Bengkulu Blues
An 18th century map of Bengkulu in Sumatra by Nicolas Bellin
At first sight Bengkulu seems an odd place for a trading post. the item’s situated on the west coast of Sumatra, maybe three quarters of the way down the mammoth island. Head due west along with you won’t hit landfall until north of Zanzibar in West Africa. For the East India Company, in which early London based multinational looking east, the item seems a very strange choice indeed although from the early 18th Century This specific tiny isolated port from the whole of the Spice Islands. They had retreated with their tails between their legs after the Dutch had kicked them out of Banten towards the end of the previous century.
The British had been touching base here since the 1600’s, buying pepper along with trying to offload Indian silks although cut off coming from the main trading routes by first the Portuguese along with then the Dutch. They called the item Fort York along with they had some 300 kilometres of relatively friendly coast to themselves. Hardly surprising of course, Bengkulu was remote coming from the main spiceries although for decades the British stubbornly plodded along there while looking for a way back into the main area where they could link their India along with China trade. They would certainly of course eventually find Singapore although in which was a century away along with would certainly come only after additional such islands had been looked at, not least Penang. along with of course the man who is usually credited with founding Singapore, Stamford Raffles, spent several years in This specific outpost bemoaning his fate along with upsetting the Dutch. The climate was malarial along with the traffic was insufficient to lure the smarter traders: the item became a warehouse for the washed up along with the desperate.
One such individual was appointed Joseph Collett who was appointed Governor in 1712. This specific guy was a Baptist having a coterie of women along having a knack of finding himself in debt. So desperate the poor man must have been, he scrimped along with scrounged the necessary money to secure the position (much as senior police officers do today allegedly) although his dream came true along with he became lord over all he surveyed. Which wasn’t a lot!
Still, he kept busy. He replaced Fort York having a more sturdy Fort Marlborough along with was even showing a profit after a couple of years. This specific didn’t stop him bemoaning the ‘quality’ of people who were sent to the outpost. Mr. Ballard drank himself to death within a few weeks of arriving there while some guy called Eaton, no doubt upon hearing less than flowery accounts of his completely new posting was arrested for mutiny, piracy along with murder even before he’d landed.
Collett must have impressed his masters back in London for after seeing out 4 years he was transferred to Madras, a more than suitable position with This specific one time bankrupt. Bengkulu failed to prosper along with within months head office was bemoaning the lack of pepper shipments, its supposed raison d’etre. There were tales of woe coming from the Bengkulu traders aplenty along with matching retorts coming from London: oh how those traders must have hated mail day! One report stated trouble with the natives. There was no sympathy coming from London; London replied in which oppression ‘though the item lie along with fester awhile will at last break out into a dangerous if not incurable sore.’ Promises were made of fine completely new plantations being developed although as ship after ship returned empty ‘not bad words will no longer go down well with us’ roared across the oceans, the venom all too clear.
A particular target for London, as if the lack of pepper wasn’t enough, was the drinks bill, something familiar no doubt to many a CEO today. Collett had boasted how he’s turned rampaging, beer guzzling delinquents into angelic cherubs who never missed church services along with were tucked up in bed by 10 pm. The saintly Collett must have had some leaving do if the drinks consumed in his final month is usually anything to go by. The total coming from This specific July 1716 bender far exceeded the export of pepper for the previous 12 months along with the item is usually a no brainer to imagine the rage as the Finance Officer dictated the following:
74 dozen along having a half bottles of claret, 24 dozen along with half Burton Ale along with Pale beer, 2 pipes along with 42 gallons of Maderia wine, 6 flasks of Persian wine, 274 bottles of toddy, 3 Leaguers along with 3 quarters of Batavia arrack along with 164 gallons of Goa toddy
Consumed by 19 people in one month! Kind of puts Pressure Hour from the shade! Little wonder in which the Company replied ‘the item is usually a wonder to us in which any of you live six months along with in which there has not been more quarrellings along with duellings amongst you’.
Bengkulu wasn’t the only place of course from the archipelago where alcohol was not just freely available although joyfully imbibed by expats far coming from home.
The port city of Banten, a couple of hours west of Jakarta had a tiny British trading community based there who would certainly often get into brawls with drunken visiting Dutch sailors carousing through the narrow lanes.
The Bantenese, unused to the subtleties along with nuances of European nation states would certainly tar all Europeans with the same brush along with British protestations in which the item was the dastardly Dutch who began the fighting fell on deaf ears. In their eyes the Europeans were all the same.
Tired with forever pleading their innocence, the British community had a brainwave. They decided to hold a celebration on Queen Elizabeth I’s birthday along with they paraded through the Banten streets celebrating the monarch along with their nation. The Bantenese were curious. They had their own monarch who they respected deeply, the remains of his kraton can still be seen, along with they looked on the Europeans in a completely new light along with having a completely new respect. although, they wondered, why were only some of the white people celebrating? This specific was the opportunity the British were looking for. They explained in which they were coming from two different countries along with in which they, the British, respected their monarch as the Bantenese respected theirs. The penny dropped along with the local people followed the procession chanting ‘British not bad, Dutch bad’.
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Bengkulu Blues
Bengkulu Blues