As for the past 8 days here we have received not only major complaints from most of the ship's crew, mentioned on the Hoog Caspel flute, about their skipper Meijndert Roeloffsz, who, by breaking down in a strong drink during the journey from the country up to here, has made himself so incompetent that it has been a mockery of his subordinate crew, and in doing so committed such passive actions as wanting to cut one man's neck with a axe, putting a loaded pistol to the chest of the other and threatening to shoot him, and at night treating ship's sentries rudely and without reason, taking away their guns and then making them stand against a painted image with a naked sword screens & suchlike and furthermore many impartial curiosities,276 which do not suit a captain on a ship to think of working out much less, But above all this it has not yet been proven that the same skipper has very unfaithfully sought to enrich himself from the Portuguese prize he has taken, having from the spaciousness that the E. Compe. various goods were brought in and hidden in his ship in inappropriate places, such as under the bread in the bread room, under the sails in the sail room, in the room under the fuel wood, as well as under a keep of iron pots and kettles, from which the committee of this Council had brought, and further found such after a full inspection, as is evident from the certificates thereof, wherefore the Council, in deliberation, decided what it had to do in this matter, and, from insight into the aforementioned reason, considered that this skipper from Hoogcaspel, with his people, would not be able to make the journey to Batavia peacefully, consequently Unanimously resolved, since the small flute ship "De Meese" is also currently sailing here for Batavia, that the skipper of the small flute "De Meese" should be allowed to transfer to the small flute "Hoog Caspel," and in its place on the Meese, the aforementioned skipper of Hoog Caspel, and that the matter, because of the same skipper of Hoog Caspel, should be further delegated to their Honor on Batavia, so that the voyage cannot be delayed here for this reason.
Thus done and resolved at the Fort of Good Hope on the date and year as above.
[Signed:] Z. WAGENAER.
[Signed:] ABRAHAM GABBEMA. 1663.
[Signed:] HENDR. LACUS.