Selling Opium to the Natives
Part Two
Conflict with the Americans: Captain Smith on the Adele
Daniel Smith returned to Penang from Bengal early in January 1814 commanding the Adele. In May, he had a brush with another of Britain’s enemies of the period. The British were involved in the War of 1812 with the Americans.
In Pontianak he saw a ship that was initially thought to be the Eugenia, en route from Bengal, but was, in fact, an American ship, the Jacob Jones. This was a well-armed ship bound for Canton, China to buy goods and to warn American merchant vessels to remain in port until the war ended.
The capture of the Adele was certainly a bonus, and the Jacob Jones took cargo that included 40 chests of opium. However, Smith was again lucky. His ship was returned to him assuming he remained at anchor for 48 hours, and the Jacob Jones departed towards Manila en route for Canton, where its arrival along with the other two American vessels caused great alarm among the British. Smith went on to Batavia, where he reported that Capt. John Robbarts of the Jacob Jones had said that the war was unpopular in America.
Smith stated that after the loss of the opium he asked Sultan Kassim to lend him 10000–12000 Spanish dollars on interest to buy another cargo of opium to sell in Java, from where he intended to return to Pontianak in 25–30 days. The profits were to be shared between the Sultan and the ship-owners. The Sultan declined because “interest was contrary to his religion,” but gave Smith gold dust to buy 10 chests of opium and English iron to sell in Java, the profits to be divided.
When Smith arrived at Batavia at the beginning of June, he had to sell the opium on credit because there was a shortage of Spanish dollars, which was the only currency that the Sultan would accept. Smith had no money to repay the Sultan, so he returned to Penang for a fresh cargo of opium.
He then intended to go back to Batavia via Pontianak. However, the agents for the underwriters, Forbes & Brown, insisted that he go straight to Java, where Smith sold the opium in Semarang and Batavia, but again on credit because of the lack of Spanish dollars. Smith departed from Batavia for Penang on 14 August after receiving one-third of the money in currency that was not useable outside Java.
The Adele left in company with the Tay, which was commanded by Capt. James Carnegy. On arrival in Penang, Smith found that Dunbar & Scott had engaged the ship to go to Sumatra, where the ship grounded, and the bottom was damaged. Smith and the Adele were back in Penang on 13 September According to Smith, it was too late in the season to go back to the east. The Jacob Jones returned to Boston after a very profitable voyage, but the valuable opium from the Adele was not sold in Canton, to avoid possible lawsuits in US courts.
The opium was taken to Boston, and determined to be legitimate prize cargo, so it was then returned to Canton on a second voyage and then sold. Captain John Robbarts eventually settled in Pennsylvania, where he was believed to have been born in England, and to have served as an officer of the Royal Navy before deserting to join the American service. “John Robbarts” was thought not to be his real name.
Dispute with the Sultan of Pontianak: Captain Smith on the Eugenia
Early in October 1814, Smith left Penang, commanding 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.
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 that 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 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
The matter unresolved, Smith arrived in Batavia from Pontianak via Bangka on 16 March. He delivered Bloem’s letter, with his own as an enclosure, and asked that Raffles order Said Hussein to inspect the accounts kept by Smith’s agent, Mr. W. Graham. If Raffles would not intervene, Smith asked for the correspondence to be passed on to the Supreme EIC Government in Calcutta.
Charles Assey, the Java Government Secretary, replied quickly, saying that “Raffles was desirous of avoiding all interference” and that the letters would be passed on to Bengal. Assey pointed out that Captain J. Portbury, also the Sultan’s agent in Batavia, could communicate with the Sultan as necessary.
Smith and the Eugenia were based in Java for over two months, during which they went to Surabaya and Semarang, and then back to Batavia before departing on 20 May for Bangka with a cargo of rice. The correspondence was forwarded to the EIC Supreme Government in Calcutta, which in October 1815 decided not to get involved in the matter: it was of a “commercial nature” and “must, of course, be settled by the parties in the best manner practicable”.
The decision in Calcutta meant nothing to Daniel Smith because he had 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 ship was re floated and later, in 1815, went to Canton. After returning to Penang at the end of January 1816, the Eugenia was advertised for sale by order of Dunbar & Scott and Mr. A. Duff (Registrar), who were the “Executors of the late Capt. D. Smith”. Apparently, Smith had been sufficiently prosperous to have a strong interest in the ship.
Conclusion
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.
In fact, before the blockade on Sambas at the end of 1812, Carnegy & Co in Penang, one of Daniel Smith’s “principals,” maintained trade with Sambas, the state in West Borneo that was regarded by the EIC in the Indies as notorious for piracy. Pangeran Anom’s bad reputation was doubtless deserved, though he was rehabilitated (perhaps reluctantly) by the British in 1814 and very soon afterward became Sultan of Sambas.
Raffles’s unsympathetic responses to Smith’s trading predicaments first at Bangka in 1812 and then at Pontianak in 1814, are not unexpected, given Raffles’s wish to regulate trade and strengthen the EIC’s interests against those of the unruly country traders. His decision not to intervene in Smith’s dispute with the Sultan of Pontianak should also be considered in the light of pressure from the EIC Supreme Government in Calcutta from the beginning of 1814 to cease his attempts to exert British control over West Borneo. Thus, Bloem was recalled from Pontianak in April 1815. (Irwin 1955:30- 32).
As a frequent visitor to Pontianak, Daniel Smith was clearly on good terms with Sultan Kassim for several years, and why they eventually quarreled is not at all clear. There is no reason to disbelieve Smith’s account of the problems he experienced in getting solid currency (Spanish dollars) for the cargo that had been obtained in Pontianak after the encounter with the Jacob Jones. There was a major currency crisis in Java at the time, and had Smith sent a letter from Batavia in June 1814 explaining the problem, all might have been well when he returned to Pontianak eight months later. Also, the Sultan’s agent in Batavia could easily have checked Smith’s claim that the cargo had necessarily been sold on credit. Perhaps Sultan Kassim had become greedy, or had a financial crisis of his own, or perhaps someone had poisoned his mind against Smith. If this last possibility is the case, the obvious candidate is James Carnegy, who was at Pontianak with the Tay when Smith returned, and was certainly then a competitor of Smith and his associates Dunbar & Scott in Penang.
The information gathered here illustrates the extensive nature of voyages in the country trade by Daniel Smith in the seven years until his death. Periods spent ashore in Penang, where these can be ascertained with confidence, ranged from only a few days to about six weeks. His longest period ashore was the six months or so under detention in Java.
It is interesting the Prince of Wales Island Government Gazette, which usually paid little attention to the country traders, apart from recording arrivals, departures and catastrophes (e.g. shipwreck, attacks or capture), devoted a few lines to reporting Smith’s death. Not surprisingly, the sources examined here tell nothing about Smith’s private life, but when he died he left behind a son, Daniel, who was baptized in Penang nearly ten years later. His date of birth was not recorded, nor was his mother’s name, presumably because she was non-European.
Daniel Smith’s last seven years: Hardships in country trade in the east indies in the early NINETEENTH by F. Andrew Smith Borneo Research Bulletin vol 39 p.s 71 condensed by Tom McLaughlin with permission.