39 



1648, he took command of a fleet of eight ships, with 1150 

 men, which was to proceed to Manilla to lie in wait for the 

 Spanish silver ships from America, to do what mischief it 

 could to the enemy, and afterwards to sail to Siam. A further 

 object was the suppression of the Chinese trade to Manilla and 

 the extension of the Company's monopoly. The expedition 

 was expected to accomplish great things' for ihe Company. 

 The Governor-General gave a dinner party to the officers on 

 the eve of their departure, and the fleet left Batavia confident 

 of success. The result did not justify their hopes. A descent 

 was made on the island of Luzon (or Manilla), a number of 

 villages and monasteries w r ere pillaged and destroyed, and a 

 rich booty carried off, but the main object of the enterprise 

 was not accomplished. The Chinese trade was not suppressed, 

 neither did the Dutch fleet capture the silver ships. One of the 

 Dutch vessels was wrecked in a storm, and the Spanish ships 

 contrived to escape. Tasman reached Siam in November, and 

 the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, which brought to 

 an end the Eighty Years War between Spain and the United 

 Netherlands, put a stop to further hostilities. 



The fleet returned to Eatavia in January, 1649. An 

 incident had occurred during the expedition "which led to 

 Tasman being tried before the Criminal Court, 23rd November, 

 1649. It is interesting, as giving us one of the few personal 

 glimpses w'e have of the man, and as showing the severity 

 with which the Company visited the delinquencies of their 

 most, valued officers, and vindicated the right of their meanest 

 servants to a. fair trial even in war time. It must be confessed 

 that the incident docs not present our navigator in a favourable 

 light. According to the statement of the^Advocate Fiscal, or 

 prosecuting counsel, the facts were as follow: — In August, 

 1648, Tasman had landed at the Baviauw Islands with a 

 military force, and had pitched a camp. He had issued 

 orders that no one was to go outside the limits of the camp 

 under pain of capital punishment. On the next day, " after 

 he and some of his officers had all day been making good 

 cheer at a certain monastery," on their return in the evening 

 they came upon one of the supernumeraries and another sailor 

 rambling outside the camp. Tasman was furious. He ordered 

 the delinquents to be seized, and sentenced them to be hanged 

 on the spot. He himself prepared the rope, and put it round 

 the neck of the supernumerary, and made his Vice-Commander, 

 Ogel, climb a, tree and make fast the rope. This done, 

 Tasman himself drew away the bench on which the man was 

 standing, and left him hanging from the tree. He then made 

 a rope ready for the second man. Luckily Ogel let go " the 

 patient," but only just in time. Tasman made some defence, 



