Howard Gray > Quotes

“Outside there is a greenhouse arrangement tucked away, growing some leafy vegetables in pots. The gardener, Jan, spends all day patiently tending and protecting them, for a salty spray reaches us even up here.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Before their departure the predicant delivered a short prayer service on the main deck, calling with great earnestness on God’s help for a swift and safe passage. I think the VOC may have wished for more emphasis on the fiscal outcomes, for Boudewijn tells me their motto, taken seriously, is “Jesus Christ is good, but trade is better.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“keelhauling, dropping from the yard, running the gauntlet, branding, whipping, imprisonment or heavy fines. Mutineers, murderers and sodomites can expect death or marooning. I hope everybody obeys the rules for I don’t wish to witness such scenes.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Jeronimus Cornelisz the undermerchant and Claas Gerritsz the uppersteersman are here, along with Gijsbert Bastiaensz the predicant and his wife, maid and seven children, the youngest just an infant.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Beneath us in the lantern-light I could see doz-ens of carved limestone blocks wedged in with stacks of small bricks. “That’s the gateway for Batavia Castle in Java,” he explained. “It will be the grand entrance when assembled.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“He quietly unlocked the chest. Inside were pearls, emeralds, sapphires and rubies of astonishing quality and size, matching the best of anything I had seen my Boudewijn work with. Carefully packed under these lay two gilt dinner services, ornate household articles trimmed with solid gold and fine paintings of battle scenes and tasteful nudes.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Three of the VOC directors came aboard mid-morning, resplendent in their richly braided coats and ruffles. They certainly looked the part, wealthy and powerful. Their ruthless reputation in commercial enterprises is well known in Amsterdam.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Watching Ariaen and his officers getting the ship sailing to its best is fascinating, everyone quickly learning where each one of the maze of ropes comes from and goes to, which ones to haul in or let loose to raise or lower the sails or to set them to the desired angle. When all is done correctly the billowing sails and straining ropes begin to hum and you can feel the ship develop a graceful strength.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“I never thought I could sleep – or at least lie down in pre-tence of sleep – for so many hours of the day. Breakfast at eight, lunch at twelve, dinner at six; as much as I try to drag them out, there are still many hours to fill.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“few women are squeezed in down there too, wives and lovers of sailors smuggled aboard. I don’t think they appreciated my presence, perhaps offended by my holding my perfumed handkerchief to my nose just to stay there. It looks like a very tough life. Ariaen said the sailors at least get a little pay, a roof over their heads and their food – such as it is – while they are with the VOC.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“I have been asking Ariaen of our route and he loves getting out his beautifully decorated charts and Blaeu globes and showing me his plan. I find the globes most fascinating, the whole world pictured on one giant ball, the heavens above on another, rampant with mystical beasts. Just to move an inch or two on the charts or globes can take weeks and there are large parts of the world only partly and vaguely sketched in.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Those lice and cockroaches and bedbugs we were warned about are now here in abundance. I have been suffering what I thought were stings from something in the seawater each time I washed myself down. I now know they are bites from bedbugs that have been attacking me during the night.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“He has claimed a space for me at the high table in the Great Cabin near to him at meals and introduced me to the senior VOC and ship’s officers. At the head of the table sits Commander Francisco Pelsaert and alongside him the undermerchant Jeronimus Cornelisz and senior assistant Salomon Deschamps. The skipper has uppersteersman Claas Gerritsz, three understeersmen and one or two others nearby. Gijsbert Bastiaensz, the rotund predicant, and his equally ample wife dine here too.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Ariaen, despite his roars and shouts, is obviously master of his ship now, enjoying the battle with wind and waves and managing the skills of his men to control how she goes.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Our Batavia is the flagship for the convoy but we are held up waiting for more cargo. The winds were favourable though, so Commander Pelsaert signalled the others to get under way. Two old cargo ships similar to our Batavia – the Dordrecht and the ‘s-Gravenhage – led the way. Three smaller cargo ships – the Assendelft, Sardam and Kleine David – followed, escorted by the nimble little warship Buren, its three decks bristling with guns.”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary

“Don’t worry, she’s strong! Two layers of oak – each three inches thick – then over that a layer of tar and goat’s hair, then a sheath of nail-studded pine. Nothing is ever going to smash through that!”
― Howard Gray, Lucretia's Batavia Diary