Maritime Misadventures in Early Modern Southeast Asia

Storms, Pirates, Accidents and War
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-83765-286-0
Verlag: Boydell Press

Buch, Englisch, 220 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 499 g

Reihe: Worlds of the East India Company

An analysis of the misadventures which befell British, Danish and Portuguese merchant mariners in Southeast Asia between 1790 and 1820, a time when British trade and imperialism were expanding.

This study describes and analyses the misadventures which befell British, Danish and Portuguese 'country traders', that is, merchant mariners who operated independently of but with the approval of the English East India Company, in Southeast Asia between 1790 and 1820, a time when British trade and imperialism were expanding. It is based on hitherto un-utilised first-hand accounts by captains and crew members as given to authorities at the major port of Malacca. These accounts, required by insurance companies, were a statement of the events which had occurred and a declaration by the declarant of non-culpability. The misadventures ranged from typhoons, groundings and piracy to fire, mutiny and collisions with other vessels.

The work places the misadventures in the context of the contemporary knowledge of navigation of the area's seas, current awareness of the local climatic conditions, the local indigenous societies and the contemporary European rivalry between the imperial powers. The analysis of the reporting is seen against the background of local administrative arrangements in Dutch-ruled Malacca, whereby the British, in control from 1795-1818, nevertheless maintained the continuity of Dutch procedures and Dutch personnel. Overall, the book provides rich information about everyday life in the eastern seas in the period.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Miller, W. G.

Smith, Ann G.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Schifffahrt
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Introduction

Part I - Protests: British Ships
1. Perils of the Sea (Bad Weather)
2. Perils of the Sea (Groundings and Strandings)
3. Fire
4. Other Accidents and Failings of the Ship
5. Pirates, Robbers and Thieves
6. Coercion, Imprisonment and Detention
7. Accusations Against Master or Crew (Commercial Problems)

Part II - Protests: Non-British Ships
Preamble
8. Danish
9. Portuguese
10. Dutch, American, Hamburg, Malay

Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Smith, Ann G.
ANN G. SMITH was a research editor for the Australian Dictionary of Biography at the Australian National University and is the author with H. J. Gibbney of A Biographical Register 1788-1939: Notes from the Name Index of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1987).

Miller, W. G.
W.G. MILLER was Southeast Asian Studies Librarian at the Australian National University from 1974 to 1997 and a Visiting Fellow at the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University from 2004 to 2018. He is the author of British Traders in the East Indies, 1770-1820 (Boydell, 2020).

W.G. Miller was Southeast Asian Studies Librarian and a Visiting Fellow at the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. He is the author of British Traders in the East Indies, 1770-1820 (Boydell, 2020).

Ann G. Smith was a research editor for the Australian Dictionary of Biography at the Australian National University and is the co-author of A Biographical Register 1788-1939: Notes from the Name Index of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1987).