Read "The Exploration of Cape York Peninsula" by Robert Logan Jack online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
In 1623 two Dutch yachts, the Pera and Aernem, left Ambonia to explore the coast of New Guinea. Jan Carstenszoon commanded the Pera and was senior officer or commodore.
We have not only the Pera's log, but the written orders under which the two ships sailed. The orders are a model of formality, solemnity and diplomacy. The adventurers were to study carefully the various kingdoms they visited, and inquire into their customs, their commerce, their religion, their politics, and so forth; to enter into friendly relations with kings and nations, and persuade them to place themselves under the protection of the States of the United Netherlands; to take formal possession of the places where they landed, in the name of the Honourable Lord General Jan Peterszoon Coen, Governor General, in terms of the charter of the Netherlands East India Company. Finally, they were to capture, "by strategy or otherwise," a number of adults, or preferably boys and girls, "who may be-brought here and trained to useful employment."