Paulus van Caerden ( 1569 –

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, October 1615 or 1616) was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

in service of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

. He was governor of the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

for one month. In 1595 Van Caerden served as

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

on the first expedition to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

under command of

Cornelis de Houtman Cornelis de Houtman (2 April 1565 – 11 September 1599) was a Dutch merchant seaman who commanded the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies. Although the voyage was difficult and yielded only a modest profit, Houtman showed that the ...

. When the expedition returned to Amsterdam, only 89 to 94 of the original 248 crewmembers were still alive. Eight more crewmembers died once ashore. The expedition had not been a commercial success. The Compagnie van Verre could hardly cover the costs, but the goal of the expedition was reached; it was proven that it was possible to reach

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

by way of 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 ...

without being hindered by the Portuguese. On 21 December 1599,

Pieter Both Pieter Both (1568 – 6 March 1615) was the first Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Not much is known of his early years. In 1599, Both was already an admiral in the New, or Brabant Company. In that year, he traveled to the East Indie ...

, with Van Caerden as vice-admiral, led an expedition commissioned by the

Brabantsche Compagnie The Brabant Company (Dutch - ), also known as the New Company (''Nieuwe Compagnie''), was a precursor of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The Brabantsche Company was set up in 1599, by Jacques de Velaer, Isaac le Maire, Hans Hunger, Marcus ...

, founded by

Isaac le Maire Isaac Le Maire (c. 1558 in Antwerp – September 20, 1624 in Egmond aan den Hoef) was a Dutch entrepreneur, investor, and a sizeable shareholder of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He is best known for his constant strife with the VOC, ...

, to the

. In 1600 the four ships arrived in the Indonesian Archipelago. Pieter Both sailed to Bantam, while Van Caerden unsuccessfully attempted to establish trading relations with

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

, in the northern parts of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. On 8 July 1601 Van Caerden discovered the

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay () is a harbour town of about 170,000 people on the Garden Route of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the country's seat of parliament, Ca ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The

mussels Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

found there were a welcome addition to the crew's diet. The ''Verendigde Landen'' and ''Hof van Holland'' returned to

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

in November 1601. From 1603 to 1605 Van Caerden made a journey to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

with six ships.

1606–1608

On 20 April 1606 admiral Van Caerden left on an expedition from

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 ...

. Once around the Cape of Good Hope, he attacked the Portuguese located at the fort '' San Sebastian'' in

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

with seven, eight or eleven ships. On 29 March 1607 he laid anchor in the port of Mocambique with a number of armed ships and a force of 1060 or 1500 men.The Cambridge history of the British Empire, Volume 7, Part 1 By Eric Anderson Walke

/ref> His assault was beaten off, however, and after suffering 25 casualties and 70 to 80 wounded, Van Caerden proposed a truce. On 7 May 1607 Van Caerden sent a letter to Dom Estêvão in which he threatened to pillage the entire area, unless he was bought off with a large sum of money. Dom Estêvão rejected the proposal, upon which the Dutch carried out their threat, setting the city on fire and cutting down all the trees before lifting the siege, which had lasted for two months. Van Caerden, who spotted three Portuguese

Carracks A carrack (; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain. Evolving from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for Europea ...

close to the fort on 4 August, declined to take action and left on 26 August. Afterwards Van Caerden visited

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

and the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

. Two of the six ships in Van Caerden's fleet, the ''China'' and the ''Walcheren'', were lost as a result of a

seaquake A submarine, undersea, or underwater earthquake is an earthquake that occurs underwater at the bottom of a body of water, especially an ocean. They are the leading cause of tsunamis. The magnitude can be measured scientifically by the use of the ...

caused by an eruption of the

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

Tafasoho. On 18 July Van Caerden appointed captain Apollonius Scotte as commander of the fort at Tafasoho. Van Caerden then travelled to Moro, in the northern part of

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...

in a small boat, and conquered an island called Siauw, which was most likely Morotai and was defended by ten Spanish soldiers. When admiral Paulus van Caerden returned from this unimportant undertaking, his ship was caught by two Spanish ships in the Bay of Leleda. Van Caerden surrendered to the enemy ships and was taken prisoner and taken to the fort at

Gamalama Gamalama is a near-conical stratovolcano that comprises the entire Ternate island in Indonesia. The island lies off the western shore of Halmahera island in the north of the Maluku Islands. For centuries, Ternate was a center of Portuguese Empire, ...

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 ...

. The Spanish commander initially demanded the release of all Spanish captives, the handover of Fort Malajoe, 6,000 golden ducats and the promise that Van Caerden would never return. In the end Van Caerden and ten other Dutch crewman were freed against a payment of 6,000 ducats, which Van Caerden personally provided. After Van Caerden was released by the Spaniards, he took back command of the fleet, but because of his own carelessness he was captured again at the start of July on his ship the ''Goede Hope''. On 9 July the Spanish sent Van Caerden to Manila, where he was forced to work as a lifter for the construction of a fort. One of the goals of the visit of

Joris van Spilbergen Joris van Spilbergen (1 November 1568 in Antwerp – 13 January 1620 in Bergen op Zoom) was a Dutch naval officer. His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa. He then left for Asia on 5 May 1601, from Veere, a seapor ...

to Manila, possibly at the direction of the States-General, was the release of admiral Paulus van Caerden. But van Spilbergen came too late, as Van Caerden had died in the meantime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caerden, Paulus van 17th-century Dutch colonial governors 17th-century Dutch East Indies people 1560s births 1610s deaths Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces) Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company Naval officers of the Dutch East India Company