Sunrise over Lerwick Harbour. Photo courtesy of Scott Goudie. Picture the scene, a still morning, quiet and milky. Perhaps a few terns making themselves known in the harbour and the sound of pans clattering from cramped kitchens as the residents rise to start another day. This was Lerwick on the morning that the first Dutch East Indiamen would sail into our history books with a bang.
During the 17th century, The Netherlands was one of the most powerful trading nations in the world. With trading colonies in the Far East Indonesia , the Dutch East India Company brought goods from the Netherlands to the settlers, which were bartered in exchange for precious commodities such as spices and silks. To prevent conflict of interest between various traders and private interests, there was from until , the establishment of the United Netherlands Chartered East India Company the VOC.
The company held a monopoly on all Dutch trade and navigation east of the Cape of Good Hope and they furthered trading interests in the Indian Ocean, becoming one of the most powerful trading companies in the world.
Incredibly, Shetland played a central role in the lives and fate of many of the ships bound to and from the East, laden with great cargoes to trade in emerging overseas markets.
But, the shores of Shetland were often surrounded with fleets of East Indiamen and accompanying Dutch warships. Often running into bad weather, a total of twenty-seven East India ships were lost around our waters. This northern route was chosen for several reasons. Firstly, the Dutch East Indiamen were heavy, unwieldy craft which needed a lot of sea room for manoeuvring, quite simply, the North Sea offered more space for sailing compared to the narrow confines of the English Channel.
