In 1601, Joris van Spilbergen left the Netherlands In command of a sent out by Balthasar de Moucheron and his associates. An important goal of the voyage of the expedition was to sail to Ceylon to look for opportunities to trade at the island, where the Portuguese already established themselves. Van Spilbergen was also supposed to sail to Aceh to negotiate the release of Frederik de Houtman. A few years before, Cornelis de Houtman had been killed and his brother Frederik was captured by the Acehnese. Van Spilbergen’s mission was to gain the favour of the sultan of Aceh and to trade for pepper at the North Sumatran port.
The expedition first sailed to the Cape Verde islands and the West African coast at Portudal. At Cape Verde, Van Spilbergen fought a battle with Portuguese ships. During the engagement he was seriously injured. The expedition continued onwards, however, past the African coast, and sailed into the Indian Ocean after passing the Cape of Good Hope in December.
After reaching Ceylon, Van Spilbergen first established ties with the ruler of Baticoa, who he did not fully trust because of his relations with the Portuguese. He sent an embassy to the court of the ruler of Kandy in the Ceylonese interior, after which Van Spilbergen himself was invited to the king’s court. Van Spilbergen stayed here for several weeks, made an alliance with the king, who was a fierce enemy of the Portuguese. Van Spilbergen obtained some cinnamon and other products and was named an emissary for the king to the Dutch Republic. The king hoped to form an alliance to fight together against the Portuguese. Van Spilbergen then sailed on to Aceh.
At Aceh, he found that Frederik de Houtman had already been released and that the sultan’s attitude had shifted significantly against the Portuguese. Van Spilbergen was able to establish ties with the sultan and was permitted a lodge in the city for trade. At Aceh, the Dutch encountered an English fleet under… This fleet intended to intercept a Portuguese carrack on its annual voyage from India to Malacca. Van Spilbergen decided to join the English venture and together the alliance succeeded in taking ship. Van Spilbergen obtained from this a share of the wares in the Portuguese ship, which included precious cloths.
At Aceh, the news came with a new fleet under Sebalt de Weerd that the Dutch trade companies had merged into the new Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). De Weerd was named the highest in command of the ships in the East Indies. As trade was poor at Aceh, Van Spilbergen decided to sail to Banten. He obtained a little pepper for some of his Indian cloths and decided to return back to the Netherlands. While at Banten he heard news that his diplomatic achievement with the king of Kandy had been in vain. Sebald de Weert had gone to the island from Aceh and offended the ruler, who had him executed at the beach. Van Spilbergen returned in 1604 and found that his patron Balthasar de Moucheron had fled the country as he had gone bankrupt.
