Samuel Kiechel had travelled by cart and boat through the provinces of the independent Dutch Republic. His destination was Vlissingen, the westernmost city of the republic, just across the water from Spanish-held Flanders. From Vlissingen, ships left for England. But Kiechel’s hope for quick progress was dashed by the weather and strong eastward winds.

Travelling Around Walcheren Island

Kiechel’s ship sailed through the night and arrived in Arnemuiden the following morning. Our traveller noted that the town was in the province of Zeeland. It was small and fortified by poorly constructed walls.

In the sixteenth century, Arnemuiden was on the southern coast of Walcheren. Today, however, it is no longer connected to the sea. In 1871, the Sloedam was built to connect Walcheren to the mainland, and after World War II, the land around the dam was reclaimed and poldered. The island of Walcheren is now a peninsula.

According to the journal, Middelburg was one mile from the sea, but ships could access it via a canal. Before the war, the city had been an important commercial centre, with its merchants regularly sailing to Spain. Now, the ships were at risk of being boarded and their cargo seized.

A bird’s-eye view in the second volume of the “Civitates Orbis Terrarum” shows Middelburg as a fortified city with large open spaces inside the walls. This volume of the “Civitates” was first published in 1575, and depending on when the print was made, it might depict the city after the siege. The open areas suggest this possibility. While small gardens were not uncommon in medieval and early modern cities, the norm was that construction space for houses was usually limited, especially in a busy trading port. At the bottom of the image are Middelburg’s harbour and the canal leading to the sea. Ships are moored on the canal and within the city, but they are of moderate size. Nevertheless, Middelburg recovered from the siege and went on to become one of the wealthiest and largest cities in the Dutch Republic during the seventeenth century.

After spending the night in Middelburg, Samuel Kiechel travelled by cart to Vlissingen (5 August) on the western coast of Walcheren. The road to Vlissingen is marked in the bird’s-eye view, located in the top left corner. However, the view is not oriented towards the north, so in van Deventer’s map, the road appears in the bottom left corner.

Forced Stopover

Samuel Kiechel did not intend to stay in Vlissingen; he wanted to depart for England as soon as possible. However, because the wind constantly blew from the west, he had to wait in the town from 5 August to 6 September. Despite this hold-up, our traveller kept himself busy; he made two unsuccessful attempts to continue his voyage.

The first attempt was on 27 August when the wind finally shifted. Kiechel prepared to leave and went on board a ship. But then, the wind changed course again in the evening, forcing him to return to the town.

The second attempt to leave Vlissingen soon followed. Kiechel overheard that some Frenchmen had paid the captain of a privateer ship to take them to Calais in France. Bored with waiting in Vlissingen, he decided to join them on their voyage.

As a side note, Kiechel spoke French. Later in his journal, he mentions that he had spent a few months in Paris before his journey, using that time to learn the language.

Unlike modern passports, early modern equivalents were issued only for a specific destination. The document was essentially an official letter with the traveller’s name and sometimes physical features. Travellers like Samuel Kiechel often had to acquire new passports from local authorities, especially in regions affected by war or plague.

Samuel Kiechel took the passport for England as a precaution. He explains in his journal that privateers, when they stopped a ship at sea, would question the passengers about their destination. A traveller with a passport would be left in peace, but without it, he risked being robbed. Following Kiechel’s reasoning, it was essential to have a passport at sea. The destination for which the passport was issued was of lesser importance. Presumably, since sailing ships relied on the wind, there was always a chance of being blown off course — as Kiechel would later discover to his advantage.

Upon returning to the port on 1 September, all passengers had to show their passports at the gate before being allowed into the city — a routine security check to ensure no one without the proper papers had been on the ship. It did not matter that the vessel had left Vlissingen the day prior.

Now, Samuel Kiechel was very worried. While he possessed a passport, it was not issued for a journey to France, and he had just disembarked from a French ship heading for Calais. Our traveller noted that if he was caught, he would not have been permitted to enter Vlissingen again. Given that the Dutch were at war with Spain, there might have been harsher consequences. However, not being allowed into Vlissingen meant Kiechel would need to find another port to continue his journey to England.

Fortunately for him, the poor weather worked in his favour. The guard at the gate, unwilling to spend too much time in the rain, merely glanced at his document and waved him through.

England and the Dutch Revolt

During Samuel Kiechel’s time in Vlissingen, the Dutch Republic and England signed the Treaty of Nonsuch (10 August 1585). Queen Elizabeth I agreed to provide troops to lift the siege of Antwerp and to pay a yearly subsidy to support the Dutch rebellion. In return, English garrisons were stationed in the towns of Brill and Vlissingen, as well as at Fort Rammekens, until the Dutch repaid the loan. They achieved this in 1616. Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was sent to command the English forces.

While Kiechel waited in Vlissingen, he observed ships from England arriving daily, bringing soldiers to lift the siege of Antwerp. On 29 August, the commander of the English army arrived. According to our traveller, he was called “Mylord Oxford” and was received in the city with great fanfare. It appears that the news of Antwerp’s surrender to the Spanish on 17 August 1585 had not yet reached Vlissingen.

After waiting a month in Vlissingen, the wind finally shifted. On 6 September, Samuel Kiechel boarded a French privateer in his third and final attempt to leave the city.