Thereafter the English flag was hoisted and saluted and six guns were landed and mounted in two batteries near the shore in preparation for all eventualities. The Dutch were not slow to take up the gauntlet which Courthope had so defiantly thrown down. A few days after the ceremony described, Cornelis Dedel, the Dutch Commander at Neira, appeared off Poolo Roon with three ships fully manned, prepared to evict the intruders. He anchored two of his vessels near the Swan and Defence and the third was placed between the ships and the shore to prevent assistance being rendered from that quarter. But Dedel had reckoned without the shore batteries, and when he discovered these and found also that the natives were fully prepared to back the English he reluctantly withdrew to await reinforcements from Amboina.
The next move on the Dutch side was to send a pinnace to take soundings off a small island called Nailaka which lies close to the northern shore of Poolo Roon. This position, if in Dutch hands, would have enabled them to dominate the anchorage at Poolo Roon, and accordingly by Courthope's orders shots were fired at the pinnace to drive her away. No damage was done or was intended, but the firing was a direct act of hostility which the Dutch were quick to utilize as a justification for their own acts of violence which followed.
Courthope's position, which was never strong, was weakened at this critical moment by dissensions which appeared in the ships' companies and notably amongst the landsmen who did not relish the prospect before them of spending an indefinite time on this remote island. Davis, the master of the Swan, sided with the disaffected faction, and announced his intention to take his ship to
