The eventful history of the VOC outpost near Phuket

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Phuket, the largest Thai island, undoubtedly exerts a great attraction on the Dutch. This is not only the case today, but it was also the case in the seventeenth century. 

The factory of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) in Ayutthaya had an outpost near Phuket, but hardly any information about it has been preserved. In all likelihood, it concerned the trading post in Ligoor, present-day Nakhon Si Thammarat. According to some of the scarce documents referring to this VOC post, it was a 'courage' implying it was somehow about a fortified, defensible place. Perhaps a warehouse that was walled or surrounded by a palisade, as had originally been the case with the warehouse in Ayutthaya.

This outpost of the VOC was mainly established for the purpose of trading tin that was mined on Phuket. Around 1528, a tin mine was started near Thalang. The Portuguese occupied themselves with the exploitation for a while, but the Dutch, who are not entirely averse to any mercantilism, also liked to take their share, managed to push the Portuguese aside and in 1626 obtained a monopoly on the tin trade from King Sontham. The VOC regarded its prospecting area on Phuket as almost private property and in just a few years the Dutch gained complete control over the west and south of the island. In Hat Patong they built a small fort manned by a garrison of marines. A few VOC warships were permanently moored in Patong Bay to intercept ships in Phangnga Bay and the Andaman Sea.

Western ship blocked and besieged by Siamese

And that the Dutch were serious about protecting their monopoly was proven in 1675. The Englishman William Jersey, a trader in Fort St. George in Madras, India, had secretly sent a ship to Phuket to get to the Malays who worked in the mines to collect tin. To keep this operation a secret from the Dutch, the boat was pulled into a creek on the south side of Patong Bay at night and hidden near the old village of Patong. But the VOC had smelled trouble and the next morning a VOC gunboat appeared in the bay and the Dutch marines promptly blocked the creek. When they seized the English ship, they met fierce resistance from the British crew and the Malays in the village who declared themselves under the protection of the Rajah of Jansalone. The VOCs, with their superior firepower, replied that the river, bay and roads were under their jurisdiction. In the ensuing skirmish, a blunderbuss went off a Dutch marine and killed two Malays. The Malays fled and the VOC ship entered the creek to pick up the confiscated goods. To the astonishment of the Dutch, more than 200 armed Malays and Siamese suddenly appeared. Behind the back of the VOC detachment, another group had felled several dozen trees and skilfully blocked the creek. Not even a sloop could get through. Despite their intimidating clash of arms, the Dutch had to lose out. Their sloops were scrapped and most of the marines were mercilessly put to the sword.

Two years later, Balthasar Bort, the VOC governor in Malacca, wrote down his frustrations in a letter to the Heren Zeventien, his patrons in the United Provinces: 'To this day no revenge has been taken, nor has anyone been punished for the killings and damages incurred, nor has any reparation been made. This has only encouraged the local potentates to treat us with even less respect than ever. They take the whole trade from us and hand it over to strangers from overseas. '

It had become clear to the VOC that they were no longer the only player on the market. The British, but certainly also the French, who were in the favor of the capricious king Narai of Ayutthaya, turned a covetous eye on the tin mines on Phuket. Barely a few weeks after this letter was sent in February 1677, it happened again. Malays and Siamese again attacked a VOC blockade ship and, after plundering it, set it on fire.

The measure was now full for the Dutch. At the VOC headquarters in Batavia, plans were made for a large-scale invasion and the military occupation of Phuket. When the growing rumors of an imminent Dutch invasion reached Ayutthaya, King Narai sent a formal order to Phuket that every port on the island should immediately build two sloops of war, large enough to carry ten guns each. If they spotted a Dutch ship off the coast, it had to be attacked without delay and no quarter could be given… Local administrators who disobeyed these orders were to be executed immediately.

VOC Ship

Eventually the VOC tacked. The company did not want to needlessly damage its relations with Ayutthaya and, moreover, a quick calculation had made it clear to them that they had nothing to gain from the Phuket crisis. At that time, the VOC already had 3.500 sailors and 18.000 men in the Far East, which cost them a lot of money. Phuket itself became like 'a poor, underpopulated island with a very unhealthy climate 'considered. The costs of building a fort here and maintaining an extensive garrison did not outweigh the burden. In addition, and this was perhaps the most decisive argument for phasing out the activities on Phuket, there was the simple fact that there was too little profit to be made in the tin trade. Recently, tin prices in China had plummeted, making it barely possible to realize a profit of 20% on Phuket's tin. In comparison, sales of Siamese deerskins in Japan yielded a profit margin of 180% and sales of sappan wood in China even exceeded 300%….

The VOC pro forma continued to urge Narai for a while to respect the treaties concluded with regard to Phuket, but Narai himself dismissed it by stating that the lawless state in which the island found itself would pose a danger to the Dutch. And of course he had a point there because Malaysian pirates were now making the coasts around the island unsafe. In addition, Narai played double game by secretly giving exploitation rights to Phuket to the French in 1680. A fact that was discovered too late by the VOC to be able to respond appropriately. Two years later, the Dutch completely abandoned Phuket when Narai appointed a Frenchman as governor of Phuket…

Today there is nothing that reminds of the VOC presence on Phuket. Although, in the Phuket Provincial Hall are two bronze VOC cannons. Its origin is unclear. They may have been purchased in Ayutthaya at some point. But it is also not inconceivable that they were stolen from the fort near Ban Patong. Or were they ever captured from one of the two VOC ships that was looted during the Patong crisis…?