A True and Complete Account of the Life of William Adams - The English Samurai. Act Two: Voyage to Japan - 1598-1600

By: Richard Irving

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In the spring of 1598 William Adams and a small band of skilled English mariners, including his brother, arrived at the port of Rotterdam to join a Dutch expedition intending to sail for the Spice Islands and Japan. The five ships that set sail were well-armed, for the plan was to emulate the voyage of Sir Francis Drake - to pass through the treacherous Magellan Strait, and then raid Spanish townships on the coast of Chile. Events turned out badly from the outset, however, as the fleet headed for disaster.

Bad luck, sickness, and poor decision-making forced the fleet to over-winter in the harsh conditions of the Strait. Contrary winds did not allow any escape into the Pacific until September, 1599. Then, a succession of fierce southern latitude storms forced the fleet to break-up, leaving only two ships on course for Japan. The loss of fifty of the combined crews in two attacks by people from the Aracaunian nation left Adams and his fellow survivors vulnerable to capture by the Spanish. By a remarkable act of improvised subterfuge the two Dutch ships escaped, but into uncharted waters.

After a Pacific crossing which resulted in further crew loss through mutiny, and a fierce storm which caused the loss of the other Dutch ship, William Adams was effectively left in charge of the sole surviving vessel - the Liefde. Having nearly reached Japan, he was let down by false charts and was now lost in a wide, wide ocean. Only a brilliant feat of navigation by Adams could save the ship, but this took three arduous weeks during which many of his shipmates succumbed to starvation. When he finally did make it to a small, remote port in Japan he and only eight of his fellow shipmates were left standing.

William Adams is perhaps best known as the model for John Blackthorne in James Clavell's novel Shogun. It is at this point in Adams' journey that the novel begins, in dramatic fashion, when Adams is betrayed by two of his fellow crew and all are threatened with a brutal execution on the beach. This book - Act Two: The Voyage to Japan - tells the true story of these events, and of his interrogation in Osaka castle by the future ruler of Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu.