Abraham died in 1706 in Ceylon.
1/5 or sometimes 1/3 of the crew were soldiers.They did not have any duty on board of the ship.
They were shipped to Asia to guard and defend the Dutch settlements.
Only in times of danger they had to be on duty.
And there always had to be one soldier on guard in front of the cabin and the office of the commander on the ship.
Recruting was something else.
In a tavern the crewmembers to be were feasted on food ,beer and wine.
At the end of the meal they had to pay a very expensive bill.
When they could not pay .The first two months of their wages had to be paid to the landlord and a contract was made and signed.
The main export from Ceylon was cinnamon, elephants ,pearls and cotton.
During the time that Abraham was there it was relatively calm
Rajasingha II, Vimala Dharma Surya II (1687-1707) en Narendrasingha (1707-1739) were the governors and they worked together with the Dutch Governors
1697-1702 gerrit de Heere also in service in Japan.1703-1707 Cornelis Joan Simonsz.
Near Ceylon there are a lot of small islands named after Dutch cities .
Amsterdam (Carredive), Rotterdam (Annelledivo), Haarlem (Neynadivo), Middelburg (Pongeredivo), Leiden (Tannindivu of Ourature), Delft (Nairendivo) and the two brothers, Hoorn and Enkhuizen (Iranaitivu).
The only remaining island 40 miles from Jaffna with a Dutch name is Delft.
The journey of the Isselt is recorded in a log by the master Simon Langedam and is kept in the National Archives.
Journaal gehouden op het schip Isselt door schipper Simon Langendam, met journaal van het `waterwerk' 1699.
The master was from Leiden and after returning with another ship he was promoted admiral.
Leiden .
Timekeeping on board of the ships was done by a hourglass.
The watchmen sometimes cheated and turned the hourglass to quick.
After a while there was a big time difference.
A watchperiod was 4 hours (8 turns of the hourglass) and was announced by a bell.
The navy still use the same words like dogwatch ,
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