The voyage to Japan

1611

April

18: Three ships set sail from England; the Clove, the Thomas and the Hector, with a telescope for the Shogun

June

6: The ships pass the equator

September

3: The ships arrive at Madagascar and engage in regional trade

1612

March

The ships trade off Yemen

August

8: Hector sails for Sumatra
13: Clove and Thomas sail for Bantam (Java)

September

27: Clove and Thomas pass Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

October

24: Clove and Thomas arrive at Bantam (Java), meet the Hector and engage in trade

1613

January

12: Thomas leaves Bantam for England
14: Clove leaves Bantam for Japan

March

11: Clove arrives at Tidore (in modern Indonesia)

April

14: Clove leaves the Moluccas (Malaku Islands) for Japan

June

1: Clove passes the Tropic of Cancer
10: Clove passes Nagasaki
11: Clove arrives off Hirado.

July

7: Captain John Saris and William Adams leave Hirado for Sunpu (Shizuoka) and Edo (Tokyo) (going via Shimonoseki and Sakai)
27: Saris and Adams arrive in Osaka
29: Saris and Adams arrive in Kyoto

September

6: Saris and Adams arrive in Sunpu
12: Saris and Adams leave for Edo; carve their names inside Great Buddha of Kamakura
14: Saris and Adams arrive Edo
21: Saris and Adams leave Edo
29: Saris and Adams arrive in Sunpu

October

9: Saris and Adams leave Sunpu
16: Saris and Adams arrive in Kyoto
20: Saris and Adams leave Kyoto (for Osaka, Sakai, sea to Shimonoseki and land to Hirado)

November

6: Saris and Adams arrive Hirado

December

5: Clove leaves Japan