Willem Ysbrandtsz. Bontekoe

Willem Ysbrandtszoon Bontekoe (June 2, 1587 – 1657) was a skipper in the Dutch East India Company (VOC), who made only one voyage for the company (1618–1625). He became widely known because of the journal of his adventures that was published in 1646 under the title Journael ofte gedenckwaerdige beschrijvinge van de Oost-Indische reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz. Bontekoe van Hoorn, begrijpende veel wonderlijcke en gevaerlijcke saecken hem daer in wedervaren ("Journal or memorable description of the East Indian voyage of Willem Bontekoe from Hoorn, including many remarkable and dangerous things that happened to him there").

Bontekoe was born in Hoorn in Holland. In 1607, at the age of twenty, Bontekoe succeeded his father as captain of the ship Bontekoe. Ten years later, in 1617, the ship was taken by Barbary pirates and Bontekoe ended up at a slave market. He was bought free, but his ship was lost.

In 1618 Bontekoe enlisted in the service of the Dutch East India Company. On a voyage to Java he was shipwrecked, along with part of his crew, and continued in a lifeboat. After a grueling journey, including an attack by hostile natives on Sumatra, they reached Batavia on Java. Bontekoe was given a new command and an order to harass the Chinese coast.

In 1625 Bontekoe returned to Holland. After his return, he settled down in Hoorn to live a quiet life. On March 1, 1626, at the age of 38, Bontekoe married Eeltje Bruijnes.

Bontekoe might have been forgotten had he not written his journal (see above). This book is about his voyage with the Nieuw Hoorn, the shipwreck, the adventurous voyage to Java in lifeboats, and his subsequent years of service in East Asia. It was first printed by Hoorn printer Jan Deutel, a Protestant rederijker who heavily edited Bontekoe's prose; Bontekoe is described as a "writer of little talent". The book is illustrated with etchings and was a bestseller in the 17th and 18th centuries: before 1800, sixty editions and many translations had been published, and it was republished a number of times in the 19th and 20th centuries. Deutel had molded Bontekoe's journal into a highly fashionable form that combined adventure, disaster, and religion to make a book with educational and literary appeal.

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