Jacques Mahu

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Jacques Mahu (* 1564 - 23 September 1598 ), also Jacob Mahu . was a Dutch explorer and leader of a five-ship expedition to India.

Expedition from 1597/99

Mahu was the head of an expedition organized by the Rotterdam merchants Pieter van der Hagen (who also worked as a slave trader) and Johan van der Veeken (also: van der Veken), the aim of which was to create a new trade route by bypassing the southern tip of South America To open up the Spice Islands and to East Asia and India, thereby circumventing the Spanish competition. The fleet consisted of five ships and a crew of 494 (according to other sources 507) men. The ships with their initial captains were:

  • the flagship “De Hoop” ('Hope', ex Erasmus ) with Jacques Mahu
  • "De Liefde" ('Love') ex "Erasmus" with Simon de Cordes , 1st deputy
  • "Het Geloof" ('Faith') with Gerrit van Beuningen , 2nd deputy
  • “De Trouw” ('Loyalty') with Jurrian van Boekhout
  • “De Blijde Boodschap” ('Good News') with Sebald de Weert

Soon after leaving Rotterdam in June 1597, the expedition was under an unfavorable star. Many sailors, including mahu, died of disease off the African coast, where the fleet lay for almost six months and raided Portuguese settlements. De Cordes took command of the fleet. Driving through the Strait of Magellan took 4 months due to unfavorable winds and Het Geloof returned to the Netherlands with 36 of 109 crew members. The other ships did not reach the Pacific until September 1599 . Two ships were captured by the Spaniards, De Hoop was lost in the typhoon, only the De Liefde ran aground under the new captain Jacob Quaeckernaeck with 24 men on board in June 1600 on the Japanese coast. Two crew members, the Englishman and navigator William Adams and the second mate Jan Joosten stayed there. Adams worked as a math teacher and ship designer, got rich as a merchant like Joosten and was raised to the samurai class.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Traces of slavery in Utrecht
  2. ↑ Jonathan I. Israel: Dutch Primacy in World Trade: 1585-1740. Clarendon Press 1989, p. 60.
  3. ^ Johannes Hermann: Johan van der Veeken en zijn tijd. The Hague 1952.
  4. ^ MG de Boer (Ed.): Van oude voyagiën. Amsterdam, 1912. Facsimile edition Amsterdam 1979, 3 volumes.
  5. ↑ Web archive: A Brief History of William Adams
personal data
SURNAME Mahu, Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mahu, Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 1564
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1598