Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck (often anglicized to Jacob Cornelius van Neck) (1564 – March 8, 1638) was a Dutch naval officer and explorer who led the second Dutch expedition to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

from 1598 to 1599.

Early life

Van Neck was from an

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

family in good standing, and received a thorough education. Since he came from a commercial background and was not experienced in sailing, he took extra classes in navigation.

Second Dutch Expedition

Following the success of the

first Dutch expedition to Indonesia The First Dutch Expedition to the East Indies () was an expedition that took place from 1595 to 1597. It was instrumental in opening up the Indonesian spice trade to the merchants that eventually formed the Dutch East India Company, and ...

in 1597, Van Neck was chosen to lead a second expedition in 1598, with the purpose of bringing back various

spices In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

. In May 1598, he left the port of

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

with eight vessels under his command. He was accompanied by Vice-Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck and noted polar explorer

Jacob van Heemskerk Jacob van Heemskerck (3 March 1567 – 25 April 1607) was a Dutch explorer and naval officer. He is generally known for his victory over the Spanish at the Battle of Gibraltar, where he ultimately lost his life. Early life Jacob van Hee ...

. Following sailing directions written by

Petrus Plancius Petrus Plancius (; born Pieter Platevoet ; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch- Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. Born, in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders, he studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 ...

, they made excellent progress, reaching the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

in only three months. Soon after this, heavy storms separated Van Neck, with three ships, from the rest of the fleet under Warwyck. Neck landed on the east coast of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and replenished his supplies, then continued on towards the Indonesian city of Bantam. He reached it on November 25, 1598, after less than seven months of sailing. Within one month, all three of his ships had been filled with spice, and on December 31 the other half of the fleet sailed into port at Bantam, prompting a huge New Year's celebration. Van Neck filled one more ship full of spices, making four ready to be sailed back to Amsterdam, then sent Warwyck and Heemskerck with the other four ships to the east in order to procure more spices. Van Neck then took the four ships that had been loaded with spices back to Amsterdam, where he arrived July, 1599. He brought back with him nearly one million pounds in weight of pepper and cloves, in addition to half a ship full of nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon. The explorers were greeted by an ecstatic Amsterdam and paraded through the city behind a band of trumpeters, with every church bell tolling. The merchants who had backed the voyage rewarded Van Neck with a gold beaker (it later turned out to be only gold-plated) and the crew were given as much wine as they could drink. The voyage was a tremendous success, earning the backers a 400 percent return on their investment.

Later life

Van Neck made one more expedition to the Indies after his voyage of 1598. During this expedition, he lost three fingers while doing battle with a Spanish-Portuguese fleet near

Ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...

, and brought Dutch ships to China for the first time. However, the Portuguese in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, adamant in preventing the Dutch from trading with China, waylaid Van Neck's reconnaissance parties and executed 17 of them. Van Neck left the coast of China without establishing contact with the Chinese authorities or knowing what happened to his crew. He retired from exploring after that, and later became a mayor of Amsterdam, and alderman, and a member of two admiralty colleges. He died on 8 March 1638.

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Early life

Second Dutch Expedition

Later life

References

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Further reading