STANDVASTIGHEID & VERWACHTING A historical and philosophical inquiry into standardization and innovation in design and production of the VOC retourschip during the 18 th century Johan de Jong (WWTS / s 0076759) STANDVASTIGHEID (Tenacity / Constancy) The VOC operated three ships by the name of Standvastigheid . The first ship of this name was built in 1706 in Amsterdam, and was rated with a tonnage of 888. This vessel must have been built according to the standardized rules of 1697. After five return trips, it went down at the Cape on 13 June 1722 on its sixth outward journey. The second ship of this name was built in 1742/1743 in Rotterdam, according to the new Bentam designs. It was of the second charter and was rated at 850 tons. It made six complete return trips, and after its seventh outward journey it stayed in the East and was sold locally in 1768. The final ship of this name was a hoeker, bought in Rotterdam in 1785. VERWACHTING (Expectation) The VOC operated two ships by the name of Verwachting . The first Verwachting was one of the very first ships built to the designs of Charles Bentam. It was of the second charter and was rated at 850 tons. Having made one outward trip from the Republic to the East Indies, the ship foundered in 1744 on a trip from China to Seurat. The second ship of this name was a hoeker , bought in Hoorn in 1787. ----------------------- Details on these ships and their voyages can be found through http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DAS _________________________________________________________________________________ The picture on the title page shows the VOC shipyard Oostenburg in Amsterdam, according to an engraving after an original oil painting by an anonymous artist (1725). The painting itself is in the collection of the “Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum” in Amsterdam (catalogue number S0058). Retrieved through http://www.zaans-industrieel-erfgoed.nl/images_8/met_stoom_24_vocwerf.jpg STANDVASTIGHEID & VERWACHTING A historical and philosophical inquiry into standardization and innovation in design and production of the VOC “Retourschip” during the 18 th century Contents Introduction 1. The retourschip, material metaphor and standardized artefact 1.1 The VOC: notes on its origins and organization 1.2 The VOC shipyards 1.3 The VOC ships 1.3.1 The fluit family 1.3.2 Fast ships 1.3.3 The retourschip family 1.4 The VOC retourschip: characteristics, role and metaphor 1.5 The VOC retourschip: the early standardization of an artefact 2. Drawing up plans 2.1 Complexity, conflict, complaints and calls for change 2.1.1 Complexity 2.1.2 Conflict 2.1.3 Complaints 2.1.4 Calls for change 2.2 Secretive dealings and innovative drawings 2.2.1 English shipwrights introduced 2.2.2 “English” methods implemented 2.2.3 Innovative drawings as immutable – and flexible - mobiles 2.3 Ships, wagers, sabotage and acrimony: internal and external expansion of networks 2.3.1 The building of a constructive network 2.3.2 The spatial expansion failes 2.4 A radical innovation leading to standardization: an interpretation 3. Changing ships 3.1 Stormy weather… 3.1.1 …at the Cape of Good Hope 3.1.2 …and in the Republic 3.2 Innovation introduced: a high-ranking prisoner expands the network 3.3 Innovation materialized: the VOC as a single large technological enterprise 4. The resilience of shipwrights and the versatility of artefacts 4.1 Principles and practicalities of ship design 4.1.1 Conflicting objectives 4.1.2 Displacement and payload 4.1.3 Resistance 4.2 The changing role of guilds 4.3 Artefacts, experiments, estuaries and three-deckers 4.3.1 Local experiments and local estuaries 4.3.2 Three-deckers, geopolitics and health 4.4 The curtain comes down 4.4.1 Innovation as a last resort 4.4.2 The final adaptation of the retourschip 5. The retourschip revisited 5.1 Connecting standardization and innovation 5.2 Navigating a hybrid network 5.3 Mobilizing a large technological system Over the horizon A. Gerbrand Slegt B. Tacit knowledge C. Transfer of technology Acknowledgments Literature Introduction In June 2008, my wife and I boarded a small plane that took us towards the Houtman Abrolhos Archipelago, off the west coast of Australia. Looking from the air, we first saw the place where the VOC 1 retourschip Zeewijk perished in 1727, before we flew on to the reef where the infamous Batavia foundered in 1629. 2 It then really dawned on me which extraordinary demands were put on these ships, on their crews, on their navigation and on the shipwrights who had to design and construct these ships, in order that they could sail halfway across the globe to the East Indies, return heavily laden to the Dutch Republic and repeat such return voyages on average five to six times. A few months earlier, when discussing a possible subject for my thesis, Lissa Roberts had suggested looking into the introduction of technical design drawings in 18 th century Dutch shipbuilding. That flight, the walk across one of the islands of the archipelago and visits to the museums in Geraldton and Fremantle caused this suggestion really to take hold. It was also the reason that I decided to concentrate on what had happened within the VOC regarding its retourschepen .3 The technological issues of ship design and shipbuilding were intricately linked with the commercial and colonial aspirations and development of the VOC, the largest commercial and technological enterprise in the Dutch Republic at the time. In addition, the VOC sometimes had a rather uneasy relation with the central and regional governments of the Dutch Republic, there was political turmoil in the Republic during the second half of the 18 th century, and there were efforts – by the VOC as well as by Dutch admiralties - to increase control over developments in ship design and shipbuilding. Central to these issues was the complicated relation between innovation and standardization, whereby advances in technology needed to be squared with attempts to standardize and control the current and traditional systems of shipbuilding in the Republic. 4 Therefore, in my proposal I phrased the theme of the thesis as follows: The central question is the interpretation of the complicated relation between innovation and standardization. In particular, I will explore and investigate whether the innovation in 18 th century Dutch shipbuilding technology can be mainly attributed to the introduction of rational, standardized design- and building methods or rather to artisans (such as shipwrights) using their practical intelligence. To give structure to the main theme, three sub-problems were distinguished: How was the standardization and innovation of the constructed artefact retourschip actually given shape? Which relation existed between the standardization of working procedures at the shipyards concerned and the way in which these yards were structured? Clarification about the way local (master) shipwrights used their practical intelligence, on the one hand constructing the prescribed innovative and standardized vessels and on the other hand 1 The acronym VOC stands for Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, i.e. the United (Dutch) East India Company. 2 For the story of the Batavia , see Dash (2003) and Leys (2007). For the story of the Zeewijk , see http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/maritime/march/shipwrecks/Wreckfinder/Zeewijk.htm and http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2328/342/1/1976005018033_FINAL.pdf 3 For an explanation of the artefact retourschip (plural retourschepen ) see chapter 1. 4 The subject of the VOC is still of current interest, as is borne out by remarks made by the Dutch prime minister on 28 sept. 2006 and repeated since. Rhetorically he asked the Dutch to return to a “VOC-mentality”. He made not clear at the time whether such a return would favour innovation or increased control. For the original quote, see http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2006/9/28/280906_beschouwingendag2.html STANDVASTIGHEID & VERWACHTING 1 shaping anti-programs while they adapted existing, prescribed designs to demands put forward by different human actors and non-human actants. When answering these questions, I opted for a historical/material approach, in which I tried to follow the actors and the actants. 5 This approach paved the way to philosophical considerations, relying on Latour’s concept of hybrid networks. Such networks, in this case centred on the artefact retourschip , allow human actors and non-human actants to enter into negotiations and to play out their programs and anti-programs in a continually shifting equilibrium. The artefact retourschip not only takes up a central position, but it plays an active role in the expansion of its own hybrid network. 6 The use of the concept of the hybrid network means that historical, technological, social, political, geographical and meteorological considerations assume their place in the narrative in shifting alliances. In the first chapter, I start with giving a historical account of the VOC, its shipbuilding operations and the way it used its ships to achieve its goals. This in turn leads to an analysis of the standardization aimed for by the VOC. The second chapter offers a change of perspective, as it concentrates on the situation within the Dutch navy and more specifically the Amsterdam admiralty. The reason for this is that the formal introduction of the innovation of technical design drawings took place at the Amsterdam admiralty, although one should realize that Dutch master shipwrights were already experimenting with similar technical drawings. The innovation is understood as an immutable (although flexible) mobile. 7 The reasons behind the introduction of the immutable mobile, its failed geographical spread to most other admiralties and an interpretation of its innovative character surround and inform the historical narrative. In the third chapter, I return to the VOC, analyzing how a process of adaptive changes to the standardized design of the retourschip not only endangered the safety of the ships, but also the survival of the VOC.