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at his disposal was never more copious and straightforward than in the case of Sar-
is's voyage to the Moluccas.' This observation leads her to a broader conclusion.
TheVOCwasaneconomicenterpriseonlyinappearance.TheCompanyexistedto
serve political and military considerations, tapping commercial wealth principally
for those purposes. As she phrases it, de Groot's 'famous plea for freedom of trade
andnavigationseemedlittlemorethanafigleaffortheVOC'snakedself-interest'.
Butitworked.TheDutchretainedtheirdominantpositionintheSpiceIslands,and
theEnglishwerelefttosqueezeintowhatevermodest,andultimatelyunprofitable,
niches they could find. Ultimately they would look to build their fortunes in South
Asia and leave South-East Asia to the Dutch.
____________________
When John Saris arrived on the south coast of Japan on 9 June 1613, he was look-
ing for Will Adams. Adams literally washed ashore in 1600, one of a handful of
survivors who crossed the Pacific on a Dutch ship. The first Englishman to reach
Japan, he spent the intervening thirteen years making himself useful to the newly
ascendantshogun,TokugawaIeyasu,andgainingathoroughknowledgeofthewa-
ters around Japan. The Company targeted him as an invaluable asset for inaugurat-
ing trade between Japan and Britain. They were right, and he was willing to serve
their purpose. Being thoroughly embedded in Japanese society (he had a Japan-
ese wife and children), Adams could navigate not just the coastal waters of Japan
but its complex political and social waters as well, negotiating on the Company's
behalf with everyone from the neighbours to the shogun. He also proved to be a
skilled captain and pilot, later sailing cargo junks down the coast of China in the
Company's service.
*
Adams wasn't in the port of Hirado when Saris arrived, but a few other
Europeanswere.Throughthemhegainedanintroductiontothe
daimyo
,orlord,of
Hirado. Through this daimyo Saris was introduced to the senior Chinese merchant
working in Japan, a man by the name of Li Dan. Li first comes into view in Saris's
journal on 16 June 1613, six days after Saris's arrival at Hirado, as a prospective
landlord for the factory Saris wanted to establish. He names him in his journal as
CaptainAndace,whomheidentifiesas'CaptainoftheChinaquarter'.CaptainAn-
dace and Saris got on well, for he appears again in the journal a month later to bet
Saris that the mysterious shipwrecked English pilot whom the English had yet to
meet,WillAdams,wouldshowupwithinfourdays.Sarislostthebetthefollowing
day, and was happy to, as he now had an Englishman who spoke the language and
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