Leendert Hasenbosch

Leendert Hasenbosch (also Leondert Hussenlosch ; * approx. 1695 presumably in The Hague ; † presumably before January 1726 at Ascension ) was an employee of the Dutch East India Company who was employed as a ship's clerk and was charged with criminal proceedings during a trip from Cape Town to Amsterdam Homosexuality was suspended by the captain on Ascension in the Atlantic . There Hasenbosch wrote a diary from May 5 to October 14, 1725, which was found by British sailors in January 1726, along with some other personal items. His future fate remains unclear as no remains have been discovered.

Origin and life

Leendert Hasenbosch was presumably born in 1695 in The Hague, Holland . Around 1709, his widowed father Johannes Hasenbosch (1672–1723) emigrated to Batavia with three daughters , while Leendert stayed in the Netherlands. On January 17, 1714, Hasenbosch became a soldier of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) and went to Enkhuizen with the Corssloot troop transport to Batavia, where he arrived on August 13, 1714 and was stationed for about a year. His father was employed there as a church sexton . From 1715 to 1720 Hasenbosch served in Kochi , India , at that time a Dutch branch. There the VOC carried out several loss-making punitive expeditions against regional princes. In June 1718, Hasenbosch donated a comparatively large sum (two thirds of his annual income at the time) in favor of a local nursing home for lepers . In 1720 he returned to Batavia, where he was promoted to sergeant major in 1721 or 1722. He was then employed as an accountant in the “Utrecht Gate” in Batavia. For unknown reasons, on August 15, 1722, Hasenbosch transferred his entire outstanding salary to a Jan Backer in the Netherlands, who actually received the money a year later.

Chilled lava on Ascension

In October 1724, Hasenbosch went as a clerk on board the VOC ship Prattenberg , which set sail from Batavia on December 1, 1724 to return to the Netherlands. According to the logbook, an epidemic broke out among the crews during the trip with twenty fatalities. From March 19 to April 11, the Prattenberg made a stopover in Cape Town and finally set out for Europe in a fleet of 23 ships. On April 17, 1725, Hasenbosch was convicted of homosexuality (then called sodomy ) during the voyage by the Breede Raad , a committee made up of all the captains of the fleet under the direction of Commodore Ewout van Dishoeck, and during the continuation of the voyage on May 5 suspended by the Ascension team that same year.

Diary on Ascension

According to information in the first printed edition of 1726, Hasenbosch had kept Ascension's diary since May 5, 1725. The Dutch original is lost, so it is not possible to check the reliability of the English translations. In Sodomy Punish'd he reports on his fate on 26 pages. Accordingly, he was abandoned with a water container, two buckets, an old frying pan, small supplies of food (rice) and a tent on the island. The captain Jan van der Heiden is said to have comforted him with the words that at this time of the year more ships came by.

Title page of Sodomy punish'd , the first printed diary edition by John Loveday, London 1726.

In the absence of ammunition, his rifle was useless. He caught boobies , other birds and turtles, but could not kill any of the numerous goats that populated the island. Since he could not find any abundant water sources, he temporarily quenched his thirst with herbs (such as purslane ), onions and the blood of turtles. Afflicted by moral self-doubt and disturbed by unusual noises, Hasenbosch begs all "vile" people to "not lend an ear to the devil" and to entrust themselves entirely to the care of God. He confesses himself as a “sodomite” and reports about his comrade Andrew Marsserven (Andries van Maarseveen), a “depraved” and “unbaptized” person who appears threatening to him in his nightmares. Marsserven / Maarseveen, who comes from Utrecht, traveled as a VOC seaman on another ship in the convoy. The diary ends with the entry: "From October 9th to 14th I lived as usual". Whether he died of thirst or starvation, died of illness or was picked up from a ship remains, according to the editor's note, "a secret".

Finding the diary

Sailors from the British ships James and Mary and Compton , possibly the officer John Balchen, are said to have discovered Hasenbosch's belongings in January 1726 and brought his diary to England. The exact circumstances of the discovery remain unclear despite investigations: The Compton had a leak and urgently needed to be repaired, which is why she anchored with the sister ship on January 19, 1726 in Clarence Bay on Ascension. Balchen noted in his diary on January 20th: “That morning a boat with two people returned and left eight on the beach, which we later picked up. On the occasion we found a tent with a place to sleep and some books and papers showing that they belonged to a Dutchman who was accused of sodomy last May and was abandoned here on the beach. We couldn't find him, so we believe that he perished from a lack of water (...). ”Deviating from Balchen's entry, the Compton's captain , Mawson, wrote in his diary that there was no one in his crew who understood enough Dutch about them Reading papers. The abandoned man or his remains were searched for, but nothing was found. Because of the numerous legacies, including the papers, Mawson suggested that Hasenbosch had not left the island.

Reception in the 18th century

In the 18th century, three different versions of the alleged manuscript were published in print. The preface to the first edition states that the text should be understood as a chilling example of homosexuality, given that the government has just condemned “three prominent criminals” who are guilty of this vice. This could have meant men like William Brown, Richard Rutstead and Thomas Newton, whose cases caused a stir in 1725. The printed version of Hasenbosch's diary is less an authentic testimony of the shipwrecked man's life than it is to be understood as up-to-date propaganda. The preface says with drama typical of the time: “May his adversity, among other types of punishment for this despicable crime that is so present in our world, be an urgent invitation to all who are guilty in any way to repent . ”In addition to the first edition from 1726, which according to the title page was made from the manuscript, there are two alternative versions from 1728 (A Authentick Relation) and from 1730 (The Just Vengeance of Heaven Exemplify'd) . While the first edition incorrectly mentions Leondert Hussenlosch , there is no reference to the identity of the shipwrecked man in the second edition, which also refers to the handwriting that can be seen at the printer. The third publication from 1730 is strongly moralizing and supplements the original texts with passages in which homosexuality is denounced. Only in this issue is it mentioned that the skeleton of Hasenbosch was found next to the diary, which obviously does not correspond to the facts.

Scientific processing

The American author Peter Agnos (The Queer Dutchman) provided a partly fictitious text version in 1976 , whose book has nevertheless been cited as the original source on various occasions. The scientific processing only began with Michiel Koolbergen's book Een Hollandse Robinson Crusoë (Leiden 2002). The art historian researched for years in British and Dutch archives and clarified the identity of Hasenbosch. In 2006, Alex Ritsema presented an expanded version based on this preliminary work, which appeared in a second, revised edition in 2010 (A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island) .

literature

Text output:

• Sodomy Punish'd: Being A True and Exact Relation Of what Befel to one Leondert Hussenlosch, A Dutch Man, Who by Command of the Dutch Fleet, was put on Shore on the Desolate island of Ascention. Faithfully translated from a journal wrote by himself, during his Abode there; which was found last January, 1725–6. among other of his things, by Persons belonging to an English Ship, Nam'd the James and Mary. Publish'd from the original copy. London (John Loveday) 1726 ( full text in Google book search).
• An authentick Relation of the many Hardships and Sufferings of a Dutch Sailor, Who was put on Shore on the uninhabited Isle of Ascension: with a remarkable account of his converse with apparitions and evil spirits, during the Residence on the Island. London (J. Roberts) 1728 ( full text in Google book search).
• The just vengeance of heaven exemplify'd Island of Ascention. In a journal lately found by Captain Mawson, (Commander of the Ship Compton) on the island of Ascension. As he was homeward-bound from India. In which is a full and exact relation of the author's being set on shore there (by order of the Commodore and Captains of the Dutch fleet) for a most enormous crime he had been guilty of, and the extreme and unparallel'd hardships, sufferings , and misery he endur'd, from the time of his being left there, to that of his death. All wrote with his own hand, and found lying near the skeleton. London (J. Jenkins) 1730.

Secondary literature:

• Peter Agnos: The Queer Dutchman. Green Eagle Press, New York 1976.
• Joseph Cummins: Cast Away: Shipwrecked, Marooned Or Cast Adrift on the High Seas. Murdoch Books, London 2008.
• Michiel Koolbergen: Een Hollandse Robinson Crusoë. Bibliotheek Liborius, Leiden 2002.
• Edward E. Leslie: Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors. Houghton Mifflin, Boston / New York 1988.
• Alex Ritsema: A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. Self-published 2006 (Lulu.com).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alex Ritsema: A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. Self-published 2006 (Lulu.com), p. 31 f.
2. ↑ Alex Ritsema: A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. Self-published 2006 (Lulu.com), p. 39.
3. ↑ Alex Ritsema: A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. Self-published 2006 (Lulu.com), p. 40.
4. ↑ The foreword of the first edition speaks of the year 1724, which was corrected through research by Michiel Koolbergen.
5. ↑ Sodomy Punish'd: Being A True and Exact Relation Of what befel to one Leon Disability Hussenlosch, A Dutch Man, Who by Command of the Dutch Fleet, which put on shore on the Desolate Iceland of Ascention. Faithfully translated from a journal wrote by himself, during his Abode there; which was found last January, 1725–6. among other of his things, by Persons belonging to an English Ship, Nam'd the James and Mary. Publish'd from the original copy. London (John Loveday) 1726, p. 7.
6. ↑ Sodomy Punish'd. P. 11.
7. ↑ Sodomy Punish'd. P. 14.
8. ↑ Alex Ritsema: A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. Self-published 2006 (Lulu.com), p. 72.
9. ^ John Balchen (1696-1742): John Balchen Discovers a Dutch Sailor's Diary and its Subsequent History. Rough draft. In: manfamily.org. Retrieved April 25, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Sodomy Punish'd. Front page.
11. ↑ Quoted from John Balchen (1696–1742): John Balchen Discovers a Dutch Sailor's Diary and its Subsequent History. Rough draft. In: manfamily.org. Retrieved April 25, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Alex Ritsema: A Dutch Castaway on Ascension Island in 1725. Self-published 2006 (Lulu.com), p. 112.
13. ^ Rictor Norton: The Trial of William Brown 1726. In: Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. April 22, 2000, accessed April 25, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Sodomy Punish'd. S. III.