The journal of the Galliot Nieuwer Amstel : a 1660 Voyage to Curaçao from New Amsterdam (Manhattan)

Abstract

In February 1660, supercargo Laurens de Sille sailed from New Amsterdam (Manhattan) to Curaçao aboard the galliot Nieuwer Amstel. Tasked with maintaining a record of the cargo, De Sille kept a journal of the four-month journey to Curaçao and back. While keeping a journal was common practice on Dutch ships, few survive from the seventeenth century. De Sille’s journal offers a unique insight into mid-seventeenth-century shipping activities at Curaçao, as his account captures day-to-day proceedings during a period for which there are only sparse extant sources on the island’s history. More importantly, De Sille’s chronicle of his two-month stay on the island depicts Curaçao as it emerged as a hub for the Dutch transatlantic slave trade.