If you read an autobiography or a personal journal, you likely assume that you are reading the words as the author intended them. If the work has been translated, surely the content sticks as close as possible to the original, right? You may be surprised.
Translation comes with risks, and one of the most salient is the threat of rewriting. How far can a translator go before the work is no longer translated but made anew? Where is the line between capturing the author’s intent in new words and inventing an idea?
For the Dutch castaway Leendert Hasenbosch, this question dominated the sparse materials he left at the end of his life. His survival diary was published three times in 18th-century England, and each version offered something new (and a little more distorted) than the last. By the end, Hasenbosch’s own voice was barely discernible through the Puritanical fiction that had taken its place. Translation fundamentally altered the story, and to understand how, we must first understand the truth.
What Happened to Leendert Hasenbosch?
After his father left him, Leendert joined the Dutch East India Company to earn an income, likely as a soldier. As he sailed, he accumulated trade experience, but his real skill was in writing. For the Dutch East India Company, this was invaluable in an age of low literacy. Taking notice, Company leadership promoted him to the official bookkeeper on their ships.
While this was a respected and well-paid position, Leendert did not want to continue the lifestyle indefinitely. He longed to return home, and he fully intended to. But things didn’t go according to plan.
While aboard the ship, someone claimed to have seen him and another young sailor engaging in intimate acts. At the time, the “sin of Sodom and Gomorrah” (as sodomy was called) was not accepted within the Christianity-dominant Company, and both sailors were tried on board for their crimes. Leendert was tortured to coerce a confession, which resulted in his expulsion from the ship. The crew cast him off in a boat, dropping him at the nearest island. This happened to be Ascension Island, a volcanic rock in the middle of the Atlantic, hundreds of miles from anyone and anything.
Alone and watching his ship vanish on the horizon, Leendert quickly turned toward survival. Each day, he recorded his thoughts in a journal that soon filled with ideas for finding water, accounts of drinking sea turtle blood in its absence, and other terrifying details. After around six months, the journal entries stopped, and no sign of Leendert has ever been found beyond the journal, which was recovered a few months later by a passing ship.
Translating (or Not) the Hasenbosch Diary
Leendert’s diary was originally written in Dutch, and its first translation was into English in 1726. While this was supposed to be a direct translation, historians have found some suspicious elements. One of the most notable is how pragmatic survival details were reimagined as a series of sermon-like entries. In fact, the translation closely mimicked the conventions of English Puritan literature.
The second translation, in 1728, appeared under numerous titles, and they did not all contain the same wording. Some described Leendert as going mad and being visited by angels. Some incorporated messages to and from God. Thus, the manuscript seems to have been translated for the purpose of moral edification rather than historical preservation of events.
This was far from the end, though. In 1730, the journal was published again under the title The Just Vengeance of Heaven Exemplified. Entire sections had been added in which Leendert addressed the reader directly, cautioning them not to engage in the same acts he did. The narrative shifted to one of repentance, with long sections of Leendert praying for forgiveness. The focus on survival, gradual physical decline, and the harrowing events he endured had been sanitized into a story supporting the Christian climate.
In other words, the surviving translations of Leendert’s diaries tell us more about concepts of sin and morality during the time he lived than they do about Leendert’s experience on the island itself.
Where Does Translation Stop?
Given the considerable variation between Leendert’s original and the 1730 version, published just a few years after his death, it is important to consider the uniquely devastating role that translation played in his story. Translation is an act of power. When not done with care, any translation can be used to promote that translator’s goals rather than serving as a faithful recreation of the original author’s intent. Thankfully, historians discovered more and revived what little we know about Leendert. Unfortunately, his original was lost to time, and translations likely did not represent his experience accurately.
The next time you read something that has been translated, consider. What goals might the translator have? How could their culture and values be influencing their perception? What are they responsible for preserving? By doing so, you come closer to the truth of the text you’re reading.
