Jacob Mossel went from being a common sailor to become Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1750 to 1761.
He was of noble birth, born in Enkhuizen. When he was 15 he left as an able-bodied seaman aboard a Fluyt called de Haringthuyn, bound for the Indies. As his family had a coat of arms, he was able to obtain a privileged position, through Dirk van Cloon, and was sent to the Dutch Coromandel. On 30 March 1730, he married Adriana Appels, the fourteen-year-old stepdaughter of Adriaan van Pla, Governor of Dutch Coromandel. Jacob Mossel worked himself up finally to Governor and Director of Dutch Coromandel. In 1740 he got the title of Counsellor-extraordinary of the Indies and in 1742 he became a member of the Dutch Council of the Indies in Batavia/Jakarta.
In 1745, he became the first Director of the Amfioensociëteit, which tried to regulate its monopoly of the trade in opium. In 1747, he was named as the Director-General. When in 1750, Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff died, Mossel succeeded him as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. He remained in post until his own death in 1761.