The Database of Voyages
Using the Database
The “Voyage Overview” lists voyages chronologically. Only the first leg of the voyage shows in the table. To open the full voyage overview, mouse over the Voyage ID cell and click on the double blue arrow to the left of the voyage ID number. This will expand the chronological record of the voyage in a new window, with each leg of the voyage identified by the extension _1 (the first leg), _2 (the second leg), etc.
Important: At the end of the first leg of the voyage in the overview window, you must click on the arrow next to “108 hidden fields” (following source notes_1) to view all the legs of the voyage.
The “Voyage Legs” tab displays details of the individual legs of each voyage in separate rows. These are not chronological, but ordered by voyage number in order to keep the voyage legs together. The “Voyage Legs” table is the best view for searching, sorting, and filtering terms, since all fields are visible in the table.
You can search, sort, and filter from the toolbar located between the table tabs and the data columns. Click on the magnifying glass to enter a search term.
To open or expand the record (the information contained in a row) from any tabbed table, click on the double blue arrow to the left of the term in the table’s first column.
Terms highlighted in blue are linked to related tables in the database. Clicking on a blue term will open the record of all voyages by the ship, skipper, or owner of the same name. From that list, you can click on the box of any linked record to expand it.
The data will be updated periodically, as new information comes to light.
Your feedback is welcome. Please direct any comments to Julie van den Hout at jlsvandenhout@gmail.com
Explanation of Terms
Important general considerations:
Spelling
Standards did not exist in seventeenth-century Dutch. In order to make terms searchable, the following standardizations have been adopted for the database:
– ij is expressed as y
– Name endings ss, sz., or sen have been standardized to sz
– When searching, consider orthographic variations such as ae/aa and ck/k
– Dates follow the Gregorian calendar
– NA represents any data that is missing from the records. This makes it possible for some programs to sort missing values in their analyses
Voyage ID/Voyage Leg ID
– Each voyage has a permanent voyage number (not tied to chronological order)
– A voyage is defined as the entire round trip journey, from homeport to homeport. Legs refer to segments of the voyage between stops (i.e, Amsterdam to New Netherland and back would be two legs of one voyage)
– Each leg of a voyage (between stops) is represented by an extension of the main voyage number (i.e., 140_1, 140_2) and displays information specific to that particular leg of the voyage
Ship Name
– Ship names have been standardized using the most salient spelling
– Be aware that some ships have the same name but are different ships. Some of these have been differentiated by a number in parentheses following the name, i.e, Liefde (1), Liefde (2), and Liefde (3)
– Some ships were known by more than one name or renamed (i.e, Gulden Hay/Dolphyn/Diemen or St. Beninjo/Nieu Swol)
Other Names Noted
– Many ships appear in the records under varied spellings, nicknames, name changes, or have been translated into English (i.e., Bontecoe, Bontekoe, Spotted Cow, Brindled Cow)
Departure and Arrival Date Details
– Any known specifics about dates of departure and arrival
– Exact departure and arrival dates are known for relatively few voyages
– Departure and arrival dates can most often only be narrowed to a window deduced from letters, court records, and attestations
– Be aware that many inaccurate dates have been reprinted over the years as fact (i.e., dates taken from the “WIC Account Book” have been interpreted as date of departure, while these more accurately reflect the date passenger debt was recorded)
– Departure dates from Amsterdam and from Texel can vary by several weeks for a given voyage
Departure and Arrival Year
– Always check adjacent years when searching for a voyage
– Voyages to New Netherland often overlapped years, typically leaving in winter and arriving the following spring
– Whether a ship left in December or January (which is sometimes unknown) could shift the year of departure up or down
Departure and Arrival Place
– Ships sailed from Amsterdam to the island of Texel before heading into the Atlantic
– Amsterdam is listed as the default departure location from the Dutch Republic unless documents specifically name Texel
– Many more voyages likely stopped in Curaçao than is reflected in the document
– Ships showing “Wrecked” or “Taken” as their arrival place did not arrive at their destination
– Some ships arriving in New Netherland arrived from or departed to the Caribbean and previous or subsequent leg(s) are not known
Ship Type
– “Yacht” appears to be a broad and fairly generic term used for smaller transatlantic and local vessels
Ship Size
– Size in tons is generally a measure of cargo capacity
– Two tons burden is approximately equal to a Dutch last
Owner or Charterer
– Owner or Charterer reflects the person or group who financed the voyage
– Both the West India Company and private merchant outfitters often chartered ships for transatlantic voyages
– “Private” refers to a merchant outfitter though their identity may be unknown
Skipper, Crews, and Supercargoes
– It is assumed crews and supercargoes sailed on all legs of the voyage, unless evidence points otherwise
Soldiers
– Soldiers often left the Dutch Republic on one ship and voyaged to New Netherland on another after a stay at Curaçao and/or Brazil
Passengers Recorded
– All passenger information must be considered partial or incomplete
– West India Company “account books” are NOT passenger lists. These are accountings of money owed for passage (i.e., passengers who did not owe are not listed)
– Passenger names ending in ss, sz., or sen, have been standardized to sz
– When searching for names, consider orthographic variations such as ae/aa or t/d; try various spellings
– Not all passengers were immigrants; some were merchants who returned on the same ship
Enslaved Africans
– Any mention of the transport of enslaved Africans is entered here
– Unfortunately, very little is known about the identity and exact point of origination of enslaved Africans brought to New Netherland
– See https://www.slavevoyages.org for a database of voyages carrying enslaved Africans to the Americas
Cargoes Noted
– Cargo lists are usually partial or limited to brief mentions, though some cargo manifests are printed in the documents
– Cargo vocabulary has been standardized for common cargoes as follows:
– pelts (includes furs, skins, beavers)
– dyewood (includes Brasilwood)
– duffles (includes duffle cloth)
Animals
– Many more animals were likely transported than are recorded in the documents
– Animals are also noted under cargoes
Voyage Notes
– Any explanatory or additional information about the voyage is noted here
Source Notes
– Sources have been abbreviated or condensed (see list below)
– Sources listed may overlap individual voyage legs or different voyages of the same vessel
– Sources for Hart Summaries in the Municipal Archives of Amsterdam or on microfilm in the New York State Library include a reference to the full notarial document held in the Municipal Archives of Amsterdam, accessed as needed for clarification
You are strongly encouraged to verify all data through primary sources
Searching for Names in the Database
The “Voyage Legs” table is the best table for searching for names
Since all fields are visible in this view. This table contains the exact same information as in the “Voyage Overview” table, but is displayed differently. Under the “Voyage Legs” tab, data for each voyage leg is displayed in a separate row, and voyages are listed by voyage number rather than chronologically. (To search chronologically via the “Voyage Overview” table, see the previous section, “Using the Database,” for how to navigating hidden fields.)
To Search for a Name:
Go to the “Voyage Legs” tab
1) Click on the tiny magnifying glass in the upper right corner and enter the name (or part of the name). Now, any cell containing that name will be highlighted in yellow. Click on the cell, and then click on the double blue arrow to expand the cell. You can then locate the name inside the expanded cell.
2) You can also filter to search only for passenger names (excluding skippers, crews, etc.):
Click on the tiny arrow to the left of “Passengers Recorded.” Click on “Add filter.” In the search field that appears to the left (“Where passenger contains . . .”), type the name or part of the name you are searching. Now, only the cells containing that name will be displayed in the “Passengers Recorded” column. Again, click on an individual cell, and then click on the double blue arrow to expand the cell to display all the names. (To remove the filter, click on the green “filter” button, and then click the “x” inside the box.)
About spellings
Spelling was not standardized in the seventeenth century, so names often appeared in the records under different spellings. Searching for a name can be a little bit of “guess and check.”
The following standardizations have been adopted for the database:
– ij is expressed as y
– All names ending in ss, sz, sz., or sen have been standardized to sz (i.e. Jansen is listed as Jansz)
Some common spelling variations to check for:
ae – aa
i – y
ck – k
ch – g
dt – t
th – t
Note: All passenger data should be considered incomplete since there are no known “passenger lists.” Passenger information has been compiled from a variety of colonial records, including West India Company account books. The account books list passengers who still owned for their passage, but do not list passengers whose passage was paid. Additionally, not all passengers were immigrants; some were merchants who returned on the same ship. When no passengers are known for a particular voyage, the cell will show “NA.”
