The Devil and the Dark Water

Sammy Pipps, a famous detective, is arrested in Batavia. He is being transported in chains to the harbor to board the Saardam, a ship bound for Amsterdam, where he will stand trial. Throughout the walk, he is protected by his bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who blocks stones and trash thrown by an angry mob.

The men are escorted by four musketeers and Governor General Jan Haan, who purchased the village and turned it into the most profitable trading outpost of the United East India Company. On his return to Amsterdam, Haan will join the Gentleman 17—the ruling body of the company. Beside him, four slaves carry a palanquin with his wife, Sara, and daughter, Lia Jan, inside. Four musketeers carry the Folly, a large chest prized by Haan.

As the group reaches the bay, Guard Captain Jacobi Drecht introduces himself to Sammy and Arent; he is sailing with them to protect Haan and his family. However, he is interrupted by a man with leprosy, dressed in rags and wrapped in bloody bandages. He warns the group that the Saardam’s cargo is “sin” and that “all who board her will be brought to merciless ruin” (6). As he utters his warning, staring at Arent, he takes no notice as his robes burst into flame.

After a moment, the man seems to become aware of the flames and begins to try to put them out, falling off the crates he is standing on. Arent grabs a barrel of ale and uses it to douse the flames; however, the man is covered in burns across his body. As Arent looks down at him, in agony but not making a sound, he informs the group that the man has no tongue.

Sara Wessel leaves her palanquin and comes to Arent’s side, proclaiming that she is a healer. She gives the man a draught for his pain and then asks for permission to end his suffering. The man agrees, and Arent uses a soldier’s sword to kill him.

Sammy summons Arent and Sara over to speak with him. He informs them that the man was bow-legged and had a bruise—suggesting that he was a carpenter on the ships. He also points out that he had a bad leg and no tongue, meaning he could not have gotten onto the crates or spoken the words they heard. He begs Sara to convince her husband to delay the Saardam’s departure until the matter is investigated.

As Sara returns to the palanquin, she overhears her husband talking to his chamberlain, Cornelius Vos. Haan asks Vos about the Folly and where it will be stored, concerned about its protection. Vos assures him that it will be in the gunpowder store.

Sara thinks back to her marriage to Haan—15 years ago. Although he is 20 years older than her, Sara’s father wed them because of Haan’s wealth and power. He has subjected her to regular physical and emotional abuse.

Despite her fear, she asks Haan to delay the Saardam’s departure. However, he insists that Sammy is a “criminal” and should not be listened to.

On the ferry to the Saardam, Sammy tries to convince Arent to leave him, but Arent refuses. Although they do not know what crime Sammy was arrested for—he was placed in chains immediately after they retrieved the missing Folly for Haan—Arent is adamant that he will stay with him.

Despite Arent’s hesitancy to do so, because of his failure on a previous case, Sammy pleads with Arent to take over the investigation while Sammy is imprisoned.

On the ship, Lia notes all the “wasted” effort of the crew and wonders aloud why they don’t use a pully system. However, her mother scolds her, telling her that she needs to be careful appearing too “clever” in front of men—who will take it as an insult and dislike her for it. She thinks of how bad it feels to tell her child “to be less than” she is (29).

Haan calls Sara and Lia over to meet Chief Merchant Reynier van Schooten, the master of their voyage, and Sara notices from the tone of her husband’s voice that he dislikes this man. Sara asks van Schooten why the captain is not in charge, but he insists that on a merchant ship, the Chief Merchant oversees everything other than captaining the ship. Sara thinks to herself how this would be true of a United East India vessel—they care little about the journey or the people on board, as long as the goods arrive intact.

Sara goes to the cabin of her friend, Creesjie. She implores her to leave the ship. However, Creesjie is more concerned with meeting Sammy than any danger and insists that she needs to be there to help Sara if there truly is danger. She also refuses to leave the ship without Haan’s approval. Sara points out that because Creesjie is Haan’s mistress, she can get his approval to leave if she wants. However, Creesjie refuses to try and instead asks Sara what they can do to help Sammy. The two decide to start by finding a carpenter who might have known the man with leprosy.

Sammy, still in chains, is raised onto the boat in a net. He then walks with Hayes to the cell that has been built at the bow of the ship. Eggert, one of the musketeers escorting Sammy, shoves him to the ground, while the other man, Thyman, attempts to kick him. However, Arent grabs Thyman and throws him into the railing, cracking the wood. Eggert pulls a dagger and swings it at Arent, but Arent grabs his arm and forces the dagger to Eggert’s throat. In response, Drecht pulls out his sword and pushes it against Arent’s chest, insisting he let Eggert go.

In the confusion of the fight between Arent and the musketeers, Sander Kers and his ward, Isabel, sneak onto the ship. As Kers chooses a spot on the deck to perform a ritual, pulling out a book of “horrors,” Isabel looks longingly back at Batavia. Although she fears what they are going to do, she also thinks of what it was like to be a poor woman in Batavia and decides that she would rather stay and help Kers.

The struggle between Arent, the merchants, and Drecht escalates, with Drecht threatening to kill Arent, while Arent insists that no one will touch Sammy. Sammy deescalates the situation by pointing out that Thyman cheated Eggert at dice. He explains how Thyman did it, turning Eggert’s anger on Thyman and away from himself.

Drecht then escorts Sammy to his cell. It is at the front of the boat among the crew, below the boatswain’s workshop and quarters. It is a dark, damp room so small that Sammy cannot even stand. Drecht insists that he is under orders from Haan to keep him here, while Arent reassures Sammy that he will find a way to get his cell moved. However, Sammy tells Arent to worry first about the danger to the ship and find someone to help him investigate.

Sara requests a carpenter to her cabin to build shelves, though her real purpose is to ask the carpenter about the man with leprosy. The carpenter’s mate, Henri, comes to her cabin. She mentions a carpenter with a disabled foot and missing tongue, and Henri identifies the man as Bosey. Henri initially won’t talk—insistent that Johannes Wyck, the boatswain who oversees the crew, has forbidden them to talk about Bosey—but complies when Sara offers him money.

He tells Sara that Bosey used to talk and brag excessively, causing Wyck to cut out his tongue a month prior, and that no one has seen him since they docked in Batavia. Before he lost his tongue, he was bragging about the “easiest coin he ever made” doing “favors” for a wealthy man, but when asked about it, he only responded with the word “Laxagarr” (59). When Sara asks what it means, Henri tells her that it is likely his native language, Nornish, which only Wyck knows how to speak.

Arent exits the sailmakers’ quarters and steps onto the deck just as the crew is being called to assemble. He watches as the captain gives a speech to his crew, informing them that their journey will be arduous and dangerous. As they unfurl the mainsail, there is “an eye with a tail [on it] drawn in ash” (62).

Sander Kers closes his book, which displays the same image that has appeared on the sail. Creesjie Jens grips the ship’s rail, Wyck touches his eye patch, and Arent looks “incredulously” at the sail, noticing that the image drawn on it is identical to the scar on his wrist.