Letter No.

I William Adams to the Worshipful Fellowship of the

Merchants of London trading into the East Indies dated 22 nd October
1611.

Having been so fortuitous to have heard that there are certain English
merchants residing on the island of Java, and though their names are
unknown to me, I have taken the step of writing a few sentences hoping
that, again though unknown to me, you will pardon my being so forward.

The reason I write is firstly out of conscience as a consequence of my

love for my fellow countrymen and my country. Your Worships, to whom
this letter will be delivered, I would like you to understand that I am a
Kentish man, born in a town called Gillingham, two English miles from
Rochester, and one mile from Chatham, where the King’s ships berth;
and that from the age of twelve years old I was brought up in Limehouse
near London, having been apprenticed for twelve years to Master
Nicholas Diggins. I myself served as Master and Pilot in Her Majesty’s
ships, and for about eleven or twelve years served the Worshipful
Company of the Barbary Merchants until the shipping commerce from
Holland to the Indies began; it was as part of the shipping commerce to
the Indies that I wanted to make use of the little knowledge that God has
given to me.

So, in the year of our Lord 1598 I was hired as Pilot Major for a fleet of
five ships which were made ready by the Indies Company, Peeter
Vander Hay and Hance Vander Veek. The General of this fleet was a
merchant called Jaques Maihore and in the ship on which he was
Admiral, I was Pilot. So around the 23 rd or 24th June when we set sail it
was too late when we came to the line (ed. note: the equator) to pass it
without contrary winds. So it was around the middle of September when
we encountered southerly winds, and when many of our men were sick,
that we were forced to make sail to the coast of Guinea to Cape Lucas
where we were able to land our sick men where, because there was no
refreshment and it being an unhealthy place and though a few got better,
many died.

So we could complete our voyage and being determined to pass the

Straits of Magelan we set sail for Brazil and in due course arrived at an
island called Annobon (ed. note: in Equatorial Guinea) where we landed
and took the town which was made up of around eighty houses. There
we refreshed ourselves with oxen, oranges and diverse fruits, etc. But
the air was unwholesome and very bad and as one person’s health
improved another’s sickness worsened. We spent two months on the
coast at Cape Lucas, and then at Annobon until the twelfth or thirteenth
of November. At that time we set sail from Annobon with the winds south
and south by east, and south south-east until we reached four degrees
south of the equator at which point the wind favoured us coming to the
south-east and east south-east so that, after five months, we were
between the island of Annobon and the Straits of Magellan.

One of our five sails, the main mast, fell overboard which was extremely
inconvenient so that we had to set a new mast during troubled seas. On
the twenty ninth of March, after having experienced two or three days of
contrary winds, we saw land at a latitude of fifty degrees. So, in the end,
after favourable winds we arrived at the Straits of Magellan on the sixth
of April 1599. At that time winter arrived accompanied by much snow,
and bound by cold on one side and hunger on the other the men grew
weak. At the time we had north-east winds for six or seven days during
which time we could have passed through the Straits. However, so that
our men could find refreshment we waited, taking in water and wood and
setting up a pynnas (ed. note: old Scots for pinnace, a small boat) of
fifteen or twenty tons capacity. So at length we would have passed
though but couldn’t because of the southerly winds and the very cold
weather, and the abundance of snow and ice. As a consequence we
were forced to stay and winter in the Straits from the sixth of April until
the twenty-fourth of September during which time most of our food had
been eaten and for the lack of which may of our men died of hunger. So,
having passed through the Straits and arriving in the South Sea we
encountered many terrible storms and having been driven southward to
fifty four degrees it was very cold.

At length we encountered reasonable winds and weather during which

we followed our intended voyage towards the coast of Peru but in long
traverses, being separated from one another, we lost our whole fleet. Yet
we had decided, before our fleet was dispersed by storms, that if we lost
one another we would stay one or another for thirty days in Chile in the
latitude of forty-six degrees. At that latitude, of forty-six degrees, I
anchored and we stayed there for twenty-eight days where we refreshed
ourselves, and though we found the people of that country good natured
they would not trade with us because of the Spaniards. At first they
brought us sheep and potatoes for which we gave them bills and knives
with which they were very pleased but in the end the people left their
houses and travelled into the countryside and had no more to do with us.
We stayed there for twenty-eight days and set up a pinnace which was
on our ship in four parts. Finally we left and made our way to Valduvia
(ed. note: river in Chile). However because of the strong wind at the time
we didn’t enter it but change our course out of the bay to the island of
Mocha arriving the following day but finding none of our fleet there we
changed our course to Santa Maria (ed. note: Chilean Province of
Aaraco) and the following day arrived at the Cape which is just a league
and a half from the island. Seeing many people luffed (ed. note: sailing
close to the wind) around the cape, and finding good ground we
anchored in a sandy bay in fifteen fathoms. We went with our boats to
parley with the people of the land but they wouldn’t allow us to land,
shooting a lot of arrows at us. Nevertheless, having no victuals in our
ship and hoping to find refreshments by force we landed around twenty-
seven to thirty of our men and rove the wild people from the beach, most
of our men being hurt with their arrows. After landing we made signs of
friendship and finally parleyed with signs and tokens of friendship which
the people finally understood. So we signed to them that we needed
victuals showing them iron, silver and cloth which we would give to them
in exchange for the same. As a result they gave us wine, with potatoes
to eat, and drinks with other fruits and bid, by signs and tokens, for our
men to go aboard, and the next day to come again when they would
bring us good stores of refreshments. So, being late our men came
aboard, very glad that we had come to a parley with them, hoping that
we would receive more refreshments.

The next day, the ninth of November 1599, our captain with all our
officers prepared to land, having taken advice to go to the water side but
not to land more than two or three at the most for there were a lot of
people there that we didn’t know about who were wild and therefore not
to be trusted. With the advice concluded the captain himself went in one
of our boats with as much force as we could make. Being on shore the
people of the country made signs that they should land but that wasn’t
well liked by our captain. Finally, the people not having approached our
boats, our captain along with the rest, resolved to land, contrary to the
advice that was given on board before approaching the beach. In due
course twenty-three men landed with muskets and marched towards four
or five houses and when they were about a musket shot from the boats
more than a thousand Indians, who had lain in ambush, immediately fell
upon our men with such weapons as they had, and to our knowledge
killed them all. So our boats waited to see if any of them would return but
all having been slain our boats came back with the sad news of the
deaths of all our men which we all greatly mourned, for we had scarcely
enough men to wind up our anchor. The next day we weighed our
anchor and went over to the island of St. Maria, where we found our
Admiral who had arrived there four days before us, and departed from
the island of Mocha the day before we had come from there, having the
General, Master and all his Officers, murdered on land so that all our
Officers were slain, the one bemoaning the other. Nevertheless they
were both glad to see each other and we were so enthusiastically
friendly together. My good friend Timothy Shotten was Pilot in that ship.

Being at the island of St. Marcia, which lies at the latitude south of the
equator of thirty-seven degrees twelve minutes off the coast of Chile we
discussed taking all of things out of one of the ships and to burn the
other. However, the new Captains, neither one nor the other, could
agree as to which ship should be left. Having a lot of cloth in our ships,
we agreed to leave the coast of Peru and direct our course to Japan
having understood that cloth was popular merchandise there. It was also
understood that along the coast of Peru the King’s ships were out
looking for us, knowing that we were in the location. Understanding that
we were certainly lacking men, one of our fleet was forced to seek relief
from starvation at the hand of our enemies in Santiago. For this reason,
having refreshed ourselves at the island of St. Maria, and as we had no
news of the rest of our fleet, more by policy than by force, our two ships
departed from the island of St. Maria on the twenty-seventh of
November.

So we left directly for Japan and passed the equatorial line together until
we arrived at twenty-eight degrees to the north of the equator at which
latitude we were around about the twenty-third of February 1600. We
encountered an astonishing wind storm as ever I had been in with
torrential rain which undermined our moral. Nevertheless, hoping that we
would once again meet up in Japan at the latitude of thirty-eight degrees
north we sought the northern most Cape of the previously mentioned
Island but we couldn’t find it because the information in all the cards and
maps and globes was wrong as it lies at thirty-five and a half degrees
which is very different. Finally, at thirty-two and a half degrees we
sighted land on the nineteenth of April. So it took us four months and
twenty-two days from the Cape of St. Maria to Japan by which time there
were no more than six, including me, that could stand on their own two
feet.

So, in in safe surroundings we let fall our anchor about a league from a
place called Bungo. At this time a lot of boats came to us and, unable to
resist, we suffered them to come aboard and though we couldn’t
understand one another they did us no harm. Within two or three days of
our arrival a Jesuit arrived from a place called Nagasaki to which place
the Carake (ed. note: ship) of Macao comes annually. Along with other
Christian Japanese who were our interpreters this didn’t bode well as our
mortal enemies were our Truchmen (ed. note: old English for Dragomen,
interpreters). Nevertheless the King of Bungo showed us great
friendship. He gave us a house with land where we took our sick men
where we all had sufficient refreshments. When we came to anchor at
Bungo we had twenty-four men both sick and well of whom three died
the following day. For the most part the rest also recovered, save three
who were ill for a long time and finally died.

During our time here the Emperor (ed. note: Tokugawa Ieyasu) heard
about us and sent five galleys, or frigates, to us to bring me to Court,
where his Highness was, which was about eighty English leagues
distance from Bungo. So as soon as I appeared before him he
demanded from me what country we were from. I answered all his
questions about everything he asked, including war and peace between
various countries, which were so many that to write of them here would
be too tedious. After having been questioned intensely it was
commanded that I be sent to prison with one of our mariners who had
accompanied me to assist me. Two days later the Emperor summoned
me again asking why we had travelled so far. I answered that we were
people who sought friendship with all other nations and wanted to trade
in all other countries bring such merchandise that our country produces
to foreign lands for trade. He also asked about wars between Spain and
Portugal and our country, and the reasons. I answered all his questions
which, I thought, he seemed pleased to hear. Finally I was once again
sent back to prison, but in a better place.

So I was imprisoned for thirty-nine days during which time I had no news
of our ship or the Captain, whether he had recovered or not from his
illness, nor of the rest of the company. Every day I expected to die, to be
crucified as is the customary justice in Japan, as hanging is in our
country. During this long period of imprisonment the Jesuits and the
Portuguese gave much evidence to the Emperor against me and the
others; that we were thieves and robbers of all nations and were we
allowed to live it would be detrimental to the profit of his Highness and
his country, for no nation would come here without intending to steal and
if his Highness justice were for us to be executed the rest of our nation
would, out of fear, not come here anymore. They did this every day in
person to the Emperor, bringing their own friends to try to hasten my
death. But God, being ever merciful in times of need, showed us mercy,
and wouldn’t allow them to have their own way with us. Finally the
Emperor responded and told them that as we hadn’t done anything to
him or harmed or damaged any part of his land that it would be against
Reason and Justice to put us to death. He also said that if our countries
were at war with one another that was not a reason to put us to death.
With that they were out of heart and their cruel pretence had failed them
for which praise be to God.

Now during the time I was in prison the ship was command to be brought
near to the city where the Emperor was, as she might be (for grounding
her), which was done. Forty-one days having passed the Emperor
commended me to be brought before him again and he asked me so
many more questions it’s too long to write them here. To finish he asked
me if I wanted to go to the ship to see my fellow countrymen. I answered
very gladly, to which he ordered me to do. So I left and was freed from
imprisonment. And this was the first news that I had, that the ship and its
company had come to the city. So with a rejoicing heart I took a boat
and went to our ship where I found the Captain and the rest recovered
from their sickness and when I came aboard was welcomed with much
weeping as they had been given to understand that I had long since
been executed. Thus, God be praised, all of us that were left alive joined
up together again.

All of the things that had been on board the ship had been taken away
so that I only had the clothes which I took with me. All my instruments
and books had been taken. Not only had I lost that which had been on
the ship but all that belonged to the captain and the ship’s company that
was worth taking had been carried away. All this had been done without
the knowledge of the Emperor. So in time when he became aware of this
he commanded that all the things that had been taken away be restored
to us again, but it had been taken away to here and there so that we
were unable to retrieve it except we were provided with 50,000 Rs in
cash that was ordered to be given to us and was brought to him and
given to a person who was appointed to be our Governor who took it into
his safekeeping to distribute as and when it was needed, for buying food
for our men and any other costs.

So after thirty days during which time our ship had been docked off the
city of Sakai, two and a half leagues from the city of Osaka where, at the
time, the Emperor resided, a command came from the Emperor that our
ship should sail to the easternmost part of the country called Kanto,
where, according to his commandment we sailed, the distance being
about a hundred and twenty leagues. Because of contrary winds our
journey there took a long time so that the Emperor arrived there long
before we did. Arriving at the land of Kanto, near to the city of Edo
(Tokyo) where the Emperor was. Having arrived I sought by all means
and appeals to get our ship cleared to find out the best route to go to the
place where the Dutch had their trade during which time we spent a lot
of the money that had been given to us. Also during this time three or
four men rebelled against our Captain and me and made a mutiny with
the rest of our men who caused a lot of trouble. For they wouldn’t stay
on the ship any longer but every one of them wanted to be in charge and
all would by force if necessary have their share of the money that had
been given to us by the Emperor. It would take too long to write what
happened down in detail. In the end the money was divided amongst the
company according to each man’s place though this was after we had
been in Japan for two years during which we, while we had been given
our ship had been denied permission to leave. So that as we were all in
disagreement each went his own way to do what he thought best. Finally
the Emperor gave every man two pounds of rice a day, daily, to live on
and annually the equivalent of eleven or twelve ducats; myself, the
Captain and the mariners alike.

So, over a period of four or five years the Emperor summoned me many
times, as he had done before. So, one time of note he asked me to
make him a small ship. I answered that I wasn’t a carpenter and didn’t
know how to do it. Well, he said, do your best and if it isn’t any good it
won’t matter. As a result of which I built him a ship of eighty tons or
thereabouts. The ship was built in all respects just like ours and coming
aboard to see it he was very pleased. In this way I became more in
favour with him so that I visited him often and he gave me many
presents and at length a yearly stipend to live on, as much as the
equivalent of seventy ducats annually along with two pounds of rice a
day, daily. Now as a result of being in great favour I taught him
geometry, and understanding of the art of mathematics, along with other
things. He was so pleased that he didn’t contradict anything I said. It was
then that my former enemies were astonised and then petitioned me to
be their friend which to both the Spanish and Portuguese I have done,
returning good for evil.

So, to as time passed I had to make a living which, at first, cost me great
labour and trouble but God blessed my work. After five years I begged
the King to be able to leave this land as I had a great desire to see my
wife and children according to conscience and nature. He was not
pleased with this request and would not let me leave for my country
anymore but to sty in his land. Yet in the process of time, and being in
great favour with the Emperor, I begged him again because we had
news of the Dutch being in Aceh (note: northern Sumatra) and Patani
(note: a town in Lower Siam on the Malay Peninsula) for which we had
greatly rejoiced with the hope that God would bring us to our own
country again by one means or another. So, I boldly begged him once
again myself to which he declined to reply. I told him that if he allowed
me to go I would be able to facilitate both the English and the Dutch
coming to his land to trade. He just would not allow me to go. I asked his
permission for the Captain which he duly gave. So, by that means my
Captain got permission and sailed in a junk to Patani yet in the space of
a year the Dutch didn’t come. He finally went from Patani to Johor Baru
(note: a town on Peninsular Malaysia opposite Singapore) where he
found a fleet of nine ships of which Matleef was General, and in this fleet
he was made Master again and with which he sailed to Malacca and
fought with an Armada of the Portuguese in which battle he was shot
and killed. So, as yet I think no news is known as to whether I am living
or dead.

Therefore I do pray and entreat you in the name of Jesus Christ to do as

much as is necessary to make my being here in Japan known to my
poor wife who is, ostensibly, a widow and my two children fatherless, the
only and greatest thing that grieves my heart and conscience. I am a
man not unknown in Ratcliffe and Limehouse, by name to my good
master Nicholas Diggins, M. Thomas Best, brothers M. Nicholas Isaac
and William Isaa, and many others as well as M. William Jones and M.
Becket. Therefore if this letter, or a copy, should come into their
possession I do know that compassion and mercy is enough that my
friends and relatives shall have news that I am still alive and in this vale
of my sorrowful pilgrimage which I desire repeatedly for the sake of
Jesus Christ. So that you are aware that I constructed my first ship in
which I made a couple of voyages and then the King commended me to
make another which I did which was about one hundred and twenty
tons. In that ship I sailed from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo) which is about the
same distance as from London to the Lizard or Lands’ End in England.
In the tear of our Lord 1609 the King lent the Governor of Manila that
ship so that he could sail with eighty of his men to Acapulco. In the year
1609 he had been cast away on the coast of Japan on a great ship of
about a thousand tons called the San Francisco at the latitude of thirty-
five degrees and fifty minutes. Because of the awful weather her main
mast had to be cut away and sent overboard as she headed towards
Japan and during the night the ship ran aground and was cast away.
Thirty-six men were drowned and three hundred and forty to three
hundred and fifty were saved. It was in this ship that the Governor of
Manila had been due to return as a passenger to Nova Spania.
However, in the year 1610 the Governor was sent to Acapulco in the
bigger of the two ships I had built and in the year 1611 this Governor
sent another ship in its place with a great present and an Ambassador to
the Emperor thanking him for his great friendship along with the value of
the ship, which the Spaniards now have in the Philippines, in goods and
cash. Now for my service which I have done and do daily, being
employed in the Emperor’s service, he has given me a living similar to a
Lordship in England with eight to ninety husbandmen that are my slaves
or servants which, as a precedent has never before been given to a
foreigner. Thus God has provided for me after my great misery and to
him only honour and praise, power and glory, both now and forever,
world without end.

Now I don’t know whether or not I shall leave this land. Until now there
hasn’t been the means though now because of the trade of the Dutch
there is the means. In 1609 two Dutch ships came to Japan. Their
intention was to capture the Caracke that comes annually from Macao
but they arrived five or six days too late. Nevertheless thay came to
Hirado and from there to the court of the Emperor where they wer
received with great friendship where they made an agreement with the
Emperor to send a ship or two every year, and so with the Emperor’s
pass they left. Now, this year 1611, a small ship arrived with cloth, lead,
elephant’s tusks, damask, black taffeta, raw silk, pepper and other
commodities and they apologised for not coming in 1610 according to
the agreement. The ship was wondrously well received. You should
understand that the Dutch here have an Indies of money for out of the
Netherlands there is no need of silver to be sent to the East Indies. Fir in
Japan there is a lot of silver and gold for the Dutch to use where they will
in the East Indies. But the merchandise which here is very saleable for
cash is raw silk, damask, black taffeta, the best black and red cloth, and
lead and similar commodities. So, now I understand from this Dutch
shipped that has recently arrived that there is settled trade by my
countrymen in the East Indies. I presume that among them some
merchants, masters or mariners must know of me. Therefore I have by
my own courage written these few brief lines not wanting to appear over
tedious to the reader. This land of Japan is a great country and lies from
the furthest north at a latitude of forty-eight degrees to the most
southerly part at thirty-five degrees, and it lies east by north and west by
south or west south west two-hundred and twenty English leagues. The
people of this land are good natured, courteous beyond measure, and
valiant in war. Their justice is severely executed without any partiality
upon transgressors of the law. They are governed in great civility. There
is not a land better governed by civil policy. The people are very
superstitious in their religion and are of diverse opinions. There are
many Jesuits and Franciscan friars in this land and they have converted
many to Christianity and they have many churches in this land. Thus, I
am constrained to write briefly hoping that by one means or another and
in the process of time I shall hear of my wife and children. And so with
patience I wait the good will and pleasure of Almighty God. Therefore I
do pray that anyone into whose hands the letter comes shall do their
best and that my wife and children and my good friends may hear of me,
and by whose good means I may in the process of time, and before my
death, hear news or see some of my friend again, which shall be turned
to God’s Glory. Amen.

Dated in Japan the twenty-second of October 1611. By your unworthy

friend and servant, to command in what I can, William Adams.