months. Four years later Pieter signed on on the Rooswijk. Nearly a year after Pieter had left and died, his widow was placed in the ‘Pesthuis’ as she was found poor, sick and mentally ill, where she died ten years later. The administration mentions that her husband Pieter Wolsgrijn had died at sea on the Rooswijk.
