Nathaniel Courthope

Who was Nathaniel Courthope?

Nathaniel Courthope was an English merchant navy officer involved in the wars with the Dutch over the sea.

He was of the wealthy cloth-maker Courthope family of Goddards Green in Cranbrook, Kent, the son of Alexander Courthope and brother of the Peter Courthope who bought Danny House in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex and who was painted by Cornelius Johnson. He was left £200 in his father's will.

On November 13, 1609, Nathaniel Courthope was hired by the East India Company to go to the Spice Islands. He left England with great fanfare and by 1616 was a factor at Sukadana in Borneo.

On December 25, 1616, Nathaniel Courthope landed his ships, Swan and Defence, on Run, the smallest island of Banda Islands, in a quest to break the Dutch hold on the nutmeg supply. He persuaded the islanders to enter an alliance with the British for nutmeg. After losing his two ships to mutiny and sinking by the Dutch, he fortified the island by erecting forts to overlook approaches from the east. With 39 men and the natives, with scarce food and water supply, he proceeded to hold off a siege of the Dutch - who outnumbered them considerably - for over 1,540 days.