VOC Shipwreck Archive
Located Excavated VOC Ships with vessel, voyage, bibliographic, media & museum details
| Voyage # | Year Built | Year Sunk | Ship Name | Chamber | Captain | Last | Tonnage | Guns | Crew | Dimensions | Rigging | Ship Type | Shipyard | Voyage Type | From | Departure Date | To | Arrival Date | Cause of Incident | Fate / Incident | Date Lost | Casualties
- Survivors + |
Depth | Location | Country | Latitude | Longitude | Year Found | Wikipedia | Wrecksite.eu | Website | MaSS.cultureelerfgoed.nl | Comments | References |
| 5077.2 | 1602 | 1609 | Mauritius | Amsterdam | Klaasz., Gerrit | 350 | 700 | 144 | Spiegelretourschip | Homeward Bound | Bantam | 27/12/1607 | 10m | Cap lopez, Port Gentil, Gabon | Africa - West | 01°12,600'S | 08°44,667'E | 1985 | Wrecksite.eu - Mauritius 1609 | MaSS - Mauritius 1609 | From Bantam to Patani to take over the cargo of a Portuguese
prize-ship, and lost on the coast of Guinea. In 1985, the wreck was discovered by accident by a French oil company in 10 metres of water. The ship's bell, China porcelain and zinc disks were salvaged. Even a very large quantity of pepper was found, her main cargo. |
|||||||||||||
| 5100.3 | 1601 | 1613 | Witte Leeuw | Amsterdam | Bloem, Roelof Simonsz. de | 270 | 540 | 25 | 100 | Jacht - Yacht | Amsterdam | Homeward Bound | Bantam | 05/12/1612 | lost in action | burnt in action | 13/03/1613 | 38m | James Bay, St Helena | St Helena | 15°55,035'S | 05°43,220'W | 1977 | Wrecksite.eu - Witte Leeuw 1613 | MaSS - Witte Leeuw 1613 | Burnt in a fight with a Portuguese carrack off St. Helena,
13-06-1613; a part of the crew sailed back to Holland aboard the VLISSINGEN
and the BANTAM (5098). Witte Leeuw was engaged in a battle with two Portuguese carracks, whereunder the Almeida (Capt. Dom Geronimo de Almeida) and was lost off Saint Helens on June 13th, 1613. They formed part of a convoy returning to Holland with spices, Ming porcelain and over 1.300 diamonds. Witte Leeuw blew up when her magazine exploded. Part of her crew was saved and returned on board of the Vlissingen and the Bantam. She was found by the Belgian diver Robert Sténuit in 1977 in the Bay of Jamestown in 38m deep water. He identified her with one of her cannons, found 7 of her 25 cannons, tons of pepper, beautiful well preserved artifacts, but no diamonds. In 1601 the White Lion was part of the so-called Aceh fleet (Amsterdam, Alkmaar, Hoorn, Enkhuizen (Porpoise), Black Lion, White Lion, Red Lion and Green Lion). The Aceh Fleet of an expedition of the Fifth Vessel, which also consisted of a so-called Moluccan fleet. As the name suggests, the Aceh fleet's destination was Aceh. One of the oldest VOC wrecks. Burned during a battle with a Portuguese squatter off St. Helena (an island in the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Brazil and Angola) on June 13, 1613. Some of the crew sailed back to the Netherlands aboard the Vlissingen and the Bantam (5098). The Witte Leeuw was on a return voyage from the East Indies with, among other things, a cargo of spices and porcelain objects. The wreck was discovered in 1977 by the Belgian diver Robert Sténuit. He found the wreck at a depth of 36 meters in Jamestown Bay. |
Parmentier, J., K. Davids en J. Everaert, 2003. Peper,
Plancius en Porselein : de reis van het schip Swarte Leeuw naar Atjeh en
Bantam, 1601 - 1603. - Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2003. - 237 p., [nl] - ISBN
90-5730-210-1 Valentijn, François, 2002. Oud en Nieuw oost-Indiën, deel I. - Franeker: Uitgeverij Van Wijnen, 2002. [nl] - ISBN 90-5194-226-5 |
|||||||
| 5105.2 | 1606 | 1615 | Banda | Amsterdam | Thijsz., Roelof / Pieter Both | 350 | 700 | 100 | Length 42m | 3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Amsterdam | Homeward Bound | Bantam | 27/12/1614 | gale/storm | ran aground | 06/03/1615 | 30 - | Flic-en-Flacq, Mauritius | Mauritius | 20°16,400'S | 57°22,183'E | 1979 | Wrecksite.eu - Banda 1615 | MaSS - Banda 1615 | Return fleet (5105-5108) with Pieter Both abord the Banda; this
ship foundered on a reef in a hurricane near Mauritius, 30 deaths, including
Pieter Both, 06/03/1615. Banda was a merchant vessel that sailed for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) during the early seventeenth century. Banda was part of a fleet of three other ships returning to Patria from Bantam. The three other ships in the fleet were Delft, Gelderlandand Geunieerde Provincien, and the commander of the fleet was Dutch Admiral Pieter Both. On the night of March 5, 1615, the fleet was hit by a hurricane, and Banda struck a reef near Mauritius, while she was seeking shelter in the bay of a river. Thirty deaths were reported, among them the fleet commander Pieter Both. Two other ships of the fleet were lost, and only Delft'made it back to the Netherlands. This was an important loss for the VOC, and led to the naming of the highest peak of the island after Pieter Both, the Pieter Bothsberg. Lost whilst at anchor in a violent storm. The wreck was discovered in 1980 by Patrick Lize en Jacques Dumas. According to "De Lijst" 300 burden. The "Banda" (with helmsman Cornelis Claesz) was part of a fleet of behind ships ("Banda" (flagship), "Walcheren", "Zierikzee", "Ceylon", "Ter Veer", "Bantam", "China" and "Patani") that left for the East Indies in 1606. This fleet constituted the third fleet to depart for the East Indies. The 'Banda' had been given the destination of Ternate to take in cloves as a return cargo. On 20 April 1606 the Dutch ships left Texel Roadstead and dropped anchor under Wight. They waited there until May 25 for the Zeeland contingent. At least one of the descendants is badly ballasted and cannot carry a sufficient sail. The small vessels of the fleet then fetch stones from the shore; the 'Bantam' also takes three boatloads of stones. On June 3 the entire fleet continued its journey. On September 13 the fleet anchored off Cape Lopo Goncalves, in the bay of Guinea. On September 29 the fleet went to sea, but the strong northward current and unfavorable winds forced them to return to Cape Logo. They did not leave again until October 18. Because the water, loaded at the Cape, was of poor quality, the island of Annobom was visited, where the fleet lay by from 6 to 12 November. On 17 January 1607 the Cape of Good Hope was explored and on 29 March 1607 the fleet anchored off Sao Jorge, Mozambique. The goal is an attack on the Portuguese fortification Sao Sebastiao, on an elongated coral island off a river. On March 30 the smallest ships explore the access channel, and the same day the 'Bantam' runs in and opens fire on the ramparts at close range. At the same time, Dutch sloops remove three small ships from under the noses of the Spaniards, one of which, a yacht of 30 burden, will later serve well in the Moluccas as the 'Jager'. On 31 March two ships continued the shelling and 1 April followed by a landing of about 700 men. On April 4 two landed cannons opened fire on the fort. Later, two more batteries are deployed. Finally, about half of the fleet's heavy pieces are deployed ashore. Everything indicates that the battle will now soon be decided. However, the number of sick people on the fleet is increasing alarmingly. In the East Indies the fleet still has a difficult task ahead of it; economy with human life is called for. During the night of March 5-6, 1615, during a very heavy storm, the ship was wrecked when together with the Delft, Gelderland, and United Provinces, it was off Mauritius. Three of these four ships perished; only the Delft survived the disaster. On the Banda, 30 people were killed, including Pieter Both who was Governor-General from 1610-1614. The wreck has been recovered. macos/deepLFree.translatedWithDeepL.text |
Booy, A. de, 1968. De derde reis van de VOC naar Oost-Indië
onder het beleid van admiraal Paulus van Caerden uitgezeild in 1606, deel 1.
- 's-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968. - 213 p., [nl] Valentijn, François, 2002. Oud en Nieuw oost-Indiën, deel I. - Franeker: Uitgeverij Van Wijnen, 2002. [nl] - ISBN 90-5194-226-5 Valentijn, François, 2003. Oud en Nieuw oost-Indiën, deel IV/A. - Franeker: Uitgeverij Van Wijnen, 2003. [nl] - ISBN 90-5194-230-3 |
||||||
| 351.1 | 1627 | 1627 | Campen / Kampen | Amsterdam | 150 | 300 | 30 | 160 | 3 masts | Jacht | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | 12/10/1627 | gale/storm | ran aground | 23/10/1627 | 0 | Needles Rocks, Isle of Wight | UK | 50 39.734'N | 1 35.468'W | 1979 | Wrecksite.eu - Campen 1627 | MaSS - Kampen 1627 | The wreck was salvaged in 1627-1628 days by diver 'Jacob de
Duiker' and 2 chests with 2365 Reales were saved. In 1979 the wreck was
re-discovered and this time, about 8.000 Reales and Leeuwendaalders were
salvaged. On October 12, 1627, de Kampen and six other ships set sail for Batavia. It was his first voyage, but also his last. On 23 October 1627, a powerful storm caused the Kampen to crash on the treacherous Needles near the Isle of Wight. The 160 soldiers, sailors and merchants managed to get ashore. Only two chests of the total cargo can they save. Jacob the Diver brings up 2365 Reales in 1627 and 1628. Due to legal wrangling, this did not happen until the Kampen was found again in 1979. There is not much left of the ship. A new expedition found some 8,000 coins between the wreckage, shards and lead seams, including many Reales, Leeuwendaalers and half Leeuwendaalers. The Leeuwendaalder is one of the oldest silver 'crownsize' coins in the world and has been the model for many coins in as many countries. The Leeuwendaalder is the first coin to be minted autonomously by the Seven Provinces. The Leeuwendaalder stands for the independence of the Seven Provinces who resisted the power of their Spanish ruler and is a sign of strength through unity. By making the price of the Leeuwendaalder 3 pennies higher than the silver it contained when issued in 1575, this coin provided part of the capital needed to finance the 80 Years' War. What is unique about the find in the Kampen area is that whole and half Lion daalers were found from no less than 7 different provinces. The circulation of the coin set 'De Campen' is 900; the circulation of the coin set 'De Campen II' is 350. |
||||||||
| 372.1 | 1628 | 1629 | Batavia | Amsterdam | Jakobsz., Adriaan | 600 | 24 | 341 | Length 160 ft (48.8 m) Width 36 ft (11 m) Draft 12 ft (3.7 m) |
Spiegelretourschip | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | 29/10/1628 | ran aground | ran aground | 04/06/1629 | 40- | 5.5m | Morning Reef, Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia | Australia | 28°29,499'S | 113°47,516'E | 1963 | Wrecksite.eu - Batavia 1629 | MaSS - Batavia 1629 | The maiden voyage of Batavia ended in disaster after she left
for Batavia in the Dutch East Indies on October 29, 1628. The skipper was
Adriaen Jacobsz, but the overall commander (commandeur), a title which
designates the senior VOC officer onboard, was senior merchant Frans
Pelsaert. During the voyage, part of the crew sought to mutiny and take over
the ship, and it seems that the skipper may also have been involved. The
mutiny failed, and Batavia struck a reef on June 4, 1628, some 60 km off the
coast of West Australia (Beacon Island). She had a cargo of trade goods and supplies, building blocks for portico and specie and 38 passengers and a crew of 303. Most of the crew and passengers, 322 individuals, got off the ship and made camp on some small islands. Skipper Jacobsz, merchant Pelsaert, 40 officers, some crew members and passengers, left the wreck site in a longboat heading north in search of Batavia (Djakarta) and help. It took them 33 days to reach Batavia. Pelsaert got a ship, the Zaandam (Saerdam), to rescue the other survivors. He arrived at the islands 2 months after leaving Batavia, only to discover that another bloody mutiny had taken place amongst those left behind, reducing their numbers by at least a hundred. |
Roeper, Vibeke, 2002. De schipbreuk van de Batavia 1629. -
Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2002. - 253 p., [nl] - ISBN 90-5730-234-9 Roeper, Vibeke, et al., 1995. De Batavia te water. - Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1995. - 112 p., [nl] - ISBN 90-6707-382-2 Spruit, R., 1987. J.P. Coen : dagen en daden in dienst van de VOC. - Houten: De Haan, 1987. - 128 p., [nl] - ISBN 90-269-4230-3 |
||||||
| 634.1 | 1640 | Rob | Amsterdam | 100 | Pinas / Pinnace | Texel | 15/01/1640 | 15/01/1640 | Burgzand Noord, Texel | Netherlands | Wrecksite.eu - Rob 1640 | MaSS - Rob 1640 | Wrecked in a storm when ready to leave Texel, 05-01-1640. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 760.3 | 1648 | 1653 | Lastdrager | Amsterdam | Johannes Camphuijs | 320 | 640 | 24 | 120 | Fluit | Texel | 09/02/1653 | ran aground | ran aground | 02/03/1653 | 26+ | Cruss of Ness in the Bluemull Sound, Yell, Shetland Isles | UK | 60°42,333'N | 00°59,750'W | 1971 | Wrecksite.eu - Lastdrager 1653 | Canmore - Lastrager 1653 | MaSS Lastdrager 1653 |
After departure from Texel to Goeree. From there 09-12 back to
Texel because of a lost rudder. Departure from Texel 09-02-1653. The ship was
wrecked near the Shetland Islands on 02-03 (reefs of Bluemull Sound; 26
survivors. The Lastdrager (in English: load carrier) was a merchant ship sailing for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The ship was not built at the shipyards of the VOC, but was purchased in 1648. Built: Amsterdam, Uilenburg?, pre 1648. She had made two voyages to the East before she was lost off Yell on the 2nd of March 1653. She had struck the reefs of the Bluemull Sound. 26 people survived the loss of the Lastdrager. The event was documented by one of the 26 survivors, Johannes Camphuys. He was 19 at the time. He wrote a dramatic account on the stranding of the ship and his own survival. He finally reached the East and after years got the function of Gouverneur-Generaal, the highest function that could be reached within the company VOC. There were approx. 2746 complete and fragmentary artefacts such as: navigational tools, surgical instruments and everyday artefacts such as spoons, jewellery items and clay pipes. Some remarkable finds were golfclubs and small arms. The bow of the wreck was found by Robert Stenuit in 1971. The stern part drifted away & has not been found. The majority of the items recovered from the wreck were individually sold at an auction at Sotheby's. This auction took place on November 8th, 1973. |
|||||||||
| 833.2 | 1653 | 1656 | Vergulde Draeck | Amsterdam | Albertsz., Pieter | 130 | 260 | 193 | Length: 41.8 m Beam: 9.8m Draft : 4.1m |
Jacht | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | ran aground | ran aground | 28/04/1656 | 118 - 75 + |
Ledge Point, Sudyland | Australia | 31°13,269'S | 115°21,572'E | Wrecksite.eu - Vergulde Draeck 1656 | Mass - Vergulde Draeck 1656 | The Vergulde Draeck sailed in October 1655 from Holland to
the East Indies, bound for Batavia, what is now Jakarta, with a cargo valued
at around fl. 185,000. From the Cape of Good Hope, she had to travel around
5000 miles east before turning north to head for the East Indies. This route,
with the sharp left turn near Australia, was known as the Brouwers
route. Unfortunately, The Vergulde Draeck sailed too far east and met the Western Australian coast so a serious navigational error. On the 28th April, 1656, she struck a reef near the Suydland (Australia) and broke into two pieces. Only 75 of the original 193 men on board made it to the shore. Seven sailors were sent to Batavia in an open boat in search of help. They reached Batavia after 41 days. The Dutch authorities sent two ships to retrieve the cargo (minted silver along with cargo worth 90,000 euros) and the crew, but the ships did not succeed. Two more expeditions were sent, but both failed to recover any members of the missing crew. |
||||||||||
| 1662 | 1664 | Kennemerland | Amsterdam | 950 | 150 | Fregat - Frigate | Bought | Outward Bound | Texel | gale/storm | ran aground | 20/12/1664 | 147 - 3 + |
3m | Stoura Stack, Out Skerries, Shetland Isles | UK | 60°25,167'N | 00°45,121'W | Wrecksite.eu - Kennemerland 1664 | Canmore - Kennemerland 1664 | MaSS - Kennemerland 1664 | Bougtht 1661. Kennemerland was a Dutch East Indiaman that sailed
for the VOC (Dutch East India Company) as a merchant vessel. She left Texel
bound for her second voyage to Batavia, present day Indonesia, on what was
known as the "route achterom". This northern route around Scotland
was used to avoid harsh winds in the English Channel, or, during times of
war, English warships. On the 20th of December, 1664, Kennemerland struck the Stoura Stack in the Outer Skerries on the east side of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. She had drifted off course due to bad weather on the North Sea. It was a great loss for the VOC, as only three members of the original crew of 150 survived, and none of the cargo, valued at 120,000 Dutch Florins, was recovered by the Dutch. |
||||||||||||
| 1682 | 1686 | Princesse Maria | Zeeland (Middleburg) | 570 | 1140 | 262 | Length: 48.8 m Beam: 11.9m Draft : 5.6m |
Fregat - Frigate | Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Texel | ran aground | ran aground | 04/01/1686 | Isles of Scilly | UK | 49°52,319'N | 06°24,154'W | 1973 | Wrecksite.eu - Princesse Maria 1686 | MaSS - Prinses Maria 1686 | On 04/01/1686, PRINSES MARIA, on voyage from Texel, was lost off
the Scilly Islands. Wreck was looted at the time of the disaster and
discovered deeply buried in the sands in 1973. Note the place of wrecking is
known as Silver Carn. The Prinses Maria/ Prinsesse Maria was an East Indiaman sailing for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a merchant vessel. On her second voyage to the East Indies she wrecked of the rocky and treacherous coast of the Scilly Isles in the most Southwestern point of the United Kingdom. The wreck of the DutchEast Indiaman was found in the summer of 1973 by treasure-hunter Rex Cowan. An earlier salvage attempt had been done during the years after the Princess Maria wrecked. However due to its location in deep layers of sand their attempt was not that successful. Artifacts were auctioned in three separate auctions together with artifacts of some other Dutch ships (Curacao, Lastdrager, Hollandia). 29th April 1974 by Sotheby Mak Van Waay (catalogue 227). |
||||||||||||
| 1692 | 1694 | Dageraad | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Jan Tak | 70 | 140 | 75 | Length: 30.5 m Beam: 8.2m Draft : 3.2m |
Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Wielingen | 18/01/1693 | gale/storm | ran aground | Dec 1693 / 20/01/1694 | NW side of Robben Island | Africa - Southern | 33°47,783'S | 18°21,533'E | Wrecksite.eu - Dageraad 1694 | MaSS - Dageraad 1694 | Dageraad was lost in a storm, on her mission to salvage the
shipwrecked Gulden Buys, off the West coast of Robben Island. The Dageraad was a small merchant vessel sailing for the Dutch East India Company (VOC).She left the port of Wielingen on the 18th of January 1693 on maiden voyage to the East. The Dageraad was involved in a salvage action in St Helena's bay where another VOC vessel The Gouden Buys was stranded. When the Dageraad came near Capetown, she hit rocks on the West coast of Robben Island. 16 people on board of the Dageraad lost their lives. The cargo of the Dageraad were 17 chests of valuables belonging to the Golden Buys, who was lost in October of 1693. The loss of the Dageraad and this contents was thus a big loss to the Dutch East India Company. |
||||||||||||
| 1698 | Huis te Kraijenstein | Cape Peninsula | Africa - Southern | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1693 | 1702 | Meresteyn | Amsterdam | Subbing, Jan | 413 | 826 | 225 | Length: 44.2 m Beam: 11m Draft : 4.6m |
Pinas / Pinnace | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | 04/10/1701 | ran aground | ran aground | 03/04/1702 | 126 - | 7m | off Jutten Island, Saldanha Bay, Capetown | Africa - Southern | 33°05,250'S | 17°57,334'E | Wrecksite.eu - Meresteyn 1702 | MaSS - Merestein 1702 | Totally exposed to the elements, the wreck was quickly smashed
to pieces. She drifted ashore on the south side of Jutter Island & broke
up in the surf. For 250 years coins 7 small objects have been washed ashjore.
Late 1971 two divers recovered a large amount of specie. At the beginning of October 1701, the ship Merestein set sail for the East departing from Texel. The Merestein sailed for the VOC, the Dutch East India trading company. The journey to Batavia could not be completed however. The ship struck ground at Jutten Island when entering Saldhandra Bay near the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. At night the ship broke in two and only 99 out of the over 200 people that were on board of the Merestein survived. The cargo was lost unfortunately. The men that had survived did so by swimming to Jutten Island. However, they were in a perilous situation due to the lack of food and water on the small, rocky island. The day after the unfortunate event, two men set out on a raft of broken timbers in search of help in which they succeeded. At night the ship broke in two and only 99 out of the over 200 people that were on board of the Merestein survived. The cargo was lost unfortunately. The men that had survived did so by swimming to Jutten Island. However, they were in a perilous situation due to the lack of food and water on the small, rocky island. The day after the unfortunate event, two men set out on a raft of broken timbers in search of help in which they succeeded. The ships Wezel and Amij were sent to save crew and cargo. They even attempted to reenact the way the Merestein entered the bay in order to find the site of the wreck in an attempt to salvage some elements of the ship. On board of the Merestein were several chests of silver coins. She carried large amounts of silver with her for the purchase of goods in the East. Because of these high value contents, salvage attempts had been done in 1728. John Lethbrigde tried to salvage some of the ships cargo but failed to locate the wreck due to large waves which broke over the site. Thus when the ship wrecked in 1702 several salvage attempts were undertaken. However, Jutten Island proved to be a difficult place to dive and no attempt was taken until modern times. |
|||||||||
| 1698 | 1711 | Liefde, De | Amsterdam | Meikens Barend | 250 | 500 | 32-40 | 300 | Length: 48.8m Beam: 13m (44 foot) Draft: 17 foot |
Pinas / Pinnace | Amsterdam | Homeward Bound | Texel | 03/11/1711 | gale/storm | ran aground | 07/11/1711 | 299 - | 1m | Miouw Reef, Island of Housay (southern tip), Out Skerries, Shetland Isles | UK | 60°24,634'N | 00°47,737'W | 1965 | Canmore - de Liefde 1711 | MaSS - Liefde De 1698 | She was a pinas, which meant she was fast and light, and this
type of ship was used both for war as well as trade. De Liefde had already made four successful journeys to the Dutch East Indies before she commenced on what would be her fatal one when she departed from Texel on 3 November, 1711. She was carrying a cargo mostly of coins, which was common for VOC ships sailing to the Dutch East Indies, which would often carry specie (money in coin form) in to fund trading efforts in the orient. Among her cargo was 227,000 guilders worth of coins, three chests each with sixteen bags of silver ducats, eight bags of gold ducats, and eight bags of guilders. Four days after leaving Texel, de Liefde struck a reef on the small island Mioness in the Shetland Islands. She had been sailing what was known as the "route achterom", which was a northerly route taken by ships when, usually for political reasons, it was safer to avoid the English Channel. Unfortunately, this route was known for dangerous weather and shores, and the VOC lost a fair number of shifts while they took this route. Only one sailor of the 300 souls on board de Liefde survived. He was stationed as a lookout in the fore-mast of the ship, and stayed with a local family on the island for twelve months before he was taken off the Shetland Islands. Archaeological finds from the wreck site are part of the collection of the Shetland Museum. Some of the artifacts that feature in this collection are beads, coins, cutlery and cannons. The VOC attempted a salvage of their cargo soon after the wreck, in 1712, however little was found due to the heavy tide (which spread the contents of the wreck) and the possibility that the locals had already recovered what was possible. There were more salvage attempts by a man named William Irvine between 1729-1736 as well. A modern excavation was done after the discovery of the wreck in 1965, and in the late 1960's the wreck was salvaged by Richard Price. Some of the artifacts found on the site of de Liefde can be seen at the Shetland Museum. |
|||||||
| 1701 | 1713 | Zuytdorp / Zuiddorp | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Wijsvliet Marinus | 576 | 1152 | 250 | Length: 54.3m | Spiegelretourschip | Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Wielingen | 01/08/1711 | ran aground | June 1712 | 225 - | Shark Bay, Western Australia | Australia | 27°11,167'S | 113°56,187'E | 1927 / 1963 | Wrecksite.eu - Zuytdorp 1713 | MaSS - Zuytdorp 1713 | On 1 August 1711 Zuytdorp (meaning ‘South village’) was dispatched from the Netherlands to the trading port of Batavia. It never arrived at its destination. No search was undertaken, since there was no idea where the ship was lost. The crew were never heard from again. In 1834, Aborigines told a farmer near the recently colonised Perth about a wreck some distance to the North. With references to a wreck and coins on the beach, details strongly pointed to the Zuytdorp, however the colonists presumed it was a recent wreck and sent rescue parties who failed to find the wreck or any survivors. | ||||||||||
| 1708 | 1713 | Bennebroek | Zeeland (Middleburg) | 400 | 800 | 225-250 | Length: 145 foot | 3 masts | Homeward Bound | Ceylon | 20/12/1710 | ran aground | Jan 1711 | Struys BayKeiskamma River, Ciskei Struisbaai, Cape Agulhas |
Africa - Southern | 34°43,333'S | 20°07,250'E | MaSS - Bennebroek 1713 | The Bennebroek was wrecked in Struys Baai, east of Cape Agulhas in South Africa. She was on her way from Ceylon to Texel. Part of the cargo: gems and precious stones. | |||||||||||||||
| 1723 | 1724 | Slot ter Hooghe | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Boghoute Steven | 425 | 850 | 254 | Length: 48.8m | Spiegelretourschip | Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Rammekens | 31/10/1724 | ran aground | 19/11/1724 | 221 - | NW side of Porto Santo | Madeira | 33°05,78'N | 16°19,75'W | 1970's | Wrecksite.eu - Slot ter Hooghe 1724 | MaSS - Slot ter Hoge 1724 | Slot ter Hooghe was a merchant vessel sailing for the Dutch East
India Company (VOC) between patria and the East Indies. She was on her first
voyage to the East Indies when she wrecked. Only a year after being built she wrecked off the coast of the island Porto Santo, located Northeast of Madeira. 221 on board of the ship lost their lives. In the 18th century there were already attempts to salvage the wreck of the ship 't Slot ter Hooghe by John Lethbridge who was hired by the Dutch in 1725, only a year after the wreck. But excavation of the site wasn't done on a proper level until Robert Sténuit excavated the wreck in the 1970's. An article written by Sténuit regarding this wreck "The treasure of Porto Santo" was published by National Geographic in August of 1975. Artifacts found on site included a large quantity of gold and silver coins and bullion, as well as some cannons. |
||||||||||
| 1724 | 1725 | Akerendam | Amsterdam | Nicolaas De Roy | 425 | 850 | 40 | 200 | Length: 44.2 m | 3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Outward Bound | Texel | 17/01/1725 | ran aground | 08/03/1725 | 200 - | 20m | Runde, Alesund | Norway | 62°24,333'N | 05°35,117'E | 1972 | Wrecksite.eu - Akerrndam 1725 | MaSS - Akerendam 1725 | Akerendam (Capt. Nicolaas de Roy) was lost on her maiden voyage
from Texel to India on 8th March 1725. She was off course in a violent storm
in the night of 7/8 March and struck the Island of Rundøy (Rondoe), in
Norway. The Akerendam left Texel on the 17th of January 1725, on her maiden voyage to the Dutch East Indies. She took the northern route around Scotland (route achterom) but was struck by a blizzard in the North Sea. She was pushed off course and stranded near Runde Island in Norway. All of her crew members perished. A large portion of the cargo was silver and gold coins which had been produced specifically for inter-Asiatic trading purposes, and Akerendam carried 19 chests of these newly minted coins. The loss of Akerendam was a very large one for the VOC. The year she sank, locals from Goksøyrs in Norway discovered parts of the wreck and other debris on the beach. Part of the cargo was then salvaged from the wreck itself, and auctioned on the 19th of March 1725, which was only eleven days after Akerendam sank. Among the items auctioned were five of the nineteen chests of coins and barrels of French wine. The Akerendam was found by amateur divers in 1972 and they have salvaged the very valuable cargo of gold coins. She lies only 100m away from the coast in depths ranging between 12 and 20 metres. |
||||||||
| 1725 | 1727 | Zeewyk / Zeewijk | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Jan Steyns | 425 | 850 | 36 | 204 | Length: 44.2 m Beam: 11m Draft : 5.53m |
3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Vlissingen | ran aground | ran aground | 09/06/1727 | 72 - 125 + |
Houtman Abrolhos, Gun Island, Western Australia | Australia | 28°53,628'S | 113°48,804'E | 1968 | Wrecksite.eu - Zeewyk 1727 | MaSS - Zeewijk 1727 | On 09 June 1727, Zeewijk (Jan Steyns) was on voyage
from Vlissingen to Batavia with a cargo 10 chests of silver and
golden coins and general cargo and a crew of 212, when she was lost off
Houtman Abrolhos, Gun Island. 72 died when she was wrecked. The remaining 125 crew managed to reach an island nearby (later called Gun Island) and found the remains of another wreck. On July 10th, the boatswain Pieter Langeweg with 11 crew left in the Zeewijk´s Long Boat, in order to find help on Batavia, but were never heard of again. The rest of the men remained 9 months on the island, where they survived hunting sea lions using rafts. On one of those hunting trips, they found a small boat and with this boat, they started re-visiting the Zeewijk, hereby salvaging further supplies from the ship. The courage, perseverance and resourcefulness of the VOC seamen must have been formidable, as they managed to make a new ship, called ´Sloepie´ out of the Zeewijk wreck and other debris and managed to sail back with 88 crew and the 10 chests, all the way to Batavia, 1.450 miles up North, where they arrived April 28th 1728 with 82 survivors. 6 crew died on this voyage. |
||||||||
| 1713 | 1727 | Risdam | Amsterdam | Cornelis Dam | 260 | 520 | 152 | Length: 36.6 m | Fluit | Hoorn | Outward Bound | Ayutthaya | 08/12/1726 | unseaworthy | ran ashore | 01/01/1727 | 1 - | 5m | Pulau Batu Gajah (the Elephant Rock), Mersing, Johor | Malaysia | 02°29,75'N | 103°51,50'E | Wrecksite.eu - Risdam 1727 | MaSS - Risdam 1727 | In January 1727, the Risdam, a Dutch Fluyt was on her way from
Siam to Batavia, when she was beached by her captain, off Pulau Batu Gajah
(the Elephant Rock) because she was found leaking too badly. Only one old
man, refusing to abandon the ship, lost his life. Risdam is one of the few discovered examples of a Dutch fluyt, which was a ship type characterized by a pear-shaped hull, and a flat bottom. The sloping sides made it difficult for attackers to board, and increased available cargo space. Fluyts were used mostly in the Baltic trade, and the design was intended to lower the toll for trade levied by the King of Denmark which was calculated by the width of the upper deck midship. The wreck of Risdam was discovered in 1984 by Mike Hatcher, and was incredibly well preserved due to her location encased in the muddy sediment of the beach where she was lost. Archaeological research was done in the form of a survey by Jeremy Green, an Australian archaeologist working with the Western Australian Maritime Museum, who later published his findings. During the course of the excavation, storage jars, tin and lead ingots, bricks, porcelain, and ivory were found, some of which have been incorporated into the museum collection at Muzium Negara in Malaysia. |
|||||||||
| 1722 | 1728 | Adelaar (Eagle) | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Willem de Keizer | 405 | 810 | 36 | 220 | Length: 44.2 m Beam: 11m Draft: 4m |
Spiegelretourschip | Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Rammekens | March 1728 | ran aground | March 1728 | Middle rock in the Maolach Sgeir (cursed reef) of Greian head at the island of Barra, Outer Hebrides | UK | 56°59,083'N | 07°31,467'W | 1972 | Wrecksite.eu - Adelaar 1728 | MaSS - Adelaar 1728 | In March 1728 Adelaar (Capt. Willem de Keizer) ran ashore on the
Island of Barra , Outer-Hebrides on her outbound voyage from Rammekens to
India. She had a very valuable cargo of silver coins. Her cargo was partially
recovered at the time. She was re-discovered in 1972 She carried mostly specie (money in the form of coins) to the Dutch East Indies where it was traded for goods that were then carried back to Patria. The ship made two round trips to Batavia between 1722 and 1727, and sailed on a third under a new captain (William de Keyser) on 21 March 1728. She intended to avoid sailing the English Channel due to political instability between England and Holland. This meant that she took what is called the "route achterom", which was a northern route around the British Isles. Two weeks after Adelaar set sail, she was caught in a gale, and was forced onto a reef off Greian Head on the northwestern side of Barra in the Scottish Hebrides. She had been sailing dangerously close to the shore, and was smashed apart by the rough seas upon the reef she struck. The destruction she suffered on the reef was rapid and total, and none of the people on board survived the event. |
||||||||||
| 1729 | 1735 | Vliegent Hart | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Van Der Horst, Cornelis | 425 | 850 | 256 | Length: 44.2 m Beam: 10m |
3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Zeeland (Middleburg | Outward Bound | Rammekens | 03/02/1735 | gale/storm | sunk | 03/02/1735 | 256 - | 18m | Vlakte van de Raan, Belgium / Schooneveld, Vlissingen | Netherlands | 51°29,519'N | 03°06,873'E | 1981 | Wrecksite.eu - Vliegent Hart 1735 | MaSS - Vliegent Hart 1735 | She was in company of the smaller ANNA CATHARINAand a pilot
boat, the MERCURIUS. Shortly after departure, around 5pm VLIEGEND
HERT was off course during a SE gale and ran aground following
the ANNA CATHARINA on the sandbanks around Duerloo
Channel. After 4 hours of struggling, the crew managed to take her off the sandbank and bring her into deeper waters of the Schooneveld and anchor the ship. The damage to the hull was too big and the VLIEGEND HERT sunk. All 256 crew and passengers were drowned. The wreck was first spotted in 1981. A lot of artefacts have been retrieved since. Amongst the finds were 2000 golden ducates and 5000 silver reales, wine bottles and weapons. Tin containers with food and tobacco were 'sealed' to last years. |
|||||||
| 1733 | 1738 | Boot | Rotterdam | Jacob Van Duinen | 325 | 650 | 40 | 150-75 | Length: 130 ft | Hekboot - Sternboat | Rotterdam | Homeward Bound | Batavia | 02/04/1738 | ran aground | 08/11/1738 | Prawle Point, South Devon | UK | 50°12,086'N | 03°43,370'W | 1981 | Wrecksite.eu - Boot 1738 | MaSS - Boot 1738 | Boot was lost on her 2nd homebound voyage in the English Channel between Goudstaart and Dartmouth on November 8th 1733 | ||||||||||
| 1732 | 1740 | De Vis | Amsterdam | Sikkes Jan | 325 | 650 | 162 | Length: 39.6 m | Fluit | Enkhuizen | Outward Bound | Texel | 08/01/1740 | 06/05/1740 | 1 + | 6m | Green Point, Table Bay | Africa - Southern | 33°54,20'S | 18°23,85'E | Wrecksite.eu - Vis 1740 | MaSS - Vis 1740 | The ship carried with her specie, granite blocks and many
large cast-iron cannons. The ship sailed onto the rocks near Greenpoint by accident. In an attempt to salvage crew and cargo a cable-way was constructed between the ship and the shore. People and cargo were then put into a cauldron, normally used to cook, to ferry everyone ashore. With 2 people at a time they would be transported ashore with the cauldron. The story has it that one person got to gready and tried to save himself with with 2 chests and pockets filled with coins, that the handle broke off the cauldron and he drowned. Besides this event, the crew and most of the money chests were salvaged in 1740. The ship carried with her specie, granite blocks and many large cast-iron cannons. It is said that large granite blocks and some cannons are still present on site and that only coins, bronze swivel guns and small cannons were salvaged from the site in modern times by divers approximately 50 years ago. |
|||||||||||
| 1737 | 1740 | Rooswijk | Amsterdam | Daniel Ronzieres | 425 | 850 | 250-265 | Length: 44.2 m | 3 masts | Outward Bound | Texel | 08/01/1740 | gale/storm | ran aground | 09/01/1749 | 200 - | 19m | Goodwin Sands | UK | 51°16,416'N | 01°34,508'E | 2004 | Wrecksite.eu - Rooswijk 1740 | MaSS - Rooswijk 1740 | Rooswijk was on her second outbound voyage to Batavia, whe she
was lost and foundered in a storm, off Goodwin Sands. None of the 200 on
board survived the disaster. She had a very valuable cargo of silver: 30
chests, containg 1,000 bars of silver and at least 36.000 silver coins
(reales). The next day, some locals found letters that were washed ashore,
off Deal. Part of the cargo of Rooswijk consisted of 30 boxes of silver bars and Mexican coins with a value of fl.300,082. Several hundred Mexican silver cobs from the 1720s and early 1730s, as well as transitional ‘klippes’ from 1733-1734, as well as many more hundreds of ‘pillar dollars’ and a few cobs from other mints. The loss of Rooswijk was reported in contemporary newspapers. On January 8, the Sherborne Mercury/Weekly Advertiser stated: "Yesterday came advice, that a Dutch ship bound for Batavia, was lost on the Goodwin Sands, with all the Ship's Crew, being upwards of two hundred Men." |
|||||||||
| 1742 | 1743 | Hollandia | Amsterdam | Kelder Jan | 575 | 1150 | 276 | Length: 45.7 m Beam: 12.2m |
3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | 03/07/1743 | poor visibility | ran aground | 13/07/1743 | 276 - | 28m | Gunner's Rock, Isles of Scilly | UK | 49°53,695'N | 06°23,639'W | 1971 | Wrecksite.eu - Hollandia 1743 | MaSS - Hollandia 1742 | On July 13th, 1742, HOLLANDIA, with 276 crew, an unknown number
of passengers and chests of bullion worth 129.700 guilders ran aground on
Gunner's Rock, Scilly Islands. Commander Jan Kelder ordered the guns to
be fired, but due to the distance, the locals couldn't assist the HOLLANDIA.
Hollandia was on her maiden voyage to Batavia and the family of the new
Governor-General, Van Imhoff was on board. All drowned. She was the
sistership of the VOC ship Amsterdam, built in 1748. Hollandia ran aground on Gunner Rock, off the southwest side of the Isles of Scilly. She was sailing too close to shore possibly due to foggy weather and poor visibility, and instead of sailing south after the English Channel, she sailed north, putting her on a collision course with the Isles of Scilly. With the bottom of the ship resting on Gunner Rock, the crew attempted to alert those on shore to the emergency through a salute of cannon fire, but Hollandia was too far out to sea for a rescue, and all those on board perished. |
|||||||
| 1738 | 1747 | Reijgersdaal | Johannes Band | 425 | 850 | 297 | Length: 145 ft | Spiegelretourschip | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | May 1747 | ran aground | ran aground | 25/10/1747 | 282 - | Saldanha Bay, Springfontein Point | Africa - Southern | 33°36,837'S | 18°21,985'E | 1979 | Wrecksite.eu - Reijgersdaal 1747 | MaSS - Reijgersdaal 1747 | In October 1747, the Reigersdaal, on her 7th voyage from
Texel to India with a crew of 297 and a cargo of 8 coffins of silver and a
big party of lead, made a stop at Dassen-eiland, South Africa. Already 125 of
the crew had died from diseases and being exhausted and in need of fresh
food, the captain, Johannes Band, ordered the crew ashore with the dinghy to
capture rabbits and birds. After this, they managed to anchor the ship with
great difficulty at the Northern coast of Robben Eiland as the weather
detoriated and blew from the South. The next day, when Captain Band decided
to go back to Dassen Eiland, the anchor cable broke and the ship,
uncontrollable now, ran aground on a reef, off Springfortein Punt. The dinghy
was again set out with a crew of 15 to hang a life-line to the coast. When
they arrived 45 minutes later, the Reigersdaal was smashed to pieces. Nobody
on board survived. 157 men died in the wreck. She sank on October 25, 1747 between Robben Island and Dassen Island. A few days after the loss of the Reijgersdaal they found one chest of silver on the shore. The wreck was discovered by a South African Salvage team lead by Brian Clark and Tubby Gericke in 1979. They managed to salvage 6 large bronze cannons adorned with beautiful carvings andthe crest of the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC. Lead ingots were also salvaged from the wreck site. |
||||||||||
| 1748 | 1749 | Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Willem Klump | 575 | 1150 | 54 | 330 | Length: 160 ft Beam: 11.5m Draft : 5.5m |
3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Amsterdam | Outward Bound | Texel | gale/storm | ran aground | 26/01/1749 | 1m | Bulverhythe, Hastings | UK | 50°50,814'N | 00°31,459'E | 1969 | Wrecksite.eu - Amsterdam 1749 | MaSS - Amsterdam 1748 | Almost immediately she sank into the soft mud and sand of the beach which curtailed contemporary salvage and ensured that the hull and its contents were well preserved. Although the wreck was known to many people it was not until it was attacked by a mechanical excavator in 1969 that it came to wider notice. Visible at low tide her vulnerability to unscientific interference was one of the causes of the passing of the Protection of Wrecks Act in 1973. As a result of this interference Peter Marsden began non-intrusive investigation and the site was designated in 1974. In 1975 the VOC-Schip Amsterdam Foundation was formed in the Netherlands in order to study the site further and assess the feasibility of raising the remains and returning them to Amsterdam. Under licence the Foundation began a programme of professionally run excavations between 1984 and 1986, at first under the direction of Peter Marsden, and then Jerzy Gawronski and Jon Adams. The work concentrated on investigating the layers previously disturbed by the mechanical excavator and studying the stratigraphy within the stern. | ||||||||
| 1746 | 1752 | Geldermalsen | Zeeland (Middleburg) | 575 | 1150 | 24 | 300 | Length: 45.7 m Beam: 12.8m |
Spiegelretourschip | Zeeland (Middleburg | Homeward Bound | China | 18/12/1751 | ran aground | ran aground | 18/01/1752 | 80 - 32 + |
Geldria Shoal, Riau Archipelago | Indonesia | 00°37,150'N | 105°10,367'E | 1984 | Wrecksite.eu - Geldermalsen 1752 | MaSS - Geldermalsen 1752 | On 18/01/1752, GELDERMALSEN, on a homebound voyage from China
with tea, china, chinese gold bullion and general cargo, was lost on Geldria
shoal, South China Sea. 80 hands were lost, 32 survived. The Geldermalsen was shipwrecked on January 3, 1752, on the reef Geldria's Drought off an island in Indonesia, south of Singapore. The crew managed to get her off the reef, but she subsequently ran aground, at which point the main mast as well as the rudder broke. The ship was severely damaged and taking on water, but the crew managed once again to get her off the reef and keep her afloat. Two lifeboats were launched, and a few hours later the Geldermalsen capsized and sank, along with the cargo, remaining crew, and the captain. One week later, the 32 surviving crew members reached Batavia in a lifeboat and a barge. Boatswain Christoffel van Dijk held the highest rank of the remaining crew, and was heavily questioned about the accident by the authorities in Batavia. The wreck was discovered in 1984 by Mike Hatcher and salvaged. The treasure was sold at Christies for 37 million guilders (about 50.000.000 euro today, dd 2012). |
|||||||||
| 1746 | 1753 | Bredenhof | Hoorn | Jan Nielsen | 425 | 850 | 221-250 | Length: 136 ft | 3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Hoorn | Outward Bound | ran aground | ran aground | 06/06/1753 | Lacerda Shoals, Mozambique Channel | Mozambique | 1986 | Wrecksite.eu - Bredenhof 1753 | MaSS - Bredenhof 1753 | She was lost on the 6th of June 1753 off the coast of Mozambique
when she became caught in currents and struck a reef. She was making her
third voyage to the east, and was bound for Ceylon and Bengalen to trade her
cargo of silver for spices. Bredenhof had just begun her journey to the east
from the Cape of Good Hope when she ran into treacherous waters and struck a
reef. Bredenhof, with a cargo of 14 chests silver coins, 29 chests of silver ingots and 1 chest with 5.000 golden ducates, was lost on June 6th, 1753, on a reef 13 miles off Mozambique. Capt. Nielsen threw the silver overboard to prevent plundering. The gold was saved. The wreck was discovered and the cargo of silver was salvaged in 1986. |
|||||||||||||
| 1753 | 1760 | Buitenzorg | Amsterdam | Coenraad Dirk Wolk | 440 | 880 | 181-268 | Length: 42.7 m | 3 masts | Spiegelretourschip | Amsterdam | Homeward Bound | crushed by ice | 07/02/1760 | Javaruggen, Waddenzee | Netherlands | 53°01,1'N | 05°07,1'E | 1958 | Wrecksite.eu - Buitenzorg 1760 | MaSS - Buytensorg - 1760 | The Buytensorg was lost after her return voyage from the East.
She arrived at Texel and was was undone of her cargo containing items such as
peppergrain, sugar and tea. When it began to freeze to extreme temperatures
in december the Buytensorg was one of the ships that got in trouble en was
stuck by the ice. An attempt was done to save the ship and take her to the
port in Den Helder. Unfortunately the ship got stuck on her way, got cracked
open by the ice and sank in January 1760 at the Javaruggen. The loss was
reported in the "Opregte Haarlemsche Courant" on the 7th of
February 1760. Since the ship had arrived at its destination the cargo had been taken of the ship prior to the loss. Therefore no salvage attempt was done after the loss of the ship. In present time there have been four periods of research: 1958, 1964, 1985 & 1986. Buitenzorg was lost when she was crushed by ice in the winter in January 1760, off Texel. The wreck has been discovered on the ´Javaruggen´ |
||||||||||||
| 1764 | 1776 | Nieuw Rhoon | Amsterdam | Jacob Koelders | 575 | 1150 | 312-353 | Length: 150 ft | Zeeland (Middleburg | Homeward Bound | Ceylon | gale/storm | ran ashore | 01/03/1776 | Table Bay, Capetown | Africa - Southern | 1970 | MaSS - Nieuw Rhoon 1776 | The Nieuw Rhoon was Dutch East Indiaman homebound from Ceylon to
Holland. It was her fifth journey. When The Nieuw Rhoon arrived at the Cape she was taken out of the service. The condition of the ship had deteriorated so that she became unsea worthy. When attempting to enter Table Bay the ship was driven upon a reef(presumably "whale rock") near Robben Island by a violent South-Easter. She hit the reef hard and a big leak was caused. The Nieuwe Rhoon was damaged in such a way that she was got off and brought up to the anchorage. It was necessary to beach her by the jetty to save her cargo. The ship was laid up at the cape on the first of March 1776. The cargo of the Nieuw Rhoon was transported to Amsterdam by another ship: the Patriot. |
|||||||||||||||
| 1775 | 1781 | Middelburg | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Gennep Justus Van | 575 | 1150 | Length: 45.7 m | Fregat - Frigate | Zeeland (Middleburg | Homeward Bound | China | 15/01/1781 | explosion | destroyed by fire | 21/07/1781 | 14m | Saldanha Bay, Capetown | Africa - Southern | 33°01,6'S | 17°57,8'E | 1971 | Wrecksite.eu - Middelburg 1781 | MaSS - Middelburg 1774 | Battle of Saldanha Bay. Given the difficulty of defending Table
Bay in the event of an attack, five merchantmen, the Hoogkarspel, Middelburg,
Honkoop, Paarl and Dankbaarheid, and the Held Woltemade went to Saldanha Bay, where they were
ordered to shelter. Orders were given that the ships were to be destroyed if
they could not escape capture. Each captain was instructed to load his vessel
with combustibles, and if capture seemed likely, to set fire to his ship.
Most of the Dutch commanders and crew did not take this order seriously and
treated their time in Saldanha Bay as a holiday. Captain van Gennep of the
Middelburg was the only officer to comply with these instructions by
preparing his boat to be set alight. On 21/07/1781, MIDDELBURG (Capt. Gennep Justus van), on a homebound voyage from China was captured by the British, off Saldanha Bay. Her crew, however set her on fire and soon after MIDDELBURG exploded. The wreck was found in 1971 by the same diver who found the MERESTEIN. The english fleet opend fire on the anchored Dutch ships. The Dutch hastily tried to set their ships alight and cut their cables to run the vessels ashore. The English, however, were prepared for fire fighting and quickly extinguished the fires as they boarded the abandoned vessels. The only exception was the Middelburg. The vessel was soon fiercely ablaze, and the flames spread through the hull to the powder magazine, whereupon she exploded and sank. |
||||||||||
| 1789 | 1795 | Zeelelie | Zeeland (Middleburg) | Kornelis Adriaanszoon | 575 | 1150 | 100 | Length: 150 ft | Zeeland (Middleburg | Homeward Bound | China | captured | Scilly Isles | UK | 1986 | MaSS - Zeelelie 1795 | he was on her return voyage to Holland coming from China, when
she was captured by the English. The ship was confiscated off St.Helena
during her second voyage in June of 1795 and taken to Shannon, Ireland. Later that year the ship was lost near the Scilly Isles due to the fault of the prize master. She was captured by the English East Indiaman General Goddard (built 1782) together with several other Dutch Ships. The Zeelelie was discovered in 1986 by R. Larn on the most western rocks of the Isles of Scilly. According to the sources the cargo value of the Zeelelie was 716, 139 Dutch Guilders. Tea and china was also part of the cargo. |
|||||||||||||||||
| VOC Shipwrecks under investigation - background & voyage details | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Voyage # | Year Built | Year Sunk | Ship Name | Chamber | Captain | Last | Tonnage | Crew | Dimensions | Rigging | Ship Type | Shipyard | Voyage Type | From | Departure Date | To | Arrival Date | Cause of Incident | Fate / Incident | Date Lost | Survivors +/ Deaths - | Depth | Location | Country | Latitude | Longitude | Wikipedia | Wrecksite.eu | Website link | Comments | ||||
| 1619 | 1626 | Schoonhoven | Amsterdam | Kornelis Hartman | 198 | Jacht | 22/01/1626 | Melides beach, | Portugal | 2018 | MaSS - Schoonhoven - 1626 | Wrecked on the coast of Portugal 22 January 1626; 198 men were
taken prisoner in Lisboa. Archaeologists in Portugal have
discovered a wreck in September 2018 that could be a Dutch East
Indiaman. The peppercorns, fragments of Chinese porcelain and bronze cannon among the sunken remains of a 400-year-old ship that once sailed the spice route between Europe and India. Cowrie shells were also found, which were used in the slave trade on the West coast of Africa. |
||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1636 | 1647 | Haarlem | Amsterdam | Pieter Pietersz. | 250 | 500 | 120 | Amsterdam | Homeward Bound | Batavia | bad weather | 1647 | Table Bay (Tafelbaai) | Africa - Southern | MaSS - Haarlem 1647 | Nieuw Haarlem was built in 1636 by the VOC chamber of Amsterdam, and was on her fourth homeward bound voyage to the Netherlands in 1647. She was sailing from Batavia to Holland, and had just reached the Cape of Good Hope. She was caught in a storm and sank in Table Bay. Part of the crew survived, and along with salvaged cargo, created a settlement in order to wait for another VOC ship to pass and rescue the survivors. A year later the survivors and remaining cargo were pick up by a passing ship. The wreck of Haarlem began the occupation of the Cape region by the Dutch. Riebeek's men built a small wooden fort in 1653, the Redout Duijnhoop, which was later replaced by the Castle of Good Hope, as well as a hospital. | ||||||||||||||||||
VOC Shipwrecks Bibliographic Media & Museum details
VOC Shipwrecks Bibliographic Media & Museum details
| Voyage # | Vessel Name | Year Lost | Year Found | Voyage Type | Media Type | Author | Year | Title | Place of Publication | Journal / Publisher | Journal Reference | ISBN | Web Link | Comments |
| 5077.2 | Mauritius | 1609 | 1985 | Homeward Bound | Article | L'Hour, M., Long, L & Reith, E. | 1990 | The wreck of an 'experimental' ship of the 'Oost-Indische Companie': The Mauritius (1609) | IJNA | 19.1: 63-73 | ||||
| Web Page | Archeologie Culture France - Mauritius | |||||||||||||
| Web Page | MaSS - Mauritius | |||||||||||||
| 5100.3 | Witte Leeuw | 1613 | 1976 | Homeward Bound | Book | Pijl-Ketel, van der C. L. | 1982 | The ceramic load of the 'Witte Leeuw' (1613) | Amsterdam | Rijksmuseum | 90-9309-6 | |||
| Article | Stenuit, R. | 1978 | The sunken treasure of St. Helena | National Geographic | 154.4: 562-76 | |||||||||
| Article | Stenuit, R. | 1977 | De 'Witte Leeuw'. De schipbreuk van een schip van de V.O.C. in 1613 en het onderwateronderzoek naar het wrak in 1976. | Amsterdam | Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum | |||||||||
| 5105.2 / 0146.2 | Banda | 1615 | Homeward Bound | |||||||||||
| 351.1 | Campen | 1627 | 1979 | Outward Bound | Article | Larn, R. (ed) Needles Underwater Archaeology Group (NUAG) | 1985 | The wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman Campen on the Needles rocks, Isle of Wight, 1627 - Part 1 | IJNA | 14.1: 1-31 | ||||
| Article | Larn, R. (ed) Needles Underwater Archaeology Group (NUAG) | 1985 | The wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman Campen on the Needles rocks, Isle of Wight, 1627 - Part 2 | IJNA | 14.2: 97-118 | |||||||||
| Documentary | Silver Needles - VOC Campen 1627 | 1981 | Silver Needles - VOC Campen 1627 | |||||||||||
| Batavia | 1629 | 1963 | Outward Bound | |||||||||||
| Rob | 1640 | |||||||||||||
| Lastdrager | 1653 | Article | Stenuit, R. | 1974 | Early relics of the VOC trade from Shetland: The wreck of the Flute Lastdrager lost of Yell, 1653. | IJNA | 3.2: 213-56 | |||||||
| Vergulde Draeck | 1656 | |||||||||||||
| Kennemerland | 1664 | |||||||||||||
| Princesse Maria | 1686 | |||||||||||||
| Dageraad | 1694 | |||||||||||||
| Huis te Kraijenstein | 1698 | |||||||||||||
| Meresteyn | 1702 | |||||||||||||
| Liefde | 1711 | |||||||||||||
| Zuytdorp | 1713 | |||||||||||||
| Bennebroek | 1713 | |||||||||||||
| Slot ter Hooghe | 1724 | |||||||||||||
| Akerendam | 1725 | |||||||||||||
| Zeewyk | 1727 | |||||||||||||
| Risdam | 1727 | |||||||||||||
| Adelaar | 1728 | |||||||||||||
| Vliegent Hart | 1735 | |||||||||||||
| Boot | 1738 | |||||||||||||
| Vis | 1740 | |||||||||||||
| Rooswijk | 1740 | |||||||||||||
| Hollandia | 1743 | |||||||||||||
| Reijgersdaal | 1747 | |||||||||||||
| Amsterdam | 1749 | |||||||||||||
| Geldermalsen | 1752 | |||||||||||||
| Bredenhof | 1753 | |||||||||||||
| Buitenzorg | 1760 | |||||||||||||
| Nieuw Rhoon | 1776 | |||||||||||||
| Middleburg | 1781 | |||||||||||||
| Zeelelie | 1795 | |||||||||||||