Giles Milton

And so the siege run will begin and it's going to last for a very long time indeed.

And it's really a question of who can hold out longer.

Will it be Nathaniel and his men on the island or will the Dutch be able to take this place by force?

Yes.

I mean, Nathaniel and his men have been on the island for many, many months by now.

They are extremely hungry.

There's no food on the island, apart from nutmeg.

And nutmeg jam wears a little bit thin after a while.

And so they need supplies from outside.

There's also very little fresh water on Run Island.

It's collected in the monsoon.

There's no natural water source on the island.

It's too small for that.

And so they're looking out at the horizon every day, desperately hoping that a ship, a relief vessel, is going to come.

And then suddenly they see on the horizon sails.

And this is not just a ship, but it is an English ship.

It's a Solomon.

And it is full of supplies that have been sent from Bantam in Java.

And it's coming to relieve them.

And the men standing on the cliffs, they all give out a huge cheer.