Amboyna Massacre, Water Torture, 1623

The Amboyna massacre was the 1623 torture and execution on Ambon Island (Maluku, Indonesia) of 20 men, including 10 in the service of the English East India Company, and Japanese and Portuguese traders, by agents of the Dutch East India Company, on accusations of treason. In February 1623 a Japanese mercenary was caught in the act of spying on the defenses of the fortress Victoria. When questioned under torture the soldier confessed to a conspiracy with other Japanese mercenaries to seize the fortress and assassinate the governor. He also implicated the head of the English factors, Gabriel Towerson. Towerson and the other English personnel in Amboina and adjacent islands were arrested and questioned. In most, but not all, cases torture was used during the questioning. Torture consisted of having water poured over the head, around which a cloth was draped, bringing the interrogated repeatedly close to suffocation (waterboarding). According to Dutch trial records, most suspects confirmed that they were guilty as charged, with or without being tortured. Since the accusation was treason, those that confessed were sentenced to death. Six were pardoned, but on March 9, 1623 the others were beheaded, and Towerson was impaled on a pole for all to see

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12698367

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48540244

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2889px x 4800px (5.3MB)

Credit

NYPL/Science Source/Mary Evans