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Authors: Giles Milton

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BOOK: Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan
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Specx’s defense of his English colleague was admirable, but the depth of his friendship had yet to be tested. So long as the factories were approximately the same size, trading rivalry between the two men was muted. But in June 1618 Cocks learned some disturbing news. Hirado’s King Figen, who until now had been impartial in his dealings with both the English and the Dutch, had unexpectedly given the latter a street of fifty houses. This was not all. He had also sent a team of men to help them pull down these dwellings “and build their howse larger, with two new warehouses.”
This news sent Cocks into a slough of despair. He was still smarting from Hidetada’s refusal to sanction trade throughout Japan and had only just finished a letter to Sir Thomas Smythe in which he bemoaned the fact that “now is worse than ever, we being debarred of our trade into all places of Japan.” He was also increasingly disturbed by news from elsewhere in the East, where the Dutch had redoubled their attacks on the English. He was particularly horrified to learn that they were openly calling King James I a homosexual and that one group of traders had pulled down the English flag, or “cullers,” and “tore them in pieces in disdain and wiped their backsides with the peeces.”
Cocks did his utmost to hide his alarm when he heard about King Figen’s gift to the Dutch. He even made a point of going to inspect and admire Specx’s building works. He was quite taken aback by the size of the new factory, “which truly is greate,” and was surprised to find that the Dutch were adding many other fine buildings. There was a “mantion howse” with a great hall, a series of elegant chambers for the merchants, two warehouses, a gatehouse, and a dovecote. Most impressive of all was the “strong-house” built of stone. Cocks realized that the enlarged Dutch
factory would transform their trade in Hirado and make it almost impossible for the English to compete.
He was soon to discover that trading rivalry was the least of his problems. At around midnight on August 8, 1618, Cocks was relaxing in the sultry night air when he received word that a vessel had been sighted from a headland near Hirado. She was making slow progress toward the shore, for it was “calm hott wether” and the gentle breeze had died as evening fell. It was almost impossible to determine to which nation she belonged, for the sky was already dark, but it was rumored that she was a Portuguese or Spanish prize ship that had been captured by the Dutch. She had apparently been involved in a dramatic sea battle, for “her mast [was] cut overboard … and the ship much broaken.”
It was most unusual for the Dutch to bring their captured prizes into harbor, and Cocks was intrigued. He sent Sayers over to the Dutch house to discover the ship’s identity and offered Specx the use of the English factory’s pinnace “to helpe to toe her in, she being but a littell distance without and the wether calme.” Cocks did not have to wait long to learn more about the captured ship. A surgeon employed by the Dutch factory knocked on his door and asked for a private meeting. “[He] came to me in secret,” wrote Cocks, “and told me that this shipp without was an English shipp, and one of four which the Hollanders have lately taken at Moluccas.”
Cocks was aghast; he had not even considered that she might be English. But on the following morning, he received official confirmation that the ship had been captured after a ferocious sea battle, with the “slaughter of many men, and the rest taken prisoner.” At noon, his pinnace was returned by the Dutch with the curt message that the vessel had been taken “by order of war.” There was a sarcastic postscript, which informed Cocks that the Dutch “had no need of our helpe to bring her [into the harbor].”
Cocks realized that he had an emergency on his hands and—with
Adams absent from Hirado—he assumed personal control of the situation. He went straight to Doi Toshikatsu, a high-ranking official, and asked him for Japanese support “to go abord this shippe betime tomorrow” He also asked for help in discovering “whether the Hollanders take themselves enemies of the English or no.” Once all the necessary information had been gathered, Cocks intended to lodge a formal complaint with the shogun.
The vessel—the
Attendance
—was towed into Hirado harbor in broad daylight, to the unbridled delight of her Dutch captors. These newly arrived mariners spared no effort to humiliate the English, jeering at them and mocking them for their misfortune. “[They] brought in our shipp in a bravado,” recorded a dismayed Cocks, “and shot off many guns out of her.” Jacques Specx did not share the bullish good humor of his compatriots. He was as surprised as Cocks by the turn of events and quickly foresaw the problems that would follow Embarrassed by the incident and anxious to express his regret, he sent his interpreter to the English factory “to certify me he was sorry for what had happened.” He added that he was willing to hand over the craft immediately.
Cocks was so mortified by the incident that he bluntly refused the offer. Specx was upset by his reaction and “came to the English howse … using many complementall words, offring the shipp and what was in her at my comand.” It was a generous offer, but it was also a hollow one. The ship’s timbers had been smashed by cannonfire and the Dutch captors “had well emptied her before.” There was not a single item of cargo left on board.
Cocks played for time, maintaining his dignity throughout the meeting. He told Specx that he “was sorry for that which was happened, and wished it had not been so.” He was particularly upset that the Dutch had towed the prize into the harbor, in full view of the local Japanese. “It had been enoffe for them to have taken our shipp and goodes,” he wrote, “without bringing in of the shipps in such scornfull sort.” Specx could do little more than apologize. He was genuinely upset by Cocks’s anger and said that
the removal of the cargo had been undertaken on the orders of his superiors in Bantam. Cocks responded by arguing that there was moral and immoral behavior, even in times of war. “‘Why then,’ said I, ‘it seemes your masters command you to be common theeves, to robbe English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese … without respect.’”
Specx listened with patience. He was anxious to regain Cocks’s confidence and told him that even if there was a full-scale conflict between England and the Netherlands, his own men would not necessarily be bound by a Dutch declaration of war, but “would doe as they thought good.” Such conciliatory words did little to assuage Cocks’s anger. Bitter and hurt, he told Specx that he could show friendship if he wished, “but for my parte, I did not care a halfe-peny whether they did or not.”
The Japanese in Hirado were as bewildered as Cocks by the unexpected turn of events. They flocked to the Dutch factory and “asked the Hollanders wherefore they took Englishmen and their shipping in this sort.” The Dutch told the Japanese that it was because the English were importing weapons and gunpowder, but this only further increased their sense of perplexity. “‘Why,’ said [one], ‘are the Englishmen your vassals that they are bound to observe [your command?]’” Only one man in Hirado was not surprised by what had happened. King Figen’s brother had been keeping a close eye on relations between the English and Dutch for some months. He had come to the conclusion that their friendship was a precarious one and could easily be broken. “He told me,” wrote Cocks, “that he had noted a long time that the Hollanders and we were frendes but from the tooth outward, and not cordially as neighbours and frendes ought to be.”
After a series of meetings with Specx, Cocks summoned an emergency council of the three factory members in Hirado—Nealson, Sayers, and Osterwick—to decide if they should make a formal protest to the shogun. He wanted to “proclaim against the insolencie of the Hollanders in presuming not only to take our
shipps, but openly to bring them in [the harbor] to our disgrace.” After a short debate, it was decided that the Dutch offense was too heinous to be ignored. Cocks himself was selected to “take that long and troblesome voyage in hand” and was to be accompanied by Adams and Nealson.
At every point of crisis that had been faced by the factory, Cocks and his team had turned to Adams. He was the only one with the contacts and the language to resolve problems and repair relations. Now, once again, the men needed his help. They were about to embark on a delicate mission and they knew that it would be impossible for them to secure an audience with Hidetada without Adams. But as soon as the men had taken their decision, they realized that they faced a major problem. Adams was not available. He was already on his way to court in the service of the Dutch, having been employed by Specx on a mission to bolster relations with the shogun. Specx had hired Adams because, according to Cocks, he was the “only instrament that the Hollanders have to mediate for them with the emperor.”
Cocks was seriously alarmed. Hidetada was most unlikely to take his protest seriously if he had just received a Dutch deputation headed by an Englishman. Adams had to be stopped in his tracks, and there was not a moment to be lost. He had left Hirado eleven days earlier and would soon be nearing the court. Cocks hired a “swift bark” and sent a messenger to Edo, hoping he would overtake Adams before he reached the shogun. His orders were blunt: “he should retire himselfe from them [the Dutch], and stay my coming.” Adams was explicitly commanded “not [to] go with them before the emperour.”
Cocks, meanwhile, attempted to lobby influential Japanese courtiers. He won the backing of Matsura Nobutoki, King Figen’s brother, who had visited the English factory in order to learn more of their grievances. Cocks told him that he intended to inform Hidetada that the Dutch “were common theeves and sea rovers,” and that he would ask the shogun to place an embargo on
their ships and goods. Nobutoki approved of his mission and wished him every success.
Cocks and Nealson set off for court within two weeks of the incident, having prepared gifts of velvets and satins for Hidetada. They paused briefly at the port of Shimonseki, where they were told that Cocks’s message had reached Adams and that “Captain Adams meant to stay for me at Kyoto.” But good news was almost invariably followed by bad in Japan, and this occasion was no exception. Adams had no intention of halting his Dutch-led voyage to the court. He had pledged to lead Specx’s deputation to the shogun and was not prepared to break his word. Far from accepting Cocks’s request, he warned him of the folly of his mission. He said it was ludicrous to ask the shogun to punish Specx for an assault that had occurred in the Malay archipelago and told Cocks that he could do irrevocable harm to the English cause if he presented his petition.
Cocks was furious when he read Adams’s letter. He said that it was “such an unseazonable and unreasonable letter as I littell suspected he would have done.” He was particularly annoyed by Adams’s claim that “he was none of the Companie’s servant” and—not for the first time—accused him of being “altogether Holandized.” What Cocks failed to realize was that Adams’s advice was apposite and born from experience. He had seen the Portuguese and Spanish lead similar missions to the shogun; all had been dismissed by Hidetada, who had been extremely irritated at being disturbed by an issue that had taken place outside Japanese waters.
Cocks soon found that his mission to court was impeded by more serious obstacles. Scarcely had he and Nealson left Shimonseki than there was “an exceeding great earthquake” that demolished buildings and uprooted trees. This was followed by storms and torrential bursts of rain. By the time they reached the river crossing at Ishibe, “we were constrained to stay all night, because the waters were up.” They finally forged the river and continued
on toward the town of Mitske, where they were seized and attacked by unruly boatmen. When they arrived at Oiso, Cocks was struck down with a terrible stomach bug. “I was taken on a sudden with such an extreme wind collick and stopping of my water that I verily thought I should have died.” The owner of the hostel showed a distinct lack of sympathy and asked Cocks to leave. He and Nealson were forced to find lodgings elsewhere.
The men soon had embarrassment to add to their woes. No sooner had they resumed their journey than they encountered the Dutchmen returning from their reception with the shogun. Cocks gave them a frosty reception. “There was small greeting betwixt us,” he wrote, “and so they passed.” Shortly afterward, he and Nealson stumbled into Adams, who had discreetly fallen behind the main party. “[He] came to meete me ten leagues from Edo,” wrote Cocks, whose anger was somewhat assuaged by the news that horses and footmen were on their way. He was also pleased to learn that Adams had unexpectedly retracted his earlier refusal to accompany Cocks to the court. Although he still believed the mission to be unwise, Adams realized that Cocks would not be deflected. To persist in criticizing him was both pointless and unproductive, so he reluctantly offered to help organize an audience with Hidetada.
The three men received a triumphant welcome as they reached the city. King Figen of Hirado was in Edo and sent a troop of pikemen to greet them, while Adams’s son and daughter, who were also staying in the city, prepared a splendid banquet. Edo was celebrating a great assembly of Japanese lords, who had gathered to visit the Shinto shrine where Ieyasu had been buried in the previous year. Temples, streets, and pleasure gardens were all thronged with people, and the Englishmen joined in the festivities, banqueting with courtiers and visiting shrines. Their only sadness came when they visited King Figen and found him to be riddled with syphilis. He was “very weake,” wrote Cocks, “and full of the French disease, so I think he will not live longe.”
Each day brought more and more people into the city until the streets were overflowing. On one occasion, the men followed a vast throng to the great temple of Yemia Fachman, the god of war. “I doe verily thinke there were above 100,000 people,” wrote Cocks, “men, women and children, which went this day upon devotion to that place.” It made for a picturesque spectacle, for the route was lined with actors and comedians in the most fanciful costumes. “And before the temple the sorcerers or witches stood dancing, with knottes or bunches of hawks’ belles made fast to sticks.” Cocks was astonished by the generosity of the pilgrims, “[who] thronged into the pagoda in multetudes, one after another, to cast money into a littell chapell.”
BOOK: Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan
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