Jan Christiaan Smit, on February 1, 1735 in the service of the Dutch East India Company
- Departure
- 1735
- Tuesday, 1 February
Jan Christiaan Smit (uit Saxen) joins as soldier with chamber Amsterdam. Departure of the ship Leiduin bound for Batavia - Sunday, 17 July
166 days after departure
Arrival of the ship Leiduin on the Cape - Tuesday, 2 August
16 days after arrival at the Cape
Departure of the ship Leiduin of the Cape - Wednesday, 5 October
64 days after departure from the Cape, 246 days after departure from the Netherlands
Arrival of the ship Leiduin in Batavia - 1741
- 1741-00-00
2129 days after employment
Resignation Jan Christiaan Smit (Asia), reason: missing
Remarks
Month certificate: No / Debenture: Yes
Source citation
Nationaal Archief (Netherlands), Dutch East India Company, archive 1.04.02, inventory number 6011, folio 170
VOC - voyagers, this index was developed through a joint initiative of the archives of Delft and Rotterdam, Zeeuws archief, Westfries Archief (Hoorn and Enkhuizen) and the departments of history from the Universities of Leiden and Ghent.
This data was last updated on April 7, 2014 by the source holder and first published on Open Archives on July 3, 2014. Originele record identifier is 1177167.
Internet address
https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/index/nt00444/NL-HaNA_1.04.02_6011_0352.jpg
Comments
On Monday, 20 April Richard Hagan wrote
Hello! I am an amateur historian and writer and I believe I have the final answer as to what became of Christiaan Smit. He was executed at the Castle of Good Hope on or about the 30th April 1739 for his role in three separate thefts of linen from the VOC. Two at the company Wood Store, and one at Tuynhuys. He was executed alongside another VOC soldier named Michiel Herda, who had carried out the thefts with him. Michiel Herda is correctly listed here on your website as having been executed. I've actually written an article about the thefts and their court case which you can read here: https://medium.com/@haganmediacopy/hanging-the-dirty-laundry-a-true-crime-story-from-18th-century-cape-town-754a6ada0501
This article was based on my final year university history thesis which covered the whole thing in much greater detail.
My information here was collected from the original court records which are kept in the National Archives in Cape Town. The case is contained in the following documents:
Court Rolls CJ 21 (1739)
Sententie CJ 786 (1738/9)
Documents in Criminal Cases DCC CJ 1739 No. 344 Deel
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch. This has been a fascinating case for me!
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