Palace at Sambas
Captain John Smith and His Adventures: Penang, Sambas and Pontianak
After the occupation of Prince of Wales Island (Penang) in 1786 by the East India Company (EIC), there soon arose a small community of merchants and traders whose activities complemented those of the EIC. Their “country vessels” – not licensed to carry cargoes to Britain without special EIC permission – carried through the region commodities that included opium, textiles, iron, steel, arms and gunpowder, along with a range of luxury items such as cutlery, mirrors and watches.
Late in August 1808, the Prince of Wales Island Government Gazette reported that the country ship Margaret, commanded by “Capt. R. Smith,” arrived in Penang from “the eastward,” the term used to include destinations such as Borneo, Java, and beyond.
The Mary that Smith commanded after the Margaret must have been the vessel based at Penang that, commanded by Capt. A. Robertson, had made several voyages eastward and one to Calcutta in 1807-8. Daniel Smith departed with the Mary for India and, following the cessation of hostilities between Britain and Spain, went to Manila. Afterwards, the Mary was missing, and it was learned in Penang early in 1810 that during the return voyage in November 1809, she had been captured by a French privateer at the entrance of the Straits of Malacca.
Daniel Smith very soon went back to sea. In August 1810, he took over command of the brig Tweed. The Tweed left Penang in mid-August, returning via Malacca two months later. The next two departures were not reported, but the Tweed again returned from the eastward in January 1811, and “from Sambas and other trading ports to the eastward” in May.
Sultan Kassim of Pontianak told Raffles (who was then in Malacca) in a letter dated 22 March 1811 that “Captain Smith” could provide information about an alliance between Sambas and the Illanun pirates of northern Borneo because Smith had just come from “the country of Sambas.”
Late in 1811, Smith took command of the Tay. He returned to Penang on 20 December from a voyage to Borneo and Lingga, and departed two days later for Calcutta. There, the Tay loaded 250 chests of opium and returned to Penang on 1 March 1812. Smith and the Tay, with part of the opium still on board, left Penang on 17 March and after putting in at several ports, reached Muntok on Bangka, which had been taken over by the British following the conquest of Java.
Here Smith had intended to follow the established practice of bartering opium for tin but was prevented even from landing by an order that originated from Raffles, who had created a Java Government monopoly for tin and also wanted to restrict the sale of opium.
Smith then went to Borneo (the port not named) to sell the opium, but the merchants and dealers would not buy it for resale because of the restrictions imposed by Raffles. Accordingly, Smith went back to Bangka, where he again tried to sell the opium to the local inhabitants. Smith and the Tay departed for Batavia, to dispose of the opium as profitably as possible.
In December 1812, Smith transferred to the brig Gloucester. John Palmer became Sultan Kassim’s commercial agent in Bengal and gave Smith letters to be delivered on the Gloucester to the Sultan.
Very soon afterwards, Palmer wrote to his commercial agent Mahumud (also called Mohamud, etc) in Pontianak, saying that he was sending “by your friend Capt. Smith,” a “rifle gun” and a yellow shawl – but his “foolish People” had packed the latter with gifts for the Sultan. Palmer told Mahumud to ask the Sultan to give it to him. In another letter to the Sultan, Palmer hoped that he and Smith would become friends and that he and Carnegy would no longer trade with Pangeran Anom of Sambas, but instead “prefer the honest men of Borneo”. Smith and Scott are very sensible men.
Meanwhile, the Royal Navy had mounted an attack on Sambas in October 1812. This was prompted by the news that Pangeran Anom had plundered the ship Coromandel and doubtless the realization that Sambas was attempting to gather a formidable naval fleet that might be used not only against Pontianak but also against British merchantmen. The attack was unsuccessful and caused great embarrassment in Java; it was, in effect, covered up in official reports.
Preparations for a second attack were immediately set in motion by Raffles and General Gillespie, the military commander in Java, with a much stronger force that involved the Royal Navy, the EIC’s Bombay Marine, numerous support ships, and about 1000 army personnel. Under Macdonald’s command, the Aurora departed from Batavia on 11 January 1813 with the first contingent of troops on board, and took a fast passage to Pontianak. According to Macdonald, the next contingent of troops followed on a “Malay trader” captained by Smith, but this seems to be wrong.
It seems likely that Smith had gone from Malacca straight to Pontianak to deliver Palmer’s letters and gifts, and it is, of course, possible that he took supplies for the blockade of Sambas. The Gloucester arrived in Batavia from Pontianak in May and soon returned to Pontianak, perhaps carrying supplies and more troops for Sambas. The second attack on Sambas occurred from 26-29 June and was successful. Unlike its predecessor, it was comprehensively reported when the news arrived in Batavia in July.
Early in October 1814, Smith left Penang in command of the ship Eugenia for Calcutta. There he encountered John Palmer, who showed him a letter from the Sultan of Pontianak that said that Smith should pay Palmer 5000 Spanish dollars that he (the Sultan) owed Palmer for the purchase of opium. Palmer had reminded the Sultan of this debt in a letter written at the end of 1813.
Smith said that it was improper of him to pay Palmer because the Sultan had not authorized him to do so, but did when Palmer offered to refund the money if the Sultan would not reimburse Smith. Smith sailed from Bengal with his new cargo at the beginning of January 1815, arriving in Penang after a very fast passage of only nine or ten days.
He was presented with the translation of a letter from the Sultan of Pontianak to the EIC authorities in Penang, in which he complained about Smith. They asked him to address the matter as soon as possible. He left almost immediately for Pontianak.
According to Smith, the Sultan appeared satisfied with his explanations of what had transpired. At the Sultan’s request, Smith delivered to Capt. James Carnegy of the Tay, which was there at the time, goods worth 8950 Spanish dollars and four chests of opium worth 6000 Spanish dollars. The Sultan also said that he had sold some of Smith’s cargo to the Bugis traders at Pontianak for 20000 Spanish dollars, and asked Smith to deliver the goods; again Smith obliged.
However, when Smith asked for payment for these transactions, the Sultan held back the gold dust which the Bugis had provided. He “pretended all at once to be in a great rage and told me my statement was false,” alleging that Smith had received cash payment for the cargo sold in Java the previous year, and therefore had been using the Sultan’s money profitably in the subsequent mercantile activities in Penang and Bengal. Smith denied this and suggested that the Sultan’s agent in Batavia, Said Hussein, should be asked to check his explanation. The Sultan refused, as he did, an offer of 3000 Spanish dollars and the interest from when the goods were sold in Java, even though Smith’s bankers in Bengal had yet to receive money for those goods. The Sultan also refused to refund the money Smith had paid Palmer and claimed that Smith owed him nearly, 9000 Spanish dollars in addition to the merchandise Smith had given him as payment for the profits.
Smith was no doubt thoroughly alarmed because in addition to his own financial woes, the Sultan was detaining property of Dunbar & Scott (who owned the ship) worth, 14000 Spanish dollars, so he asked Mr. Bloem, Raffles’s Deputy Resident at Pontianak, to resolve the problem. Failing that, he asked Bloem to lay the matter before the Government in Java. Bloem had been present during Smith’s encounters with the Sultan, but would not intervene. He explained in his letter to Java (27 Feb. 1815) that he was uncertain of his official status. Alexander Hare, the Resident at Banjarmasin, had told him not to hoist the British flag in Pontianak or exercise any authority as Resident. However, Bloem confirmed Smith’s account.
He pointed out that a Bill of Exchange given to Smith for the opium sold in Java had not been accepted for payment when presented in Calcutta, but that Smith had brought merchandise which he had given to the Sultan. Smith had offered to guarantee that the Sultan would not be at risk if the Bill of Exchange was again not accepted.
However, the Sultan was indeed angry because Smith had not returned within the 25–30 days as expected, nor sent a letter of explanation, and the Sultan believed that Smith must have made use of his money.
After appealing the decision to Calcutta, Raffles and other people, Daniel Smith died in June. The Eugenia had gone to Pontianak, where Smith had “felt the first symptoms of the Batavia fever, and after 8 days died at Malacca. The news would have been brought by the Eugenia, which, with William Skitter now in command, had departed from Malacca on 26 June and had run aground off Penang.
The country traders in the East Indies were subject to hardships that included disease, warfare, shipwreck, changes in government policy as it applied to trade restrictions and commodity prices, dealings with their unscrupulous competitors and local indigenous rulers, and piratical attack. If the grounding of the Adele off Sumatra in September 1814 is counted as a minor shipwreck, the only hardship on the list that Daniel Smith did not encounter at this time was piracy.
From: Daniel Smith’s last seven years: Hardships in-country trade in the east indies in the early Nineteenth Century by F. Andrew Smith Borneo Research Bulletin vol 39 p. 71-90 condensed with permission.