The ten years which elapsed between 1720 and 1730 were a period replete with disaster to the East India Company, arising from the losses they experienced of ships and men, both on their passage out to India and on their return.^[35] Among the number is the Zeeland ship Zeewyk, which, built in 1725, sailed from the roads of Rammekens to Batavia, under command of the skipper Jan Hijns, on the 7th of November, 1726. After peculiar mishaps the Zeewyk came to anchor on the 22nd of March, 1727, before the fort of Good Hope in Table Bay, and, after taking in fresh provisions there, pursued her voyage on the 21st of April, until, on the 9th of June, when by the carelessness of the skipper, she was wrecked on the Houtman’s Abrolhos.

By the instructions^[36] for the sailing in the autumn from the Netherlands to Java, amongst other things it is also enjoined: “The Cape of Good Hope being doubled, it is thought good that you sail in an E. direction between 36° and 39° S. lat., until you have reached a point eight hundred miles E. of the Cape of Good Hope; that you then direct your course as much N. as E., in such a manner that, on reaching 30° S. lat., you should find yourself about 950 or 1000 m. from the Cape of Good Hope.

“These 950 or 1000 m. from the Cape being attained, it is advisable—wind and weather permitting—that you bear down upon the land Eendraght at 27° S. lat., or more to the N., so as to take thence such a course as will enable you to clear the Tryals Shoals,^[37] lying about 20° S. lat., without danger, and to touch at the south coast of Java with ease, in order to have the weather-gage of the Straits of Sunda, and thus reach these straits without loss of time. It must be understood that this is about the time when the east monsoon blows south of the line, and that the said 900 or 1000 miles E. of the Cape may be reached between the beginning of March and the end of September. Observe, that the distance between the Cape and the land of Eendraght is, in reality, much shorter than the chart shows; and it may happen, by the aid of currents, that the route may be found even shorter than it really is, so that the land might be reached in much less time than we are led to expect. Remember, also, that the land of Eendraght has, south of 27° lat., many perilous sandbanks, and that the soundings are of sharp rocks. Consequently extreme caution, and the constant use of the lead at night and in stormy weather is indispensably necessary, as at seven, six, or five miles from the coast the soundings are found to be one hundred, eighty, or seventy fathoms.”

To these “perilous sandbanks and soundings of sharp rocks” belong also the Frederick Houtman Abrolhos, which, according to Horsburgh,^[38] lie at 29° 10´ S. lat., and 113° 57´ E. long., and upon which many a ship of the company will have perished; since, in addition to the Batavia in 1629, the Vergulde Draeck in 1656, the Ridderschap van Holland in 1693, and the Zuysdorp in 1711, two others occur in the list here subjoined as lost between the Cape of Good Hope and Batavia.

The Englishmen who visited these sandbanks in 1840 found several remains of wrecked ships; thus writes Mr. Crawford Pako:^[39]

“I will relate a few circumstances which were of great interest to us, as marking the position of ancient voyagers, who two hundred years before were similarly engaged to ourselves, and undergoing trial and probation such as we were then exposed to.

“Finding anchorage for our ship at the S.E. part of the southern group, near to a narrow strip of sand on the edge of the reef, which was scarcely large enough to be called an island, we found on it some remains of large timber, evidently a beam of a ship, through it an iron bolt of considerable dimensions; but corrosion had gone on steadily so many years, that the slightest touch reduced it to the size of small wire. Near this were found various other fragments, which most probably had been parts of the same vessel; but the most remarkable item was a copper coin of the East India N. Company, a doit bearing date 1620 (I think), which was good evidence that these were some of the remains of commodore Pelsart, in the ship Batavia. So the anchorage which we occupied was named by us Batavia Roads, and that particular group Pelsart’s Group. On another island at the west side of the same group we found many other relics of more recent date, among which another doit, which was dated 1700, which we concluded marked the position of the loss of the Zeewijk in 1720. On this island we found a large number of small glass bottles, about the size and form of Dutch cheeses, very orderly arranged in rows on the ground; a few very large glass bottles of similar form; some large brass buckles, which had been gilded, and much of the gilt still existed. Numerous small clay pipes, which served to solace our crew with the help of tobacco, as doubtless they had done long ago for former owners. And one brass gun, of about three-pounds calibre, with an iron swivel, the iron, however, was diminished by corrosion to nearly nothing; it had a movable chamber for loading it, which was fitted for a square hole, on the upper part of the gun near the breech. But what was most remarkable about it was that vermilion paint was still on the muzzle. The island on which this was found we called Gun Island, and the passage between Pelsart Group and the middle one was called Zeewyk Channel.”

I have had the good fortune to find among the papers of the late East India Company, what was written by the government of Batavia about the loss of the ship Zeewijk to the directors at home, together with a map made by the skipper Jan Steyns, while on these shoals.

“On the 26th of April a letter^[40] unexpectedly came to hand by the patchialang De Veerman, from the late skipper and under-merchant of the Zeeland ship Zeewyk, Jan Steyns and Jan Nibbens, written from the Straits of Sunda, but without date, communicating the fact that this vessel, after leaving the Cape of Good Hope on the 21st of April, had been wrecked, on the 9th of June, on the reef lying before the islands Frederick Houtman’s Abrolhos, situated near the Southland, in S. lat. 29°, and otherwise called the Tortelduyff’s Islands. The crew had, in favourable weather, succeeded in recovering all kinds of necessaries from the wreck, and had constructed from the fragments of the ship a vessel, on which, setting out on the 22nd of March, they arrived in the above straits on the 21st of April, numbering eighty-two souls, and bringing with them the moneys of the Company contained in ten chests to the value of Fl. 315,836:1:8. All this will more clearly appear from the subjoined copy of the letter (together with a list of the survivors, their names and rank on board before the wreck), to which we respectfully refer you, as also to an extract from the resolution passed on that day. From this will also be seen the care shown by us for the recovery of the money, in our despatching at once to the distressed vessel (which was suffering from want of fresh water) the advocat-fiscal of India, Mr. Jacob Graafland, with two commissioners from the Council of Justice, assisted by the secretary and usher of the court, provided with the necessary vessels, together with one sergeant, two corporals, and twelve private soldiers. There was also found a small slip,^[41] without signature, written by the skipper, in which he complains of the outrageous and thievish behaviour of the crew, so that we could not but conclude that some of the company’s chests must have been broken open, and the contents stolen, as it very frequently happens under such unfortunate circumstances. Wherefore the above-mentioned commissioners were duly instructed to take means to prevent the concealment of the company’s moneys. But the precaution proved unnecessary, as they arrived here happily on the 30th, to the great relief of the company’s heavy losses of money, with the above-mentioned vessel and the ten money chests, which were found to be complete according to the invoice. In addition to this was also received a small bag, containing two hundred and seven pieces of Spanish reals, handed over by the Directors of the Chamber, Middelburg, in Zeeland, to the officers of this ship, for the purchase of fresh provisions, which also was saved. Moreover various sums in silver ducats, as specified in the memorial, a copy of which is subjoined, were found upon the crew. On that same day, namely, the 30th April, the advocat-fiscal was instructed to report to the government as to whether an action could be brought by it against the pretended owners, who had fetched that money out of the wreck, the fact of their having it in their possession being in our opinion a violation of the law, which forbids the export of coined money to private persons. His answer is to be found in a copy subjoined. But afterwards he was obliged, as a matter of official duty, to put the law in force, and an indictment was accordingly issued against the claimants before the Council of Justice, whose decision is still pending. We are nevertheless at the same time of opinion that salvage ought to be allowed to the men who, at no inconsiderable danger to themselves, brought the money from the wreck. The journals kept on the voyage, as far as they were saved and brought over, were, in accordance with the resolution of the 30th of April, handed over to the Equipagemeester, Coenrad Mels, and a committee of skippers, under the presidency of the above-mentioned fiscal, as it appeared to us rather doubtful whether the ship had not been wrecked in an inexcusable manner. And, indeed, it was subsequently proved by the report of the committee, that the former skipper, Jan Steyns, had not only run too near the Southland, contrary to his orders, and in opposition to the protests of the steersmen, and thereby caused that disaster; but had also contemplated deceiving the government by altered and falsified journals, in order to hide as much as possible his indefensible conduct. Whereupon, on the 17th of August, it was determined to indict the said Jan Steyns before the Court of Justice, and he has since been placed under arrest.^[42]

“The position of the islands against the most outlying reef of which the Zeewyk was wrecked, is shown by the accompanying maps. They lie out of sight of the Southland, and are partly overgrown with some edible wild plants. On them were found not only some excavated wells, but also some signs of a Dutch ship, probably wrecked against the above-mentioned reef, which might have been the Fortuyn or Aagtekerke, whose crew may have died or perished at sea on their way hither. This also seems to have been the fate of the boat of the Zeewyk, which, under command of the uppersteersman Pieter Langeweg, with eleven common sailors and the papers of the Company, had set out for this port shortly after the wreck of the ship, in order to give information of the mishap and to ask for assistance. Up to this time nothing has been heard of it.

“We cannot without painful feelings think of the heavy misfortunes, from which the company has been a sufferer during the last nine or ten years, especially in the loss of many ships and treasures, which mishaps have to our great concern been considerably increased in number, not only by the disaster which befell the ship Luchtenberg, on the Wielingen, on the Zeeland Banks, shortly after leaving port, as communicated to us by the Directors of several Chambers, and particularly by the letter from Amsterdam of the 8th of January; but also by the misfortunes which befell the other ships that had sailed for this country in company with that ship on the 2nd of November, 1727, and were obliged to put into several harbours in a disabled state. Again, by the stranding on the 3rd of July, in Table Bay, of the ships Middenrack, Stabroeck, and Haarlem, of which the Middenrack was dashed to pieces and lost all hands, except the few who were on shore at the time, while the two others were driven so close on shore that all hope of safety was abandoned, but succeeded so far as to run their prow aground, whereby the crew and money were saved, and the remainder of the cargo was recovered from the ship undamaged by the sea water. The cargos of these two stranded ships, together with three boxes containing amber from the Middenrack, which had been washed ashore, have already been brought over by the ships Meyenberg and Nieuwvliet, they having, through God’s blessing, happily ridden through this awful storm from the N.W., not without extreme danger. The ship Hillegonde also lost its rudder and goodgings, and had to be helped into Saldanha Bay. Thus we shall not be able to make use of it here for some time to come, any more than, as we fear, of the ships Berkenrode and Heenhoven, which had not yet appeared at the Cape on the 18th of July. This is the more alarming, as the Heenhoven, on the 9th of February, in the north, at about 57° L., parted through stress of weather from the consorts Meyenberg and Haerbroeck, in whose company it had left Zeeland on the 24th of January. However, we hope soon to welcome the arrival of the above-mentioned two ships, under the blessing of the Most High, who also is besought henceforth to ward off all disasters from the ships and the establishment of the company, and to make them prosperous in all things; so that the crew of the outward-bound ships may not be afflicted so severely by sickness and death, as has been the case of late with several ships, to such an extent, that it has been necessary to reinforce them one from the other at the Cape; whereby, since the departure of the ship Meerlust, in sixteen ships from Holland, only 1375 sailors, 575 soldiers, and 40 artisans, in all 1990 paid servants, including the sick, have come over.”

Castle, Batavia, Oct. 30th, 1728.