Wouter Schouten

Wouter Schouten (1638 to 1704) was a Dutch surgeon from Haarlem who served as a ship surgeon with the Dutch East India Company and later wrote about it. At fourteen he was apprenticed to a surgeon, and in 1658 he passed the Company examination and was taken on as second surgeon. He sailed from Texel that year, settled at Batavia Castle, and was appointed chief surgeon in July 1659. He traveled to Japara and the Moluccas and was stationed on Ambon, where he joined a punitive expedition against illegal spice planters on Seram, and his three year contract ended in Arakan. Surgeons of the period also acted as barbers, and he describes amputating fingers and toes with a chisel and hammer on board. In 1676 he published his East Indian Voyage, a travel account that François Valentijn judged one of the best of its time. He was also known for his surgical skill and medical knowledge.