The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765 Part 24

[Map No. 13. Kaart van het Zuidland, bezeild door Willem De Vlamingh in 1696-1697 door ISAAC DE GRAAFF (Chart of the South-land, made and surveyed by Willem De Vlamingh in 1696-1697)]

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D.

_Chart of the Malay Archipelago, the north- and west-coasts of Australia, etc. [*]_

[* This chart is likewise the work of ISAAC DE GRAAFF (1690-1714). It gives a survey of the results of De Vlamingh's voyage, and may also do duty as a general record of the Dutch discoveries on the north- and west-coast of Australia in the 17th century. The dotted (uncertain) line on the N.W. coast is supplemented by the chart of Van der Wall's discovery in 1678 (No. 11).]

_(See folding Chart, marked No. 14.)_

[Map No. 14. Uitslaande kaart van den Maleischen Archipel, de Noord- en West-kusten van Australie door ISAAC DE GRAAFF (Folding chart of the Malay Archipelago, the North- and West-coast of Australia) 1690-1714]

x.x.xIII.

(1705). FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE s.h.i.+PS VOSSENBOSCH, COMMANDED BY MAARTEN VAN DELFT, DE WAIJER UNDER ANDRIES ROOSEBOOM, OF HAMBURG, AND NIEUW-HOLLAND OR NOVA-HOLLANDIA, COMMANDED BY PIETER HENDRIKSZOON, OF HAMBURG.

A.

_Instructions_ (by the G.-G. and Counc., dated January 20, 1705) _for the officers of the Frigate de Geelvink, along with the Pinnace de Kraanvogel and the Patchiallang Nova Guinea, destined to set out for the outside coast of the said Nova Guinea; as also for the Flute Vossenbos, together with the Pinnace de Doradus [*] and the Patchiallang Nieuw Holland, having destination for the bay of Hollandia Nova._

[* Afterwards replaced by the pinnace de Waijer.]

[Various] considerations have determined us to dispatch you from here on a cruise, in such fas.h.i.+on that the frigate Geelvinck together with the pinnace Craanvogel and the patchiallang Nova Guinea, mentioned in the heading of the present, will first run from here directly for Banda...and from Banda continue their voyage to the coast of Nova Guinea.

In the same manner we annex sailing instructions for the officers of the s.h.i.+p Vossenbosch, which together with the pinnace de Doratus and the patchiallang Nieuw Holland, likewise above mentioned, will first run for our Castle of Concordia in Timor, and then continue her voyage to Hollandia Nova, in such fas.h.i.+on as you will for your guidance find further amplified below...

You will in the first place have diligently to observe, whether there is anywhere a pa.s.sage from the outside to the inside, and this not only as regards Nova Guinea, but also as concerns Hollandia Nova, so that these orders...will have to be acted up to not only by the officers of the Geelvinck, but also by those of the Vossenbosch; and you should take special care, in case you should find such real or seeming pa.s.sage, not to run too far into it, lest you should be carried away by currents in the same, and run the risk of accidents; on which account the examination of such pa.s.sages should nowise be undertaken by the frigate or by the flute, but only by a pinnace or patchiallang; never to any farther distance than the experienced sailors in the same shall deem advisable to enable a safe return out of the said pa.s.sages, and in no case so far as to get out of anchoring depth...

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And furthermore, as sailing instructions for the officers of the flute [Vossenbosch], over and above that which should be applicable to them in the instructions given up to now, it has been resolved to enjoin them that having reached Timor...they will thence set sail from the north-eastern extremity of the said island, and shape their course south-eastward as far as 11 S. Lat. and 148 Longitude, whence on an eastward course they will run in sight of Van Diemensland in Hollandia Nova, which point is said to consist altogether of islands, a matter that will thus be cleared up. From there this coast will have to be further followed to eastward as far as Aarnemsland and the Drooge eyland, which will have to be skirted and surveyed both on the inside and outside; next, the coast aforesaid will have to be followed as far as Van der Lijns eiland, which you will examine in the same way as you have done the Drooge eyland. You will then continue your voyage as far as Lemmens bogt and Abel Tasmans baay and Waterplaats, and from there run for Cape Van Diemen, which having rounded you will follow the coast of Carpentaria in a northward direction along Sweeris, Van der Ljns, Van Diemens and Staten rivers, until you have pa.s.sed the Na.s.sauw river, which according to the chart has its mouth beset with numerous sand-banks and shallows. Next, running past Cape Keerweer, the Carpentier river, the Hooge eyland and the Groote vuyle imbocht, together with the Oranjen river, and having rounded the great projecting point of the Meeuen river, you will run along the bay of Keerweer then following, always along the coast in a westerly direction, past the Doodslagers revier, de Waterplaets, until you have got beyond Goening Apy, Moordenaers revier and the Wesels eyland, and also beyond Speelmans river and Rijkloffs bays, after which you will make the point of Ony, whence you will cross over along Keffing in Banda, as has already been noted in pa.s.sing...

The commander of the flute Vossenbosch aforesaid, in case the whole bight of Nova Hollandia, owing to adverse weather or defects of the s.h.i.+p, cannot be made according to these our instructions so as to enable her to be back in Banda at the end of September, will be empowered with the advice of the s.h.i.+p's council, from the Drooge eylant aforesaid to cross over to the Meeuen river, situated nearly N.W. and S.E. of each other, and thereby to shorten the voyage to that extent, always provided that no other means can be found...

If in...Nova Hollandia you should happen to come upon unknown Indians, of whom you might without violence or risk, and of their own free will, bring two or three with you hither, such men might possibly prove of great use in subsequent voyages, but this point we leave to your own judgment and discretion, as you shall find circ.u.mstances to shape themselves.

Victuals and provisions for all your s.h.i.+ps for the s.p.a.ce of 10 months have been ordered on board here...

In the Castle of Batavia, January 20, 1705.

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B.

_A Report and account [dated October 6, 1705] of what has been discovered and found noteworthy in the voyage of the flute Fossenbosch, the pinnace d'Waijer and the patsjallang Nova Hollandia, dispatched from Batavia to Hollandia Nova aforesaid by way of Timor, by the Supreme Government of India, A.D. 1705; as collected and digested from the written journals [*] and verbal narratives of the officers returned, by the Councillors-Extraordinary HENRICK SWAARDECROOM and CORNELIS CHASTELIJN, commissioned for this purpose; the whole to serve as a report to be delivered to His Wors.h.i.+p Governor-General JOAN VAN HOORN and the Lords Councillors of India. [**]_

[* I have not found these journals.]

[* I have not printed this Report, 1st because it has been edited by LEUPE in _Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde van Nederlandsck-Indie_, Nieuwe Volgreeks, I, pp. 193-201; 2nd because an English translation of it is given in MAJOR, Terra Australis, pp. 165-173; 3rd because chart No. 15 excellently represents the results of this voyage. The reproduction being on a reduced scale, some names of places are not so clearly legible as could be wished, but they will be found referred to in my Introduction.]

C.

_Chart of Hollandia Nova, further discovered A.D. 1705 by the s.h.i.+ps Vossenbosch, de Wajer and Nova Hollandia, which left Timor on March 2 [*]._

[* On July 12 the s.h.i.+ps discontinued their voyage of discovery, and returned to Banda, where they arrived about a fortnight later.]

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[Map No. 15. Kaart van (Chart of) Hollandia Nova, nader ontdekt anno 1705 door (more exactly discovered by) de Vossenbosch, de Waijer en de Nova Hollandia]

x.x.xIV.

(1721-1722). EXPLORATORY VOYAGE BY ORDER OF THE WEST-INDIA COMPANY "TO THE UNKNOWN PART OF THE WORLD, SITUATED IN THE SOUTH SEA TO WESTWARD OF AMERICA", BY THE s.h.i.+PS AREND AND TIENHOVEN, AND THE AFRICAN GALLEY, COMMANDED BY MR. JACOB ROGGEVEEN, JAN KOSTER (IN THE s.h.i.+P AREND), CORNELIS BOUMAN (IN THE s.h.i.+P TIENHOVEN), AND ROELOF ROSENDAAL (IN THE AFRICAN GALLEY).

Although the history of this voyage, begun from the Texel on August 1, 1721, does not form part of the subject here treated, I mention it in pa.s.sing merely to note that among other places the s.h.i.+ps touched at Paasch-eiland, and at the Paumatos and Samoa island-groups, and reached Java along the north-coast of New Guinea. The journal of this voyage is preserved in the Hague State Archives and has been edited by the Zealand Genootschap der Wetenschappen. (Middelburg, 1838).

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x.x.xV.

(1727).THE s.h.i.+P ZEEWIJK, COMMANDED BY JAN STEIJNS, LOST ON THE TORTELDUIF ROCK.

A.

_Letter of the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the E.I.C., October 31, 1728._

...On the 26th of April there arrived here quite unexpectedly with the patchiallang de Veerman a note from the ex-skipper and the subcargo of the Zealand s.h.i.+p Zeewijk, Jan Steijns and Jan Nebbens, written from Sunda Strait...informing us that the said s.h.i.+p, after sailing from the Cape of Good Hope [*] on April 21 [1727], had on June 9 following run aground on the reef situated before the islands called Fredrik Houtmans Abriolhos near the South-land in 29 S.L., also known as the Tortelduijf islands; that favoured by good weather the men had saved from the wreck all kinds of necessaries, and with the loosened woodwork had constructed a kind of vessel, with which they had set out from there on the 26th of March, and arrived in the aforesaid strait on the 21st of April last...

[* The s.h.i.+p had sailed from the Netherlands, November 7, 1726.]

[We] have found...not only that the ex-skipper Jan Steijns has, against his positive instructions and against the protests of the steersmen, too recklessly sailed near the South-land, and thereby been the cause of this disaster, but also that he has attempted to impose upon his superiors by falsified journals, hoping thereby, if possible, to conceal his grievous mistake...