Generally speaking, naval officers and the commanders and ship’s officers employed by the VOC came from two different social worlds. Some naval officers were middle-class, but in the eighteenth century they were usually scions of the upper class, even the aristocracy. In contrast, the ship’s officers in the Company were a group of professionally and socially upwardly mobile men. Among the commanders of the Zealand Chamber, an appointment as naval captain in the Admiralty of Zealand betokened greatly sought-after social advancement. Consequently, there was little interest in a move in the opposite direction downward. When the Admiralties were plunged into financial difficulties at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1713) many of the warships of the Republic were either mothballed or destroyed. Opportunities for active service shrank and many high-ranking naval officers went abroad to seek appointments in the Russian or Portuguese navies. They scarcely cast a second glance at the VOC as a potential new employer. In 1713 and 1714, only three lieutenants – the lowest rank for officers – of the Admiralty of Amsterdam joined the VOC. The Board of the Admiralty granted them permission to take this step. Another three followed in 1717. They retained their naval rank. After that, only sporadically did any other lieutenant venture to take the same step. No captain ever did. The Company offered these lieutenants posts as second or third mates.

Changes in 1742

In 1742, there was a sudden change in the pattern. The initiative was taken by the VOC. The Navy still had a numerous, rather over-crowded officer corps, which it only rarely employed at sea. Around 1720, the Admiralty of Amsterdam, by far the largest of the five Admiralties, had twenty-two commanders – the naval rank between lieutenant and captain – and thirty-five lieutenants in service. There was little work for them and their opportunities to earn any money were severely restricted. Suddenly, in 1742, the VOC offered them a new opportunity. For some time the Company had been suffering problems with its shipping. Many ships had been lost in recent years, eight ships in the returning fleet on one occasion. As a consequence, doubts were openly cast on the quality of the ships and the professionalism of the ship’s officers. The situation was exacerbated because unusually large numbers of commanders and ship’s officers had succumbed to malaria in Batavia.