William Adams (samurai)

William Adams was born on 24 September 1564 in Gillingham, Kent, England. After his father died when he was twelve, he was apprenticed to a shipyard owner named Nicholas Diggins in Limehouse, where he spent twelve years learning shipbuilding, astronomy, and navigation. He then served in the Royal Navy under Sir Francis Drake during England’s war with Spain, acting as master of the Richarde Dyffylde, a resupply ship that carried ammunition and food for the English fleet during the 1588 battle against the Spanish Armada.

Naval service

Whether he resupplied from the rear or fought on the front line is unclear. After the victory, the Queen’s fleet was disbanded, and Adams lost his job. He later found work with the Barbary Company, and Jesuit sources claim he spent about two years on an Arctic expedition searching for a Northeast Passage along Siberia’s coast to the Far East.

In 1598, Adams was hired as chief pilot for a five-ship fleet organized by a Rotterdam merchant company (a voorcompagnie, a predecessor of the Dutch East India Company). The fleet’s goal was to reach the western coast of South America, trade for silver, and then—if that failed—head to Japan to obtain silver and spices in the Moluccas before returning home. The ships were the Hoop (lost near Hawaii), the Liefde (the only one to reach Japan), the Geloof (the only one to return to Rotterdam), the Trouw (captured in Tidore), and the Blijde Boodschap (seized in Valparaíso).

The expedition left Goeree on 27 June 1598, anchored in the Downs until mid-July, and then sailed toward North Africa. Rations were cut early on, and the ships stopped at Santiago, Cape Verde, and Mayo for water and fresh fruit, staying about three weeks. Near Praia, they briefly occupied a Portuguese castle but gained nothing substantial.

At Brava, half the crew of the Hoop fell ill with fever, and Admiral Jacques Mahu died. Leadership passed to Simon de Cordes, with Gerrit van Beuningen as vice admiral. Contrary winds then blew the fleet off course.

Service under Shogunate

Adams arrived in Japan in 1600 as one of the few survivors of the Liefde, under Jacob Quaeckernaeck. Soon after landing, he and his second mate Jan Joosten became advisors to shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, and both were appointed as hatamoto (direct retainers).