The colonel had someone place a large drawing table in his cabin and he daily stood there working, not being disturbed by the sometimes heavy rolling of the steamer; it was admirable as in the 7 days journey he made 3 projects for the new back veranda as well as the dance hall for the Hotel of the Army commander de Neve, sothat he only had to choose.
Under closer approval of the Government the authorisation was being issued and it was decided that I would enjoy an allowance of 15 guilders a day besides my wages and rent and I was allowed to charge all accounts of transport costs. The Chief wanted to give me a credit at one of the Singaporian banks so I could pay for all the expenses myself.
In this last one I suggested to bring a change; firstly I had experienced as first appointed in Mr. Cornelis how convenient it was not to have any cash on you and in the other I didn’t think it was appropriate to rob the Consuls of their 2% provision; it would be better to let them enjoy my expenses too, I would then automatically get their cooperation. They did accept my suggestion and I was not sorry about it.
The steamer Devonport was partly loaded in Singapore and I left with it to Penang to fill the load there.The reception with the consul there was not as friendly as with Mr. Reed in Singapore; he was a member of Paddy Brothers and when I announced myself the brothers sat there whispering together for a long time, from which I made out they didn’t trust the case; not until I had explained in which relation I was going to be to them, they loosened up and supplied me with the neccessary addresses and information; they obviously had not been informed completely by Singapore.I commenced straight away with the purchases of the neccessary materials to complete the load of the steamship and the consul paid the bills, for which he received his 2% provision.
That in earlier times sometimes a bit more remained stuck to the fingers was obvious to me from a letter from the senior in Atjeh, Major v. Lennep, when I got back in Singapore, who thanked me for carefully looking after the interest of business and told me, that alr
eady on this first shipload 45000 guilders had been saved.
According to English custom I had been invited to dinner before my return to Singapore by the consul Padday; he had suggested to go first to the Club; there I met several chiefs of trading houses and they proposed to play a game of Shell-Out; this game was a simple party Pyramid, with which one player earned a shell worth one soekoe ( about 50 cents ) for each ball he made from each of the other players. Quite soon it was my turn and quickly stopped 9 balls of the 15 red balls, which thus brought me 90 soekoes, which is $ 22.50; that evening luck was on my side and upon leaving for dinner at the consul’s I had a large bag with dollars to take with me in the carriage.
At this dinner after the soup snipes were brought in, which were so past it, that I could smell them already when the servant stood in the door and I let the dish pass me and replied negatively to the question of the hostess:”Are you not fond of snipes?” They did stink with permission to high heaven.
In Singapore I met someone who called himself an architect Mr. P. Nuy, who had already made up a contract with the controller of B/B/ Michielsen to build some civilian houses and offices in Atjeh; this controller had received a similar order from the Governor of Atjeh as I from the Army administration; so we were competitors, however we agreed not to be in each other’s way; I therefore promised to give Mr. Nuy not too much work.
Despite this Mr. Nuy and I became good friends and he invited me to several dinner and dance parties.
There I got to know some young ladies Baumgarten for the first time, after I had visited their father, also at his house, who was lawyer at the High Court; I was accepted as member of the crocket club and afterwards was usually asked to their quiet dinners; these quiet dinners ofter turned out to be rather pompous and an expensive wine was served.
The ladies then were often in full dress and I usually sat next to the eldest unmarried daughter Annie, whilst the youngest one Charlotte sat opposite me. This one I found by far the sweetest of the 6 unmarried sisters; soon enough I fell a bit in love with her and I imagined that this was also the case in reverse, as every day just before sunset the fashionable world in their carriages paraded along the Esplanade in front of my hotel and when I also walked along the Esplanade, I always got the sweetest little nod from Charlotte. It is an English habit however that as a rule a lady greets first and in case I wouldn’t draw any conclusion from it; it remained however a fact that I was always to be found.
In view of the large distances I had to cover and the costs of the constant hiring of comfortable palaquins I had a rental contract with the carriage hiring firm for use of a mylord with an Australian horse, which came to $ 45 a month, but in all cases turned out cheaper than the palanquins ( hack carriages ). I could make use of the carriage all day and I only had to tell the syce where and when he had to be ordered around.
Like one evening I wanted to go for a drive to the “Castle” ( home of Mr. Baumgarten )when I suddenly saw my friend Hermens fall off his beautiful riding horse; the horse wanted to go into gallop too soon before H. wanted to mount and so the horse came with his back hoof against the ankle of H’s right foot; the shock was so heavy, that the foot came to stand across the fibula; I was immediately at the scene and hit the foot forcefully straight, carried H. in my carriage, took him to his hotel – he had moved – and ordered a doctor to come, whilst with the help of his servant I cut the boot away from his foot. The doctor arrived quite soon to bandage him, however H. needed care for a long time and had to stay in his room for 3 months; he remained an invalid for the rest of his life.
On the 11th January 1877 I was transferred by the Engineer’s staff in Batavia to te one in Atjeh and Dependents; I did remain in commission in the Straits although changed boss and came now under the orders of my old boss Major v. Kappen; I understood from this that my days in the Straits ran towards the end.
I had a lot of enviors under the collegues, who also wanted to have a windfall in turn; it took however another 4 months before I would be relieved by the sweet child: J. Staal.
It was certain that my stay was good luck; I ended up without any debts, could put some nice clothes on and was in the opportunity to give my parents and sisters several presents; thus I send my father a beautiful large Japanese box, filled with the finest Manilla cigars ( of which he was extremely frugal as I heard ); for tante Joh a silk Chinese dress and lots of trinkets for the others.
My financial prosperity came also handy during the visit of the governor v. Lansberghe when passing through on his way to Atjeh, when he stayed a day in Singapore. With Consul General Read I went on board of a mailsteamer to compliment his Excellency; The Governor of the Straits had his adjutant Captain v.d. Gen.Staff Peter deligated to invite Mrs. v. Lansberghe to stay with him. It was clear then that the English Staff captain could not understand a word of French and so he could not have a conversation with Mrs. v. Landsberghe, who was born Spanish.
As adjutants of the G.G. the cavalry captain Roukens and Ltnt. Nepveu had come along, whilst Captain Beyen, whose leg had been shot off and now had to do with a wooden prothese, was commandor of the accompaning detachment; he was however allowed, due to his merits and couragious behaviour, to stay in service at sedentary occupations. As lieutenant for the detachment a former housemate de Neve was added to him.
That day I had spent $ 100.A few days later I got a telegraphic order from Batavia to make a trip to Riouw in order to check the situation of the house of the military Commander, captain Yssed de Schepper,; he had made his house be condemned by a commision, as it was showing cracks in the walls.
He clearly was annoyed by my arrival and tried to follow me around in my work to find out which report I would be giving; I was staying at Off..v.Gez. Wafelbakker and knew how to make a thorough examination of his domicile without being seen by capt. Y.d.S.It was clear to me that with a reparation of about 1500 guilders the house could be brought in a good state for ever, let the capt know in writing, that I had to go back to S’pore though because of the late hour I could not personally say goodbye to him.; to my chief I reported my findings and an order was given for the restauration.
Y.d.S. then requested the D.v.G. to send someone else, however got the answer that there wasn’t any reason not to take up my advice. The building is still standing today.I still have to mention here, that for the delivery of wood, I was also in touch with a sawmill, which was owned by the Maharadja of Johore. He had invited me for a few days at his palace with the controller Michielsen.
footnote:
Off.v.Gez. is officer van gezondheid or health officer
An exhuberant luxury dominated and we were received like royalty; the Sultan as he was also often called showed us all his possessions and also showed us his railway construction along the Southcoast of his domain; a Scot was charged with the construction, however he certainly had not enjoyed a high education as we saw an open tunnel in the hill where a large congestion of springwater was present; our engineer didn’t know what to do about it and the trench in the hill certainly was a real mudpool.
Because of the costs attached to iron rails he used double wooden beams at short distance from each other where in between the flanges of the wheels of the railway wagons had to run; the result was that these often became caught and this happened amongst other things also whilst we made use of this worktrain.
The engine couldn’t carry the speck of dirt, didn’t have enough steam for it; our engineer knew what to do about it and drained a lot of the water from the engine. Under these circumstances neither Michielsen nor I made use of this means of transport and turned back to the palace on foot.
Under the enjoyment of a few cups of tea, poured from a golden teaset I then played a game of biliards in the magnificent biliard hall; during this the Maharadja became a little more trustworthy and complained about the controller M. who according to Minangkabou habit addressed him with Hamie, something for which in Malay always hamba or sahaja was being used.
So the end of the month April came in sight and Jean Staal stood still unexpectedly in front of my nose; I said goodbye to the several families where I had enjoyed their hospitality amongst others also to the family Baumgarten.
I had not declared my love for Charlotte since I planned to do this first when I was promoted to captain; I asked her if she would accept a pair of well singing canarybirds which I had in my room as a souvenir, which she accepted gracefully.
The morning of my departure I sent the little birds to the Castle to the adres of Miss Baumgarten and later on I learnt that the eldes daughter Annie consequently had thought herself the owner of the sweet singers.
So on the 3rd of May 1877 I arrived already for the 4th time in Atjeh and I got put in the lodings in the so called blocks next to the governor’s house; along those homes a road ran to the so called cold corner of the Kraton where the first ice factory was erected and all officers in the afternoon could drink a glas of cold water; however one could also buy bars of ice and from this my blockmates made good use in the days after my arrival; I had namely brought back from Singapore a crate with bottles of Schweppes sodawater and several bottles of brandy, which treat was not well known in those days, except with the English officers who were encamped in Atjeh.
The mates were first thinking I was an alcoholic still they did rise to the occasion and enjoyed the delicious cold drink, so the crate with sodawater was soon to be gathered with one father’s.
About my work after my arrival I can’t tell much; major van Kappen knew actually very well to keep his officers at work, but gave them time off when he was satisfied of their work.
The stay in the blocks I found less pleasant since I could not get on very well with my three blockmates; so I was very pleased when after more than a month I was transferred to the corps of minors and sappers and I was charged with the command over a Company in Panteh Perak, where I also got apppointed to another house.
Because of this I came in touch with more engineer officers and some with the Arms of detached Infantry, all friendly guys.
Under my command I had for instance ltnt. of the Dutch Army C.J. Snijders, who, just like many others were detached to the Ind. Army for 2 years and therefore had enjoyed a bonus of 2000 guilders; in this case I had a difference of opinion with him because he complained to have to stay in Atjeh for nearly 2 full years; he wanted to see much more of the Dutch East Indies and I claimed that he had committed himself for the 2000 guilders to supply in the shortage of officers in Atjeh. We did not reach an agreement.
The officersquarters, although from temporary materials, was quite a bit roomier and more comfortable than that in the blocks; we shared the household together and it often was very enjoyable.
I had bought a small Schiedmaier Seraphine for 100 guilders from Marcella and on this small easy to take apart organ I accompanied the mates with their singing, which sometimes lasted till after midnight. Through this we awakened the annoyance of the head officers, who were accommodated in a barack next to ours. One of them who had the nickname the beautiful Meyer complained and following this the order of the governor came that after 11 pm no more music was to be made.
During my time with the minors I got commissioned to burn a lot of lithofractor; this happeed on the ground behind the hospital and afraid of the danger I had taken the neccessary precautions; with a Bickfordcord the 300kg large lot was ignited and soon burnt well away, when suddenly a heavy explosion followed, by which even the windows in the governor’s house were destroyed and a hole of more than 2m was hit in the ground.
What one can do with a small amount like before on the SS Holland, doesn’t apply for large quantities: the temperature rises too high for that.
Not even a month after I was working with the minors an order from Batavia came, that I had to resume my commission in Singapore; major v. Kappen told me this, he also told me though that he had asked telegraphically for someone else, since I was destined to act as Chief of the engeneering expeditionat at the planned journey to Samalangan.
He made me belief that this would also be in my own interest, because I would almost surely earn the military Willems medal. Because of a well understandable reason I prefered the journey to the Straits; besides the order from Batavia was repeated and I departed on the 24th July to go back to my former post, where I arrived 3 days later.
What had happened? Jean Staal had fallen ill, had sealed his little archive and had left with an urgency certificate for Europe.
Mr. Reed told me, that S. at his action had wanted to introduce a very complicated administration, although soon enough had returned to my simple cashbook and journal; he declared: that captain Staal is a first rate Gentleman but not at all a businessman.
One of the first cases I had to put in order was an arbitration, S. had chartered the Dutch sailing ship de Ster der Hoop during his stay, in which a rather small cargo per kojang was stipulated, but it was pointed out that for each day anchored in the street of Oleh-leh a high amount would have to be paid. The captain had made use of this to provide as little cooperation as possibe with the unloading; he knew how to stretch the meal breaks as long as possible and absolutely refused to be unloaded on Sundays.
Major v. Kappen had told me about it and ordered me to take this into account with the payments. Ofcourse the captain had all kinds of objections and the end of the story was, the case was going to be settled at the arbitration.
The result was not satisfying: I had been put in the wrong as delegate of the Dutch government and the account, which was very high, had to be paid in full.
Straight after my return I had also chartered a sailing ship, namely the French barque Constance; with this one it was decided that a lump sum would have to be paid for the whole load, though no payments could be charged for days lying idle.
The freight price per kojang was naturally a lot higher than that of de Ster der Hoop and so from Batavia I got a sharp remark: I should take an example of my predecessor. I answered that I had taken a soft example as according to the handed over calculations by me, the arrangement I followed was 80% cheaper than the one of Jean.
For the purchase of masonry stones and roofing tiles I had to make a trip to Malacca; there I met some old ladies and gentlemen, who were born there before 1824 and could remember some Dutch words. The village also showed a definte Dutch character and in the former protestant church one could find a number of monuments and gravestones with wellknown Dutch and Dutch East Indian names.
The purchase of materials in Malacca failed because the freight prices to Atjeh were running too high.
Major v. Kappen had the opinion that I didn’t have all that much to do in Singapore and therefore ordered me to make some projects for head officers’, captain’s and lieutenant’s housings; I have never been a particularly good draftsman and didn’t even have a drawing table in my hotel. The good relationship which I had known to create before with the minor personnel at the head office, now became useful to me; I wrote a letter to the sergeant major draftsman Coppens ( the righthand of the Chief colonel Ermeling ) and asked if he would make the three project’s drawings for me against payment; I sent the neccessary pencil drawings with it and 3 weeks later the plans were ready; I only had to make the neccessary comments with them and after that sent them to Atjeh.
footnote:
kojang is a measure of volume.
The houses in Nesoeh are built according to these projects. Ser.maj. coppens had asked 3
25 guilders for his work, however now the case was finished to all our satisfaction, I sent him twice the amount.
Of course I was daily in the evenings again at the Esplanade to receive Charlotte’s sweet greetings and my visits to the Castle were more frequent; of course I became madly in love.
On the 5th October there would be alarge dinnerparty at the Baumgarten family, to which I was also invited; I had the honest intention to announce my declaration, however unfortunately I came to sit next to Annie at the table and after dinner it was impossible for me to speak one minute to Charlotte alone.
After a rather sleepless night I did my announcement in writing and sent this early in the morning to the Castle.
Not long after that, still far to long to my liking, my houseboy Laout brought the desired, which sounded affirmative, requesting to see her father with the request.
So on the 7th October I did just tht and after many protests and questions I got the intensly desired Yes word.
I was the happiest of all mortals, which happiness was further increased when on the 7th October I received the announcement from the Chief of War, that through Government’s decision of 18th September 1877 no. 28 I was promoted to Captain.
It is understandable that I drove to the Castle immediately to tell Charlotte and her father this memorable news.
My experiences as captain follows in the second part of this chapter.