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Supporting Resources stories for teachers & students 2013
Dutch Lives in the World
story by professor andrew evans
Trumpeting the VOC’s Success
The ship’s trumpeters were important crew members aboard the
VOC ships that travelled to the East Indies in the seventeenth
century. Most ships carried at least one trumpeter, sometimes
even three, and these multi-talented men were well paid and
wore a special uniform. Their trumpets were of simple
construction; a few metres of brass tubing with a mouthpiece
and funnel-shaped end called a bell. Some pieces of such
trumpets have been found from the Dutch ships wrecked along
the Western Australian coast.
The trumpeter had a cabin near the captain, ate with the captain
and was given responsibility to deliver important messages and
often negotiate with indigenous leaders. Not surprisingly, being a
ship’s trumpeter was sometimes a dangerous and unpredictable
occupation! In fact in many cases, they were not really hired for
their musical ability at all, but more as a trusted assistant for the
ship’s captain.
Their duties were varied. They used their instruments to signal
to other ships or to ports about which way to go, to be ‘careful
here’, ‘attack’ or ‘retreat’ or even ‘we’re lost’! They signalled
the arrival or departure of important visitors to the ship or the
change of ‘watch’, meal and prayer times aboard the ships, and
perhaps most importantly, provided music for the captain, crew
and passengers.
Music was one of the few entertainments for crew and
passengers that helped break the monotony of the eight-month
voyage to the East Indies. Ships’ trumpeters were expected to
provide this entertainment and the better musicians would have
had many tunes memorized as virtually no music was written
down. They would join with other musicians playing flutes and
whistles, drums, fiddles and bagpipes and create mixed
ensembles. Singing and dancing amongst the crew and
passengers assisted in soothing potentially difficult relationships
in the confined spaces, provided exercise and helped ease the
boredom of the long voyages.
The popular tunes heard and played aboard these ships reveal
themes that are familiar to us today – songs about love, broken
hearts, forgiveness, sex, stupidity, making and losing fortunes,
grief, death and homesickness. For those travelling far from
home and loved ones to unknown foreign lands, these familiar
tunes provided comfort and emotional reassurance. Hymns and
psalms were also popular and offered spiritual consolation and
the trumpeters were often called upon to signal at the many
burials at sea on these often dangerous journeys.
The VOC insisted on a continuation of Dutch tradition and
ceremony in its tightly controlled outposts in the East Indies.
The trumpeters assisted in conveying this air of pomp and wealth
with their shiny instruments, colourful uniforms and loud signals
and music.
Image/ Reinier Zeeman, A trumpeter leaning against barrels, drums, swords, cannon (one firing) and shot lying before him. 1654 © The Trustees of the British Museum.
70 FAR FROM HOME: ADVENTURES, TREKS, EXILES & MIGRATION