(24 September 1564 – 16 May 1620), better known in Japan as , was an English navigator who, in 1600, was the first Englishman to reach Japan. He did so on a trading ship called under the leadership of Jacob Quaeckernaeck; it was the only surviving vessel from a five-ship expedition launched by a company of Rotterdam merchants (a voorcompagnie, or predecessor of the Dutch East India Company). Among the few survivors of the expedition who reached Japan, the authorities did not allow Adams and his second mate Jan Joosten to leave the country; Japan had been a closed society. They did permit Quaeckernaeck and Melchior van Santvoort to return to the Dutch Republic to establish formal trade relations.
Adams and Joosten settled in Japan, and the two men became Western samurai.
Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Under his authority, Adams directed construction of the first Western-style ships in the country. He was later part of Japan's approving the establishment of trading factories by the Netherlands. He was also highly involved in Japan's Red Seal Asian trade, chartering and serving as captain of four expeditions to Southeast Asia. He died in Japan at age 55. He has been recognised as one of the most influential foreigners in Japan during this period.
Early life
Adams was born in Gillingham, Kent, England. When Adams was twelve his father died, and he was apprenticed to shipyard owner Master Nicholas Diggins at Limehouse for the seafaring life. He spent the next twelve years learning shipbuilding, astronomy, and navigation before entering the Royal Navy.
With England at war with Spain, Adams served in the Royal Navy under Sir Francis Drake. He saw naval service against the Spanish Armada in 1588 as master of the Richarde Dyffylde, a resupply ship.
Adams was recorded to have married Mary Hyn in the parish church of St Dunstan's, Stepney on 20 August 1589. They had two children together: a son John and a daughter Deliverance. Soon after, Adams became a pilot for the Barbary Company.
During this service, Jesuit sources claim he took part in an expedition to the Arctic that lasted about two years, in search of a Northeast Passage along the coast of Siberia to the Far East. The veracity of this claim is somewhat suspect, because he never referred to such an expedition in his autobiographical letter written from Japan; its wording implies that the 1598 voyage was his first involvement with the Dutch. The Jesuit source may have misattributed to Adams a claim by one of the Dutch members of Mahu's crew who had been on Rijp's ship during the voyage that discovered Spitsbergen.
Expedition to the Far East
Attracted by the Dutch trade with India, Adams, then 34 years old, shipped as pilot major with a five-ship fleet dispatched from the isle of Texel to the Far East in 1598 by a company of Rotterdam merchants (a voorcompagnie, predecessor of the Dutch East India Company). His brother Thomas accompanied him. The Dutch were allied with England at that time; both were Protestant nations, and were fighting against Spain for Dutch independence.
The Adams brothers set sail from Texel on the Hoope and joined with the rest of the fleet on 24 June. The fleet consisted of: the Hoope ("Hope"), under Admiral Jacques Mahu (d. 1598), he was succeeded by Simon de Cordes (d. 1599) and Simon de Cordes Jr. This ship was lost near the Hawaiian Islands; the Liefde ("Love" or "Charity"), under Simon de Cordes, 2nd in command, succeeded by Gerrit van Beuningen, and finally under Jacob Kwakernaak; this was the only ship to reach Japan the Geloof ("Faith"), under Gerrit van Beuningen, and in the end, Sebald de Weert; the only ship that returned to Rotterdam. the Trouw ("Loyalty"), under Jurriaan van Boekhout (d. 1599) and finally, Baltazar de Cordes; was captured in Tidore. the Blijde Boodschap ("Good Tiding" or "The Gospel"), under Sebald de Weert, and later, Dirck Gerritz was seized in Valparaiso.
Jacques Mahu and Simon de Cordes were the leaders of an expedition with the goal to reach Chile, Peru and other kingdoms (in New Spain such as Nueva Galicia; Captaincy General of Guatemala; Nueva Vizcaya; New Kingdom of León and Santa Fe de Nuevo México). The fleet's original mission was to sail for the west coast of South America, where they would sell their cargo for silver, and to head for Japan only if the first mission failed. In that case, they were supposed to obtain silver in Japan and to buy spices in the Moluccas, before heading back to Europe. Their goal was to sail through the Strait of Magellan to get to their destination, which scared many sailors because of the harsh weather conditions.