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Amsterdam 1636. The Windjammer Trading Company has sent its whole fleet to follow the trade winds to the Americas, to explore the new land and trade with the colonists there. But they meet with a succession of disasters –– pirates, privateers and fierce weather. Finally the whole fleet is lost in a storm.
When news finally reaches Amsterdam the head of the family, Hercules Windjammer calls a meeting of the Amsterdam merchants who had invested in the voyage. He can no longer pay them what he owes them and he asks them to give him time to repair the fortunes of the House of Windjammer. The merchants are about to agree when the money lender, Hugo van Helsen, objects and is against any further loans to the House of Windjammer. He says the Windjammers should sell the Draco –– the new ship which is being built for them –– and concentrate on the Baltic grain trade, which is steady.
Hercules violently disagrees. He has promised the widows of the lost sailors that he will send the Draco westwards to find out what has happened to the fleet and in the meantime he will support them. He is not prepared to break his promises. Then he has a heart attack and falls down dead.
His fifteen-year-old son Adam is now head of the House of Windjammer. But Adam is too young to run the affairs of the company yet so it is agreed that his Uncle Augustus will be in charge while the old clerk Gerrit instructs Adam in the ways of business.
But Augustus is weak and greedy and he increases the debts of the Windjammers instead of reducing them. As for Adam, he is determined to fulfil his father’s promises but how is he to do that? He hears of the Black Pearl. If he could only find that then he is sure that he can save the House of Windjammer. But where is the Black Pearl? More particularly what is the Black Pearl?
When help does eventually come it is from a very unexpected quarter.
This story might be about wheeling and dealing seventeenth century style but it certainly does not lack excitement. Adam has to deal with an intruder who breaks into the family home, he finds himself struggling to survive in the icy waters of a canal and there is a climax when he is fighting for his life against the evil Abner Heems in a room above a tavern.
Then there are the characters who are all brought vividly to life. Adam himself young and determined but still with a lot to learn, Gerrit the faithful old clerk, Adam’s mother Mary, courageous and resourceful, Adam’s twin sisters who, although young, still have a part to play, the ineffectual Augustus, the moneylender Hugo van Helsen who has this uncontrollable urge to control everyone and his daughter Jade who is rebelling at being forced into a loveless marriage.
And all this is played out against the background of seventeenth Amsterdam with its tall houses, canals and busy waterfront. To say nothing of the tulip mania which swept Holland at this time with men trading in taverns with their faces covered with so that they would be anonymous.
This is the first of a series and the last chapter reads like the beginning of a new book.
An exciting story with a fascinating background.
11+
A tale of adventure on the high seas interspersed with wheeling and dealing on the 17th century Amsterdam stock exchange.
This is a sequel to The House of Windjammer. Adam Windjammer has taken the Draco and sailed to America to try and discover what had happened to the crews of the Windjammer ships which had been destroyed in a storm. He discovers the fate of the sailors but he also has to defend the Draco against pirates.
Meanwhile back in Amsterdam Jade van Helsen is struggling with her mixed emotions. She hates her father for trying to force her into a loveless marriage with an elderly English goldsmith. At he same time she is desperate to gain his respect and affection.
Then Adam comes back to Amsterdam. At once the Draco is seized by van Helsen’s men because, while Adam was away, he had taken over the Quadrant Trading Company. Jade feels guilty and blames herself for the fall of the House of Windjammer as she had stolen the black tulip. (Details are given in the first book of the series). But when she tries to make amends by trying to help him the embittered Adam refuses to trust her.
In trying to help her father Jade discovers that he is being swindled by being sold a worthless piece of land in the West Indies and that knowledge leads her into danger when she is kidnapped by a band of ruffians.
This book moves at a good pace culminating in a climax where Adam tries to rescue Jade from a lonely windmill and then flees with her across a treacherous marsh with his friends with a band of ruffians in close pursuit.
The story ends with Adam and Jade forced into a partnership so they have to work together. No doubt we shall learn of their attempts to work out their relationship in the next book in this series.
This book gives a good picture of the Dutch trading ventures with the American colonies. It also brings 17th century Amsterdam to life. There is a short note about the treasure ships of the Spanish fleet and also a timeline but more information should have been given about Amsterdam. In particular there should have been a note explaining the workings of the Bourse. And the book really needs a map of 17th century Amsterdam.
The first volume of the series should also be read before this book as it is not really a stand-alone.
But apart from these reservations this is a thrilling and gripping tale which also imparts much knowledge about Dutch shipping and trade at the time.