VOC Shipwrecks

VOC Shipwrecks & Archives

The VOC traded until 1799 and lost a number of ships over the one hundred and ninety years their ships where at sea. There are lots of popular listings throughout the Internet, which often summarize the possible losses of the VOC. The longest list includes up to 635 vessels, but in fact, there are at least 99 more. In all, a total of 734 vessel losses could be recorded as lost and nine uncertain cases as well. This is caused by contradictory statements of the sources, so a dismantling cannot be excluded completely. Also, there are a few source conflicts. According to Kist (1990: 50) “about 50” vessels have been located and excavated since 1965, Gawronski (1992: 14) names 33 East Indiamen wrecks, but does not refer the other types of ships. In the context of available resources 54 wrecks could be assigned as undoubtedly “known” today. Additionally, Turner (1988) lists 18 most likely silted ships very accurately which have been known at least once. Also, there are nine additional ships which cannot be found anymore because the remains were sold or destroyed shortly after wrecking. (Bracker,2016).

VOC Archives

Artifact Archive

Searchable data base of artefacts recovered from the VOC shipwreck site of the t'Vliegent Hart.

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Shipwreck Archive

Database of VOC ships lost between the 17th and 18th Centuries.

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VOC Shipwrecks

Batavia built & sunk 1628

Shipwreck of the Batavia

Batavia a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Built in Amsterdam in 1628.
On 4 June 1629, Batavia struck Morning Reef wrecking it off the coast of Western Australia.

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Expeditions

t'Vliegent Hart built 1729, sank 1735

Pre 2000

The Discovery of the wreck site of t'Vliegent Hart, including a record of expeditions before 2000.

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TVH 2000

Year One of the VOC Anniversary Shipwreck Project sponsored by the Oxford Maritime Trust. Conservation, interpretation, post excavation research and recommendations.

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TVH 2001

Information from the 2001 Expedition on the extent of the existing surviving structure of the wreck, media archive and image pages.

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TVH 2002

The third consecutive Expedition of the Anniversary Shipwreck Project. It was the 400th anniversary of the formation of the Dutch VOC and the longest Expedition with six weeks of excavation.

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Rooswijk built 1737, sank 1739

Rooswijk 2005

The history behind the discovery of the Rooswijk, like so many other shipwrecks, is the result of dedicated historical research over many years and visual or magnetic searching of a particular area combined with a certain degree of luck.

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Amsterdam built 1748, sank 1749

VOC Amsterdam 1984

The East Indiaman Amsterdam is one of the showpieces of the Dutch National Maritime Museum. In the 17th and 18th Centuries sailors bound for the East Indies sailed to the Far East in such ships. The voyage took about eight months. All East Indiamen together made almost five thousand of these voyages.

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