Talk:Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck

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Number of Ships under Van Neck

The articles Timeline of Indonesian history and Dutch East India Company stated (until I changed them) that the second Dutch expedition to Indonesia, under Jacob van Neck, was made up of 22 ships from 5 different companies. This is incorrect; the expedition only had eight ships. The reference for the twenty-two ship statement is A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300 by Merle Calvin Ricklefs, page 27. The relevant quote is:

In 1598, twenty-two ships of five different companies set sail; fourteen eventually returned. The fleet under Jacob van Neck was the first to reach the 'Spice Islands' of Maluku.

This passage does not state that the Van Neck fleet had 22 ships, though I can see it being read that way. It is talking about many different fleets, and then goes on to talk about the Van Neck fleet in particular without saying how any ships he had. I have three sources that say he had eight ships. Here is a quote from the best one, The Cradle of Colonialism by George Masselman, p. 111:

The fleet [referring to Van Neck's fleet] sailed from Texel on May 1, 1598. It consisted of eight vessels, of which two were small yachts, also called pinnaces.

I've gone ahead and corrected the articles; please respond here if you think I am in error. Cerebellum (talk) 18:53, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]