40 



but the Court set it aside, and decided that not even the 

 exigencies of .war could excuse the Commander for hanging 

 a man without a trial. The punishment inflicted was exemplary. 

 Tasman was sentenced to be suspended from his office of 

 Commander during the Governor-General's pleasure, to pay a 

 compensation of 1000 reals to the relatives of the sailor, a fine 

 of 150 reals, and the costs of suit. In addition to this, 

 he was to stand bareheaded in open Court, and publicly 

 declare that he had unjustly and unlawfully, without form of 

 trial, of his own mere pleasure, and with his own hands, 

 infamously executed the aforesaid innocent Coenraad Janssen 

 of Amsterdam. It would appear that he was at the same 

 time removed from his office in the Church Consistory — at 

 least his name does not appear in the list of elders for the 

 ensuing year. 



The suspension from office lasted two years. In October, 



1650, we find him again employed as Commander, and on the 

 5th January, 1651, by a resolution of the Governor-General 

 and Council of India, he was formally reinstated in his rank, 

 his reappointment to date from the 24th September preceding, 

 when it is said he had again began to serve the Company. 



After this time we have little information about him. It 

 would appear that he considered his services were not^ suffi- 

 ciently recognised, or at least that he had grievances which he 

 laid before the Council of Seventeen in Holland. In October, 



1651, the Directors ordered that a letter of complaint from 

 Abel Jansz Tasman be enquired into and reported on, but the 

 result of the enquiry does not appear. In January, 1653, he 

 wrote again to the Directory, the Colonial authorities curtly 

 noting in the margin, " Abel Jansz Tasman fails to prove his 

 rash assertions." Whatever his grievance was, it is evident 

 that he failed to obtain satisfaction, and that it led to his 

 retirement from the Company's service. The daily journal 

 of Fort Batavia two months later records, under date 15th 

 March, 1653, the arrival at Djapara of " Ex-Commander 

 Tasman " in his own private vessel. 



Of his last days we know nothing, except that he was a 

 substantial and well-to-do citizen of Batavia, living just out- 

 side the town on the Tygersgracht (Tiger Canal), one of the 

 best and wealthiest quarters, and that he had considerable 

 landed property. There were only a few larger landholders 

 in the town, amongst them Francois Caron, Chief Councillor 

 for India and Director-General, who has been mentioned as head 

 of the Dutch Factory in Japan in 1640. Lauts found from a 

 contemporary map of Batavia that Tasman owned a pleasure 

 garden of nearly six acres in one quarter, and no less than 

 282 acres on the Tiger's Canal, where he resided. Nieuwhoff, 



