The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765 Part 16

30 do. In the morning I took the sun's azimuth: between 9 and 10 degrees to northward, the rise being 16 degrees, remains 7 degrees. At noon Lat.i.tude 24 47'. Course held North by west, with a southerly wind; sailed 18 miles; in the evening it fell calm...

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XVIII.

(1627) DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE s.h.i.+P HET GULDEN ZEEPAARD, COMMANDED BY PIETER NUIJTS, MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF INDIA, AND BY SKIPPER FRANcOIS THIJSSEN OR THIJSZOON.

A.

_Dail Register of what has happened here at Batavia from the first of January, 1627 [*]._

[* On p. 307 of my edition of the Daily Register of 1624-1629.]

...On the 10th [of April] there arrived here from the Netherlands the s.h.i.+p t' Gulden Seepaart fitted out by the Zealand Chamber [*], having on board the Hon. Pieter Nuyts, extraordinary Councillor of India, having sailed from there on the 22nd of May, 1626...

[* The Register of outgoing vessels of the E.I.C. shows that the skipper's name was Francois Thijssen or Thijszoon.]

B.

_Hessel Gerritsz-Huydecoper Chart (No. 5.--VII D)._

This chart has 't land van Pieter Nuijts (discovered January 26 [*], 1627) and the islands of Sint Francois and Sint Pieter.

[* Some of the charts have February, but most of them January. This month is also mentioned as the time of the discovery in the instructions for Pool (1636, see _infra_) and for Tasman (1644). Cf. my Life of Tasman, pp. 97f.]

XIX.

(1627) VOYAGE OF THE s.h.i.+PS GALIAS, UTRECHT AND TEXEL, COMMANDED BY GOVERNOR-GENERAL JAN PIETERSZOON COEN.

FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

A.

_Letter of Jan Pieterszoon Coen to the Directors of the E.I.C._

Most n.o.ble Wise Provident Very Discreet Gentlemen,

The present is a copy of our letter written from Illa de Mayo on the 15th of April last...On July the 22nd we sailed from the Tafelbay with the s.h.i.+ps Galias, Utrecht and Texel. When coming out to sea we got the wind from the south, so that we could not sail higher than the Cape, and lost eight days during which we made no progress. Then getting a favourable wind we remained together in 37 degrees Southern Lat.i.tude up to the 10th of August; the following night, however, the rudder of the Galias broke in a strong wind, so that the s.h.i.+p became ungovernable, and the sails were dashed to pieces, in consequence of which she got separated from the other two s.h.i.+ps, who had failed to observe the accident of the Galias owing to the darkness; {Page 52} the next day, the rudder having been repaired, we continued our voyage with the Galias, and in the afternoon of the 5th of September in 28 degrees S. Lat. came upon the land of d'Eendracht. We were at less than half a mile's distance from the breakers before perceiving the same, without being able to see land. If we had come upon this place in the night-time, we should have been in a thousand perils with our s.h.i.+p and crew. In the plane charts the reckonings of our steersmen were still between 300 and 350 miles from any land, so that there was not the slightest suspicion of our being near any, although the reckoning of the chart with increasing degrees showed only 120 miles, and the reckoning by the terrestrial globe only 50 miles distance from the land. But to this little attention had been paid. It seems certain now that the miscalculation involved in the plane chart from Cabo de bon' Esperanca to the Southland in 35 degrees lat.i.tude gives an overplus of more than 270 miles of sea, a matter to which most steersmen pay little attention, and which has brought, and is still daily bringing, many vessels into great perils. It would be highly expedient if in the plane charts most in use, between Cabo de bon' Esperanca and the South-land south of Java, so much s.p.a.ce were added and pa.s.sed over in drawing up the reckonings, as is deducible from the correct longitude according to the globosity of earth and sea. We would request Your Wors.h.i.+ps to direct attention to this point, and have such indications made in the plane chart as experts shall find to be advisable; a matter of the highest importance, which if not properly attended to involves grievous peril to s.h.i.+ps and crews (which G.o.d in his mercy avert).

In this plane chart the South-land also lies fully 40 miles more to eastward than it should be, which should also be rectified.

On the 20th of September we struck the South-coast of Java about 50 or 60 miles eastward of its western extremity...

Your Wors.h.i.+ps' obedt. servant J.P. COEN.

At Batavia, October 30, 1627.

XX.

(1627) VOYAGE OF THE s.h.i.+P HET WAPEN VAN HOORN, COMMANDED BY SUPER CARGO J. VAN ROOSENBERGH.

FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

_Letter Of Supercargo J. Van Roosenbergh to the Directors of the E.I.C., November 8, 1627._

Wors.h.i.+pful Wise Provident Very Discreet Gentlemen,

You have no doubt received my letter from Illa de Mayo...

On the 7th of September we resolved to run for the South-land, that we might be near Java before the middle of October. On the 17th do. we sighted the land of d'Eendracht near Dirck Hartochs reede [road-stead], at about 7 miles' distance from us; the land was of middle height, something like D'overen [Dover] in England; it is less low than has been a.s.serted by some, and of a whitish hue, so that at night it cannot be seen before one is quite close to it. When by estimation we were at two miles' distance from the land, the coast seemed to have a foresh.o.r.e consisting of small hills here and there. According to our observations the land lay quite differently from what the chart would have us believe, to wit, North by West and North-north-west, from a point three miles south of the aforesaid height to a point 8 or 9 miles north of it; which were the farthest points seen by us; this const.i.tuting a difference Of 3 {Page 53} points with the chart, which makes it North-north-east and South-south-west. We cast the lead five miles off the sh.o.r.e in 75 fathom, muddy bottom mixed with small red pebbles, and five gla.s.ses afterwards, two miles off sh.o.r.e, in 55 fathom sandy bottom, for hardly anything was found sticking to the lead when heaved. We had seen no other signs of land beyond gulf-weed floating about in small quant.i.ties just as in the Sarga.s.so Sea, and some land-birds flying high overhead. The many-coloured birds which we met near the islands of Tristan de Aconcha, left us two days before, just as they did when we got near Cabo de bone Esperanca, so that they would seem to dislike the land. Instead of them, we saw a black bird with a white tail, having white streaks here and there under its wings; a bird, it seems, of rare occurrence. Three or four days before we also saw a number of sanderlings. Close insh.o.r.e we also saw a quant.i.ty of cuttlebone, but the pieces were very small and scattered, so that they could hardly be seen in hollow water, except by paying very close attention to them and only 6 or 8 miles off sh.o.r.e, seeing that the steady west-wind prevents their getting out to sea, which they would certainly do, if now and then the wind blew from the east for a few days in succession. Careful estimations based on the globosity of the earth will give the best signs after all. By estimation we have got into...[*]

Longitude, some of our steersmen having got one or two degrees more, some less, which in the plane charts makes a considerable difference, about 217 miles by calculation. I repeat that since I have seen the land a good deal earlier, it will be expedient in the plane chart to mark out a distance of about 200 miles, to westward of St. Paulo island and to eastward of Madagascar, the said distance to be pa.s.sed over in drawing up reckonings, seeing that the plane chart involves serious drawbacks; the same might well be done to eastward of the Cape, in such fas.h.i.+on as Your Wors.h.i.+ps' cartographers and other experts, such as Master C. J. Lastman, shall find to be most expedient for the Company's service. Seeing that we had nothing to do near the coast, and there was a fair wind blowing for us to make use of, we deemed it advisable that night to run north-west, and the next morning, having got north into 20 degrees S. Lat., from there to hold a north by-west course for Java, whither G.o.d Almighty may in safety conduct ourselves and those who shall come after us.

[* Left blank.]

On the 27th do. in the evening, when it had got dark, the water suddenly turned as white as b.u.t.ter-milk, a thing that none of those on board of us had ever seen in their lives, and which greatly surprised us all, so that, concluding it to be caused by a shallow of the sea, we set the foresail and cast the lead, but since we got no bottom, and with the rising moon the water again resumed its usual colour, we made all sail and ran on full speed, satisfied that the strange colour had been caused by the sky, which was very pale at the time. On the 28th in the morning very early, the water became thick, and shortly after we sighted land, being two islands, each of them about 2 miles in length; at 4 miles'

distance from the land we cast the lead in 65 fathom sandy bottom. At noon in Lat.i.tude 8, three miles off sh.o.r.e, we found ourselves to have run too far to eastward, wherefore we held our course to westward up to the 2nd of October, when by G.o.d's grace we pa.s.sed the Princen islands, and arrived off Bantham on the 9th do. By estimation the land of d'Eendracht is marked in the chart fifty miles too far to eastward, which should also be rectified...

Done in the s.h.i.+p 't Wapen van Hoorn, November 8, A.D. 1627, lying at anchor before Batavia.

Your Wors.h.i.+ps' obedt. Servant J. V. ROOSENBERGH.

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XXI.

(1628) DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE s.h.i.+P VIANEN (VIANE, VIANA), COMMANDED BY GERRIT FREDERIKSZOON DE WITT.--DE WITT'S LAND.

A.

_Letter of the Governor-General and Councillors to the Managers of the E.I.C. November 3, 1628._