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THIS MONTH IN VOC HISTORY
FEBRUARY 1658
Two
VOC ships, Waekende Boey
and Emmeloort, sailed up and down the west coast
making several landings looking for survivors of the Vergulde
Draeck (Gilt Dragon) which had wrecked off
Seabird/Ledge Point two years earlier. They did not find any! They were also
looking for silver coins worth 185,000 guilders which also have never been
found! Abraham Leeman had to do it all over again.
VERGULDE DRAECK
|
On the night of the 28th of April 1656 the VOC ship Vergulde Draeck
(also known as Gilt Dragon) under the command of Pieter Albertszoon ran onto a reef off the coast of Western
Australia about mid-way between what are now the towns of Seabird and Ledge
Point. The site is about 100 kms north of Perth. The ship had a complement of 193 crew and passengers on
board. Only 75 of them made it on to the shore of the mainland. A crew of 7 sailed to Batavia (now
Jakarta in Indonesia) in a small sailing boat to report the wreck and to get
help for the survivors. The journey took 6 weeks. Including the Captain, 68 survivors
stayed behind to survive as best they could in pre-colonial Western Australia.
. . . . . . |
|
The Tragedy On 4 October 1655 the VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) ship Vergulde Draeck
of the Amsterdam Chamber sailed from Texel in the Netherlands on her second
voyage bound for the East Indies (now Indonesia). She was carrying, apart
from passengers and crew, cargo, trade goods and silver coins worth 185,000
guilders. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 9 March 1656 and four days
later set sail for Batavia. She never reached her destination. . . . . . . Having adopted the Brouwer route, ie. followed the Roaring Forties east from the Cape, but
obviously miscalculating his easting and possibly the latitude, Captain
Pieter Albertszoon drove
her onto a reef off the western coast of the Southland between the present
day towns of Seabird and Ledge Point in Western Australia on 28 April 1656. On striking the reef the Vergulde
Draeck burst open and only a few provisions
were saved. When the 75 survivors had gathered ashore Albertszoon
decided to send a party of sailors to Batavia, in the one schuyt
(small boat) which had been saved from the wreck, to report the tragedy and
ask for a rescue vessel to be sent.
Albertszoon decided to stay with the survivors and to appoint his under
steersman (second officer) Abraham Leeman to
lead the party of 7. He was probably influenced in his decision by the events
following the wrecking of the Batavia on the Abrolhos Islands some 27 years
earlier. On that occasion senior officers abandoned the survivors to sail to
Batavia, leaving many survivors to be killed by mutineers. (See Batavia's Graveyard) In a truly epic journey, Leeman and his crew reached Batavia on 7
June 1656 - 6 weeks later. A most remarkable and impressive feat of
seamanship and endurance! Meanwhile, 68 people had to survive in this foreign land . . . .
. . The Search for the Vergulde
Draeck Almost immediately after hearing the news of the wrecking from
Abraham Leeman, the Commander of the Council of the VOC dispatched the yacht Goede Hope and the flute Witte Valk to the Southland to search for the wreck and
survivors. Both ships failed miserably. The Witte Valk could not
approach land due to furious storms and rough seas. The Goede
Hoop was more persistent and managed to land a search party at the
appropriate latitude. Three members of the party got lost in the bush whilst
going inland and were never seen again. Subsequently, a
longboat with 8 searchers was smashed on inshore reefs by pounding surf and
were also never seen again. The Goede
Hoop returned to Batavia soon after this event leaving the 11 men,
possibly stranded and marooned, having found no trace of the Vergulde Draeck or its
survivors. She reached Batavia on 14 October 1656.
The experiences of the rescue ships with inclement weather along
the coast of the Southland, convinced Governor-General Maetsuijker
(see picture right) in Batavia, that June and July were not the best months
for rescue missions. Still concerned about the fate of the survivors, the
next expedition was mounted during the summer. On New Year's Day 1658 the fluit Waeckende Boei
and the galjoort Emmeloort,
under the command of Captains Samuel Volkersen and Aucke Pieters Jonck respectively, left Batavia in search of survivors
of the Vergulde Draeck
and the lost 11 crew from the Goede Hoop.
They were instructed to rescue survivors and to salvage as much merchandise -
especially coins - as possible and to chart the coast carefully. Furthermore,
they were to find out if the land was inhabited and, if so, to try and
establish trade with the inhabitants. They were also instructed to take
formal possession of all the places they discovered. Volkerson and Jonck were unequal to the task.
Not long into the voyage Volkerson complained that
the Emmeloort was too slow and he was having
difficulty keeping the vessels together. On February 14 they separated and
acted independently although they met up on several occasions on the coast of
the Southland. The Emmeloort sighted the
Southland on 24 February 1658 at 33° 12' S - at about Bunbury - and then
sailed north charting the coast. On March 8 at about 30° 25' S fires were
seen on the shore. Next day a boat was sent ashore late in the day to
discover that the fires had been extinguished. Next day another search party
was dispatched and they met up with a group of aborigines who had been
responsible for the fires. The party also reported seeing crops of grain
growing and land under cultivation. However, no traces of survivors and
wreckage of ships was found. The Emmeloort
slowly sailed north and reached Batavia on 18 March 1658. Volkerson sighted the Southland at 31° 40' S (near present-day Two Rocks) on
23 February 1658. Sailing past Rottnest Island and noting the submerged reefs
between it and the mainland Volkerson lowered a
boat which sailed between it and the mainland. The following day they saw
fires and a party was sent to investigate. When they returned after two days
- due to bad weather - they reported that the beach was littered with
wreckage from the Vergulde Draeck. There were also signs that survivors had been
there as they found a circle of planks with their ends planted in the sand.
Some sort of signal perhaps? Sailing north Volkerson made further
landings at 31° 14' S and 30° 40' S but no wreckage was sighted. After
fifteen days of bad weather during which time the Waeckende
Boei stayed well out to sea, they returned and
anchored at the north-east corner of Rottnest Island. A party was sent ashore
and upon its return the helmsman had reported that navigation and landing was
difficult due to the abundance of stone reefs. The island was well wooded, it
was reported, and the party had seen two seals, and a 'wild cat'. That
information did not encourage Volkerson to explore
the island again.
Sailing north a search party made another landing at 31° 09' S on
March 20 and found a beam from the Vergulde
Draeck. A second landing was made and more
wreckage was found. Upper steersman Abraham Leeman The man who had led the search parties to the shore was none
other than Abraham Leeman, the upper steersman (first officer) of the Waeckende Boei.
This was the same Leeman that two years earlier, as under steersman, had
survived not only the wrecking of the Vergulde
Draeck, but also a 6 weeks journey in a small
boat to Batavia to report the wrecking of the Vergulde
Draeck. Now, two years after that drama, Leeman was back on the shore of
the Southland, searching for any sign of survival of his fellow crew and
passengers from the Vergulde Draeck.
Having been ashore many times and having found wreckage Leeman
set out once again with thirteen other men only to return to the Waeckende Boei
when he noticed the weather turning bad. On returning to the ship Volkerson disputed Leeman's concerns and send him back.
By nightfall the storm had broken and the sea rissen
so high that Leeman and his men were unable to land and were forced to ride
out the storm in the darkness of night. The storm worsened the next day and
the boat lost a rudder and steering had to be managed by using the oars.
Eventually Leeman sighted a small inlet between two rocks and with little
control over the boat made for the beach. They landed with considerable damage
to the boat. Meanwhile, the Waeckende Boei had headed out to sea to ride out the storm.
After 4 days Volkerson returned to the site where
the boat was last seen. He fired cannons but there was no response. He
concluded that the boat and crew were lost, presumably drowned and decided to
sail back to Batavia. However that evening, March 28, they saw a fire on the
land. He discharged a cannon again and immediately
another fire was seen close to the first. Not having another boat onboard and
convinced that Leeman and his crew had perished, he could not go ashore to
investigate. He decided to stay in the vicinity and wait for daybreak. By
then the ship had drifted further north and although Volkerson
records that he sailed past the shore and that he got close in to the coast,
nothing further happened that prevented him from sailing north to Batavia,
which he reached on 10 April 1658. During the 4 days the Waeckende
Boei was riding out the storm, Leeman and his
crew were doing all they could to repair their damaged boat. Keeping a
lookout for the Waeckende Boei they survived by killing seals and gulls and
drinking brackish water found in the rocks. They returned to the mainland
near where wreckage of the Vergulde Draeck littered the beach fearing that they would be
stranded there. Then, on the 28th in the evening, sails
were sighted and Leeman ordered a fire to be lit. Shortly afterwards, the Waeckende Boei
reduced sail and fired a gun to which Leeman responded with a second fire.
They could have sailed their boat to the ship but the sea was rough, it was
getting dark and the surrounding reefs were of concern. Instead they decided
to wait until morning. But when dawn broke (29 March 1658) the Waeckende
Boei was nowhere to be seen. They sailed their
boat out to sea trying to find her, but to no avail. They were now marooned .
. . . . . With their spirits low, Leeman had to work hard to convince his men
that there was only one solution for their plight and that was to sail to
Batavia. For a week they worked to outfit the boat for the long voyage on the
open sea. On the morning of the April 8, 1658 began one of the more heroic
sea voyages of all time. In a remarkable feat of courage, seamanship and
endurance, Leeman sailed a leaky craft with fourteen men on board, for 21
days along the barren Western Australian coast and across the Timor Sea to
Java. And incredibly, he was making this journey for the second time!
Truly a remarkable man! When Leeman finally reached Batavia and reported his experience to
the Governor-General and his councillors, they decided not to mount anymore
expeditions to search for the survivors of the Vergulde
Draeck. The Mystery So, what happened to the 68 survivors of the Vergulde
Draeck and possibly the 11 from the Goede Hoop? Within about 3 months of the wrecking of the Vergulde
Draeck 2 ships, the Witte Valk and the Goede
Hoop,
were on the scene to search for survivors, a truly remarkable rapid response.
Yet, they reported no evidence of survivors, not even signal fires from the
shore. One would have to assume that the survivors were not in a position to
see any sails out to sea. Had they gone inland? That could have been the case
as food and fresh water would have been their priority and that was more
likely to be found going inland. But would Captain Albertszoon,
having sent one of his senior officers to Batavia for help, not have set up a
system of coast watches to keep an eye out for rescue ships? He would have
known that Pelsaert had made it back to Batavia in
an open boat after the wrecking of the Batavia and had returned to the
wreck site! Two years later Abraham Leeman found the wreck site and again no
survivors. How could such a large number of people, which by this time
had possibly increased to 79 with the 11 from the Goede
Hoop, just disappear? It is a mystery requiring a solution. COMMEMORATION
CEREMONY 2006 On the 28th of April 2006, the Society, in collaboration with the
Shire of Gingin and the Seabird Progress Association held a ceremony in
Seabird to commemorate the 350th Anniversary of the wrecking of the Vergulde Draeck. ·
Read about it on the Anniversary
website, and ·
View a video of the ceremony on utube. The recently published
book "The Gilt Dragon Incident" is an account of an
epic journey and its aftermath. It tells the story of Abraham Leeman and his
heroic efforts in getting help and then returning to look for his true love,
other survivors and the treasure .... This is an absorbing story of love, drama, courage and
determination based on historical facts which the author, Harry Turner, spend
many years researching. Read
more. |
Source: VOC Historical Society
http://www.voc.iinet.net.au
Posted: Sydney, 8 February 2011
Havenkade 55, 1973 AK IJmuiden Telefoon 0255-538007 Fax 0255-514437 www.zeehavenmuseum.nl
IJmuider Stichting Zee- en Havenmuseum
'de
Visserijschool'
´TWEE EEUWEN IN TOUW´- De Geschiedenis van Goedkoop
In het Zee- en
Havenmuseum in IJmuiden is in de ´lange gang ´op de begane grond het komende
half jaar een kleine, maar verrassende expositie te bewonderen over het
roemrijke bedrijf ´Reederij Goedkoop´. Deze expositie beoogt u slechts een
beknopte indruk te geven van een aantal activiteiten van dit dynamische
bedrijf. Jan Goedkoop was een Nederlandse ondernemer, reder en de oprichter van
de firma Goedkoop in 1807. Deze Jan begint in 1814 met een dienst op Texel,
Nieuwediep en Pampus met het kaagschip de Twee
Gebroeders, gevolgd door de Jonge
Daniel. Later onderhoudt hij een trekschuitdienst tussen Amsterdam naar
Nieuwediep door het Noordhollands kanaal, eerst met paarden, later met
stoombootjes. Zijn zonen volgden hun vader op in 1842 onder de naam Reederij
Gebr. Goedkoop. Het werd een echt familiebedrijf. De firma Goedkoop groeide
door de jaren heen uit tot een bedrijf met vele takken. De ´sleperij´ bleef
echter de specialiteit van het bedrijf. Vanaf 1886 werd gebruik gemaakt van
stoomsleepboten en rond 1900 exploiteerde de firma ook een stoombootdienst met
salonboten tussen Amsterdam en IJmuiden.
Van
laatstgenoemde boten treft u prachtige foto´s en gebruiksvoorwerpen op deze
expositie. Verder veel foto´s van de diverse stoomsleepboten. In de filmzaal
van het museum worden de komende tijd gedurende openingsuren ook nog twee
speciaal samengestelde korte films vertoond met compilaties van authentieke
beelden van de Goedkoop sleepboten. Kortom, een feest van herkenning voor de
liefhebbers van de sleepvaart, maar ook zeer de moeite waard voor wie hier niet
zo in thuis is.
Het IJmuider Zee- en Havenmuseum is gevestigd aan de Havenkade 55 te
IJmuiden. Het is geopend op woensdag, zaterdag en zondag van 13.00 – 17.00 uur.
Zie ook de
informatie op de website www.zeehavenmuseum.nl
Source: Helen Smit-Rosier, Zee- en Havenmuseum Ijmuiden
Posted Sydney Friday 3 February 2012
![404px-Christian_cross.svg[1]](index_files/image019.jpg){kind=small}
Vale Captain D. Kuiken.
Dirk passed away on
November 21st 2011 in Uitwellingerga in
the Netherlands. Click here
to read his Obituary.
Posted Sydney
Wednesday 23 November 2011
THIS MONTH IN VOC HISTORY
OCTOBER
1627
The
first Europeans to live permanently in Australia were two mutineers, Wouter Loos, a soldier, and Jan Pelgrom
de Bye, a cabin boy, from the ship Batavia. They were left marooned by
Commander Pelsaert, on the West Australian coast near
the mouth of the Murchison River (Kalbarri), as punishment for their role in
the mutiny, the most horrific in the annals of maritime history. >>.Read more.
Source:
Posted Sydney
Tuesday 25 October 2011
Vale
Casey (Kees) Schreuder
Kees, our long-time
friend, passed away at the age of 82 after suffering a fatal heart attack. A
commemorative service will be held for him on Thursday, 8 September 2011 at 11
am at the South Chapel - Woronora Cemetery, Linden Street, Sutherland
NSW.
John Papenhuyzen
Posted
Sydney Thursday 1 September 2011
Vale John Helfrich.
John passed away on 30/6 in his room at the Regis Bayside Gardens. A service was held at Trinity House 15 Black Street Brighton, VIC on 6/7/11 at 2pm – Read John’s life story on the Story Page or by clicking on this link.
John Papenhuyzen
Posted Sydney Sunday 10 July 2011.
THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA
(With an account of the Voyage of the
“Duyfken” and the Career of Captain Willem Jansz.)
Author: T.D. Mutch
(Click here to read the
Story)
Source: Project Gutenberg Australia
Posted: Sydney, 11 January 2011
MORE GIFTS FROM
OUD ROEST DOWN UNDER TO THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
In addition
to the gift of two small scale models of the Royal Interocean
Lines ships “Tjiwangi” and “Straat Banka” donated to us by ex-RIL employees
John Helfrich and Bryan Hinwood we have made another gift to the ANMM to be put in the Dutch Shipping collection in
the Shipping and Trade Collection area of the Australian National Maritime
Museum in Darling Harbour.
This time
two items were donated to us by ex R.I.L./Nedlloyd employees.
The first
gift is a brand new R.I.L. house flag donated by G.J.J. (Hans) Raucamp, now
living in Arnemuiden, the Netherlands.
The second item - a wall chart 3 ft x 2 ft,
“K.P.M. Principal Shipping Services from the Dutch East Indies”. on linen, marked “South East Asia – 24”,
printed in Gt. Britain by George Philip & Son Limited, London - was donated
to us at the 2010 Melbourne Reunion by G.J. (Jan) Kuit, now living in Drysdale,
Vic.
This
original K.P.M. wall chart had been salvaged from the dustbin some 15 years ago
during a clean up at the Schools Board of Victoria. It dates from the late
1920’s.
On
occasions there will be displays organised by the Museum where the appropriate
items will be on show.
John Papenhuyzen
28 November 2010
Posted: Sydney, 28 November 2010
A GIFT FROM OUD ROEST DOWN
UNDER TO ANMM
As mentioned in the report on our
25th Sydney Reunion on Saturday 29th of May, Warwick
Abadee presented Lindsey Shaw, Senior Curator of the Australian
National Maritime Museum, with two small scale models of the Royal Interocean
Lines ships, “Tjiwangi” and “Straat Banka”. The models had been donated to us
by ex-RIL employees John Helfrich and Bryan Hinwood with the request for these
two models to go to the Museum’s Dutch shipping collection.
m.v. :Tjiwangi” m.v. “Straat Banka”
Both ships played a major role in the passenger and freight trade between
Australia and the Far East and were very well-known and popular with the
Australian public. In the eighties the “Straat Banka” also served as an
Australian Trade Mission ship to the Far East, her being the second Dutch ship
to fulfil this role after the “Nieuw Holland” sailed to ports in the Dutch East
Indies, Malaya and Singapore from Sydney in April 1933.
The ANMM has certain criteria that must be met
before an object can be accepted - criteria being of historical value,
Australian maritime content and whether an object is on loan or donated.
Warwick has now received a letter from the
Director of the ANMM, Mary-Louise Williams, thanking him for our generous
donation and officially accepting the two waterline ship models.
She wrote, using her own words - “The two
models represent the peak of an energetic Dutch-Australian shipping connection
as well as the prominence of the remembrance of Dutch shipping activity by the
Dutch Shipping Reunion Society. As such, your kind donation will certainly enhance
the National Maritime Collection in the theme area of shipping and trade.”
Expressing sentiments of us all, Warwick, in
his letter to John Helfrich and Bryan Hinwood, wrote that both men had made a
very positive contribution to Dutch shipping history that should give them much
pleasure.
We hope to see these models on display at the
Maritime Museum in the near future.
John Papenhuyzen
Co-convenor Dutch Shipping in Australia –
Sydney Reunion
Posted Sydney 5 July 2010