Hamel's Journal: a Chronicle / record source. Covers AD 1653 – 1666, with 60 events in chronological order. Text license and provenance included.
| Type | Chronicle / record |
|---|---|
| Viewpoint | Outsider account |
| Years covered | AD 1653 – 1666 |
| Events | 60 events, 48 placed on the map |
| Author | Hendrik Hamel (B. Hoetink 편, 1920) |
| Original title | Verhaal van het vergaan van het jacht de Sperwer (Journael 1653-1666) |
Regions: Korean Peninsula 38 · China 14 · Japan 7 · Southeast Asia 1
| Year | Place | Event | Passage |
|---|---|---|---|
| AD 1653 | Batavia | The Sperwer sails from Batavia roads on 18 June 1653, carrying Cornelis Caesar, who is to succeed as governor of Taiwan (Formosa), to Taiwan. | Journaal, 서두; pg11467.txt r.1317 |
| AD 1653 | Taijouan | Arrives at the Taiwan (Taijouan) roads on 16 July. After Caesar lands and the cargo is unloaded, the governor and council decide to send the ship on to Japan. | Journaal, 서두; pg11467.txt r.1322 |
| AD 1653 | Taijouan | On 30 July it leaves the Taiwan roads with cargo for Japan (Nagasaki). | Journaal, 서두; pg11467.txt r.1327 |
| AD 1653 | cust van China | A storm off the Formosan coast in late July. At dawn on 1 August it anchors behind a small island near the Chinese coast and sees armed Chinese moving along the shore. On 2 August, in a lull, it weighs anchor and gets away. | Journaal, 1653-07-31~08-02; pg11467.txt r.1334 |
| AD 1653 | Quelpaert (Jeju Island) | On the night of 15 August, in a storm, land is sighted and the anchor cables are cut, but the ship cannot hold and strikes a reef, breaking to pieces at once (the wreck date in the title is 16 August). The crew are washed ashore. | Journaal, 1653-08-15/16; pg11467.txt r.1404 |
| AD 1653 | Quelpaert (Jeju Island) | Searching the shore on the morning of 16 August, only 36 survivors are gathered; 28 of 64 died. Captain Reynier Egbertsz is also found dead and buried. | Journaal, 1653-08-16; pg11467.txt r.1418 |
| AD 1653 | Quelpaert (Jeju Island) | On 18 August 1,000 to 2,000 cavalry and infantry arrive and camp, and the officers (the clerk Hamel, the chief mate, the boatswain, a boy) are dragged out with iron chains (bells) around their necks and made to prostrate. They gesture that they want to go to Nagasaki, Japan, but are not understood. | Journaal, 1653-08-18; pg11467.txt r.1459 |
| AD 1653 | Daejeong (Tadjang) | On 21 August they set out escorted on horses and in hammocks, and spend the evening at a small town "Tadjang". They travel about 4 miles a day. | Journaal, 1653-08-21; pg11467.txt r.1521 |
| AD 1653 | Jeju (Moggan) | On 22 August they reach "Moggan", seat of the island governor (mokso), where the clerk and others prostrate before the governor in front of thousands of armed soldiers and are interrogated. They answer only that they were going to Japan. They are then confined in a house where the king's uncle died in exile. | Journaal, 1653-08-22; pg11467.txt r.1538 |
| AD 1653 | Jeju (Moggan) | On 29 October, at a gathering called by the governor, a red-bearded man in Korean dress addresses them in Dutch: Jan Janse Weltevree (from De Rijp), who came on the Hollandia in 1626 and was cast ashore in 1627 on the Ouwerkerck bound for Japan. He says the king has repeatedly refused to let them go to Japan. | Journaal, 1653-10-29; pg11467.txt r.1594 |
| AD 1653 | Jeju (Moggan) | In early December the governor's three-year term ends and a new governor arrives. Before leaving, the old governor has winter clothes and shoes made for them. The new one cuts off side dishes and gives only rice and salt. | Journaal, 1653-12; pg11467.txt r.1633 |
| AD 1654 | Jeju (Moggan) | In late April six men try to steal a boat and flee, but while climbing over the wall the guard notices the barking of dogs and the attempt fails. | Journaal, 1654-04; pg11467.txt r.1674 |
| AD 1654 | Jeju (Moggan) | In early May the helmsman and five others flee in an empty boat on the shore, but the mast falls into the sea twice (once breaking), and they are driven back ashore. Caught, each is beaten 25 times with a rod wearing a plank around the neck, and lies in bed for about a month. | Journaal, 1654-05; pg11467.txt r.1697 |
| AD 1654 | Jeju (Moggan) | In late May the king's reply arrives, ordering them to come up to Seoul (they are released from prison). | Journaal, 1654-05; pg11467.txt r.1740 |
| AD 1654 | Jeju (Moggan) | Six or seven days later they are put aboard four ships with both legs and one hand in stocks and set out. Adverse winds hold them for two days, they are freed and returned to the old prison, then set out again with a fair wind four or five days later. | Journaal, 1654-06; pg11467.txt r.1743 |
| AD 1654 | Haenam (Heijnam) | They land, are given horses and arrive the next day at "Heijnam" (Haenam, note 227), where all 36, who had landed separately, regroup. | Journaal, 1654-06; pg11467.txt r.1756 |
| AD 1654 | Ieham | The night after Haenam, while staying at "Ieham", the gunner Paulus Janse Kol (from Voorburg) dies. He is buried in front of the party on the instruction of the town magistrate. | Journaal, 1654-06; pg11467.txt r.1761 |
| AD 1654 | Naju (Naedjoo) | Then riding on, they stay in the evening at "Naedjoo" (Naju, note 229). | Journaal, 1654-06; pg11467.txt r.1764 |
| AD 1654 | Jeonju (Chentio) | They arrive at "Chentio" (Jeonju, note 234). It is said to have had the old royal palace, and now the governor of Jeolla Province resides there, a great trading city famous throughout the country. The province is called "Thiellado" (Jeolla). | Journaal, 1654-06; pg11467.txt r.1773 |
| AD 1654 | Gongju (Congtio) | They arrive at "Congtio" (Gongju, note 241), where the governor of Chungcheong Province has his office. The next day they cross a large river and enter Gyeonggi Province (the text's "Senggado"). | Journaal, 1654-06; pg11467.txt r.1783 |
| AD 1654 | Seoul (Sior) | They cross the great river (the Han, note 243) and arrive at the walled great city "Sior" (Seoul, note 244), the king's residence. It is about 70-75 miles from Haenam, travelling generally north (slightly west). After 2-3 days in one house, they are dispersed among Chinese living in Seoul. | Journaal, 1654-06~07; pg11467.txt r.1790 |
| AD 1654 | Seoul (Sior) | Summoned before the king (Hyojong), they explain their situation through Weltevree as interpreter and ask to be sent to Japan, but are told it is not the law of this country to let foreigners leave and to live here for life. They are made to dance and sing and each given two bolts of cotton cloth. | Journaal, 1654-06~07; pg11467.txt r.1806 |
| AD 1654 | Seoul (Sior) | The next day the Hullyeon Daejang (veltoverste) announces that the king has made them his bodyguards (lijffschutten). Each receives 70 catties of rice a month, a wooden tag engraved with name and age, and a gun, powder and bullets, and must pay respects before the king on the 1st and 15th. A Chinese man and Weltevree are assigned as supervisors. | Journaal, 1654-06~07; pg11467.txt r.1814 |
| AD 1654 | Namhansanseong (Namman Sangsiang) | In August, when a Qing envoy (Tartar) comes to collect tribute, the king sends the party to a large mountain fortress "Namman Sangsiang" on a high mountain 6-7 miles from Seoul to guard it while the envoy is in Seoul. They stay until he leaves on 2-3 September. | Journaal, 1654-08~09; pg11467.txt r.1850 |
| AD 1654 | Seoul (Sior) | In late November the river freezes and 200-300 horses cross in a line. In December, on the Hullyeon Daejang's proposal, they receive and sell the ship's hides, and several pool money to buy a small house for 8-9 taels and spend the winter. | Journaal, 1654-12; pg11467.txt r.1874 |
| AD 1655 | Seoul (Sior) | In March, on the day the Qing envoy leaves, the chief mate Hendrick Janse (from Amsterdam) and the gunner Hendrick Janse Boer (from Haarlem) block the envoy's procession in the woods and seize his horse's head. Dressed in Dutch clothes, they meant to appeal to the envoy. | Journaal, 1655-03; pg11467.txt r.1889 |
| AD 1655 | Seoul (Sior) | The king and ministers pay the envoy to smooth things over, but the two are imprisoned and die shortly afterward (the party never learns whether of illness or execution). | Journaal, 1655; pg11467.txt r.1914 |
| AD 1655 | uijterste Z: houck van 't land | In June, as the envoy is due again, on the pretext that another ship has been cast ashore on Jeju, three of the party (the assistant, the boatswain and a sailor) are sent south from Seoul. In August a letter reports they are kept under strict watch in a fortress at the southern tip of the country. | Journaal, 1655-06~08; pg11467.txt r.1924 |
| AD 1656 | Seoul (Sior) | In early 1656 the ministers hold a three-day council to do away with the party. The Hullyeon Daejang is secretly reported to have said that rather than kill them in secret, one of ours should be made to fight two of theirs with the same weapons to the death. The king, the king's brother and the Hullyeon Daejang opposed execution, and the king and his brother quelled the clamor of the many and saved their lives. | Journaal, 1656-01; pg11467.txt r.1965 |
| AD 1656 | Seoul (Sior) | Under pressure from the ministers, the party is exiled to Jeolla Province (Thiellado), and the king provides 50 pounds of rice a month from his own income. | Journaal, 1656; pg11467.txt r.1969 |
| AD 1656 | Seoul (Sior) | In early March they leave Seoul on horseback. Weltevree sees them off at the riverside and turns back, and they never hear of him again. The towns they pass supply food and horses. | Journaal, 1656-03; pg11467.txt r.1973 |
| AD 1656 | Duijtsiang (Thella Penig) | They arrive at the large town "Duijtsiang" (Jeolla Army Headquarters, Thella Peng), seat of the army commander (peingse, note 264). They are handed over with the king's letter, and the three sent ahead from Seoul join them three days later, making 33. They are given a country house and live together. | Journaal, 1656-03; pg11467.txt r.1983 |
| AD 1657 | Duijtsiang (Thella Penig) | In February 1657 a harsh new magistrate takes office and makes them bring firewood. He dies of a heart attack in September, to the joy of the party and his people. | Journaal, 1657; pg11467.txt r.2018 |
| AD 1657 | Duijtsiang (Thella Penig) | In November the new magistrate has nothing to do with them apart from the rice ration. As their clothes wear out, the party decides to live by begging and, with permission, takes turns going round farmhouses and temples for three or four days at a time. They spend the winter this way. | Journaal, 1657-11; pg11467.txt r.2029 |
| AD 1658 | Duijtsiang (Thella Penig) | In 1658 a fever spreads among the party, and Koreans, who dread this disease, keep away. The magistrate has guards stay by the patients and forbids anyone from going near Seoul or the Japanese trading post. | Journaal, 1658; pg11467.txt r.2052 |
| AD 1659 | Seoul (Sior) | The king (Hyojong) dies and, with Qing approval, his son (Hyeonjong) takes the throne. The party continues begging around temples. Hamel wrote the month as April, but it differs from the Korean record (Hyojong 10th year, 5th month, 4th day = 23 June 1659). | Journaal, 1659; pg11467.txt r.2058 |
| AD 1660 – 1662 | Coree | From 1660 to 1662 drought and poor harvests cause thousands to die of hunger. Bandits block the roads, and the king posts guards at every pass and has corpses by the roadside buried. Many towns and villages are plundered and granaries emptied. | Journaal, 1660-1662; pg11467.txt r.2074 |
| AD 1663 | Duijtsiang (Thella Penig) | The bad harvests continue for a third year, and the army magistrate reports to the governor that he can give no more rice. Since the party belongs to the king, moving them to another town requires the king's permission. | Journaal, 1663; pg11467.txt r.2750 |
| AD 1663 | Duijtsiang (Thella Penig) | In late February an order comes to divide the party, now 22, among three towns: 12 to "Saijsingh", 5 to "Sunischien" and 5 to "Namman". They grieve at leaving a place where they had set up houses, belongings and gardens. | Journaal, 1663-02; pg11467.txt r.2755 |
| AD 1663 | Suncheon (Sunischien) | They leave the army headquarters in March and arrive at "Sunischien" (Suncheon, note 327) on the fourth day, leaving 5 there. | Journaal, 1663-03; pg11467.txt r.2772 |
| AD 1663 | Namwon (Namman) | Five are assigned to "Namman" (Namwon, note 328) (no travel account is given). | Journaal, 1663-02/03; pg11467.txt r.2757 |
| AD 1663 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | The morning after leaving Suncheon, around 9 o'clock, they reach "Saijsingh", and 12 are handed over to the Jeolla naval commander (admirael). They receive a house, some belongings and the same rice ration as before. The mild magistrate leaves two days later and a harsh new one takes office. | Journaal, 1663-03; pg11467.txt r.2776 |
| AD 1663 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | The new magistrate works them, making them stand before him from morning till evening, in summer sun or winter rain and snow, and fetch arrows. After his arrival the party is allowed to go out begging in turns for 15 to 30 days at a time. | Journaal, 1663; pg11467.txt r.2783 |
| AD 1664 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | In early 1664 the magistrate finishes his term and goes up to be provincial army commander, and a new one takes office. The new one abolishes all corvée labor, leaving only roll calls twice a month and house-guard duty in turn. Asked why they do not go to Japan, they answer that there is neither a ship nor a way. | Journaal, 1664-01; pg11467.txt r.2806 |
| AD 1664 – 1665 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | At the end of the year a comet appears, first one (in the southeast, visible for two months) and then another (in the southwest). Alarmed, the court repairs coastal ports and warships, drills soldiers and forbids lights at night. Asked how it is viewed in Europe, the party says it is a sign of Heaven's punishment (war, famine, plague). | Journaal, 1664-12; pg11467.txt r.2835 |
| AD 1665 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | In 1665 they try to obtain a ship but are repeatedly thwarted by interference. They go round the islands in one small boat looking for food, watching for a chance to escape. Their companions in the other two towns also suffer each time the magistrates change. | Journaal, 1665; pg11467.txt r.2857 |
| AD 1666 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | In early 1666 the good magistrate is promoted and leaves, and a new one takes office. Soon after, during drill, a gunner's carelessness sets fire to a powder box, blowing off the bow of a warship and killing five. The magistrate tries to hide it but is informed on, and is given 90 blows on the shins and life exile. | Journaal, 1666; pg11467.txt r.2897 |
| AD 1666 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | In July the new magistrate demands that they twist 100 fathoms of straw rope a day. Seeing that they will become slaves, they resolve to escape and decide to buy a boat at two or three times its price with money collected by begging. | Journaal, 1666-07; pg11467.txt r.2927 |
| AD 1666 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | They give a neighboring Korean food and money to buy a fisherman's boat, under the pretense that it is for going to an island to beg for wool. The seller catches on and tries to back out, but they calm him by paying double. They fit it with sails, anchor, ropes and oars and prepare to leave around the next first-quarter moon. | Journaal, 1666-07~08; pg11467.txt r.2933 |
| AD 1666 | Suncheon (Sunischien) | They tell two companions in Suncheon (the surgeon's assistant Mattheus Eibokken and Cornelis Dircksz) the plan, and they say they will join soon. Jan Pieterse, skilled at navigation, is in Namwon, so they send for him and he comes in 4 days (about 50 miles round trip). | Journaal, 1666-08~09; pg11467.txt r.2953 |
| AD 1666 | Namwon (Namman) | Jan Pieterse is with other companions in Namwon, so they send someone for him 15 miles farther. | Journaal, 1666-08; pg11467.txt r.2957 |
| AD 1666 | Yeosu (Saijsingh) | On the night of 4 September, as the moon sets, they carry their load (rice, water, pot) over the wall and board the boat, replenish water at an island, then pass the town and warships and set out. At dawn a ship they pass calls out, but they do not answer. | Journaal, 1666-09-04; pg11467.txt r.2969 |
| AD 1666 | zee | On 5 September at sunrise the wind drops, and for fear pursuers might recognize the sail, they lower it and wait. A west wind rises in the daytime and they raise the sail and head southeast, leaving behind the cape at Korea's southern end in the evening and being free of fear of pursuit. | Journaal, 1666-09-05; pg11467.txt r.2984 |
| AD 1666 | Hirado (near Firando) | On the morning of 6 September they reach the first Japanese islands, and in the evening they come near "Firando" (Hirado) as a Japanese had told them. No one has been to Japan and the Korean's directions are not accurate, so they do not know the way to Nagasaki; trying to go out above a small island, they reach the west of the mainland that night. | Journaal, 1666-09-06; pg11467.txt r.2988 |
| AD 1666 | Goto Islands | On 8 September they anchor in a bay of a Japanese island (Goto) and are overtaken by an armed Japanese boat. When they raise the Dutch prince's flag and shout "Hollando Nangasakij", the Japanese signal them to lower the sail and they follow. They are moored in front of a village and guarded. A man of Goto says he will take them to Nagasaki. | Journaal, 1666-09-08; pg11467.txt r.3026 |
| AD 1666 | Goto Islands | From 9 to 11 September they stay at anchor and receive food, water and firewood, and on the 12th, after receiving supplies for the voyage to Nagasaki, they weigh anchor by day and in the evening anchor in front of a village on the inner side of the island. | Journaal, 1666-09-12; pg11467.txt r.3062 |
| AD 1666 | Nagasaki | On 13 September they depart at sunrise, escorted by two large and two small boats, and anchor in the Nagasaki roads at midnight. Five Dutch ships are anchored there. | Journaal, 1666-09-13; pg11467.txt r.3072 |
| AD 1666 | Nagasaki (Dejima) | On 14 September they land and are welcomed and questioned by interpreters, then questioned before the Nagasaki magistrate, and go to Dejima, where they are welcomed by the head of the trading post, Willem Volger, and others and change clothes. They thank God for release from 13 years and 28 days of captivity and pray for the rescue of the 8 who remain. | Journaal, 1666-09-14; pg11467.txt r.3087 |
| AD 1666 | Nagasaki (Dejima) | In October the head of the post Volger leaves the island, and on the 23rd seven ships set sail. Hamel's party expects to go to Batavia but is detained for a year by the Nagasaki magistrate. | Journaal, 1666-10; pg11467.txt r.3101 |
| AD 1666 | Nagasaki (Dejima) | On 25 October the interpreters take them and question them one by one again with the questions the magistrate had asked earlier. The answers are recorded in the question-and-answer record that follows (Vragen bijden gouverneur). | Journaal, 1666-10-25; pg11467.txt r.3105 |