For the time it took him to arrive at the Cape, first the Political Council and from 23 March 1672 to 2 October 1672, the secunde, Albert van Breugel, acted as governor.

[1] Godske was the eldest son of Johan Goske of Holstein, an armourer to the Prince of Orange, and his wife Aefgen Ijsbrants of the Hague.

Godske left the Company's service in 1661, but then decided to take part in the conquest of Cochin under Rijckloff van Goens and only returned to the Netherlands in September 1662.

On 11 November 1665, two days after his arrival at Batavia, he became commander of Dutch Malabar and on 1 September 1668 director of the VOC factory at Gamron in Persia, a position he held until 1670.

He served for four years and started off concentrating on social legislation, including establishing the first Orphan Chamber (Afrikaans: Weeskamer, a body dedicated to resolving estate issues) in 1674.