Men of Kent and Kentishmen/William Adams
William Adams
Navigator, the first English Voyager to Japan,
Was born at Gillingham, near Chatham, about the year 1560. At the age of twelve he entered on a seafaring life as an apprentice to a master mariner of Limehouse. He subsequently entered the navy. On the opening of the Dutch trade with the East Indies he was tempted to join an expedition of five ships which sailed from Rotterdam, in June, 1598. In this little fleet he occupied the position of pilot-major. His ship, the Charity, of 160 tons and 110 men, was the only one which survived the voyage. It reached the coast of Japan in April, 1600. Of the others, two were driven back by storms through the Straits of Magellan, and eventually returned to Holland, one was captured by a Spanish cruiser off the coast of Chili, and the fourth perished in the South Pacific.
On his arrival in Japan, Adams was at first received with kindness, and, though subsequently thrown into prison, he was soon released, and succeeded in acquiring the friendship of the Emperor, for whom he built two ships. For this service he was presented with an estate with eighty or ninety husbandmen for slaves and servants. In this position he continued five years, when he sought leave to return to England, but was refused. In 1611 he heard that Englishmen were trading to the East, and he contrived to send a letter to the English factory at Bantam. In 1613 an English ship arrived in Japan, under the command of Captain John Saris, and Adams obtained leave to return. At the last moment, however, he refused to do so, on account of some disagreement with Saris, and determined to remain in Japan, where, although he had left a wife and daughter in England, he had a Japanese wife and two children. On the death of the Emperor Iyégasu, who had befriended him, his influence at Court declined. He died on the 16th May, 1620, and was buried on the site of his estate at Hemi-mura. His memory is still preserved in Japan, where an annual celebration is held in his honour.
The chief particulars of Adams's life are from his Letters, printed in "Purchas his Pilgrimes" and in the "Diary of Richard Cocks," (the head of the English Factory at Friando,) published by the Hakluyt Society. See also "Rundall's Memorials of Japan," published by the same Society.