Historical

This site is significant in the early European exploration of Australia and parts of the Western Australian coast. It demonstrates the difficulties of early navigation and the inability to establish accurate measures for longitude without the aid of a chronometer. Dutch commercial activity and the development of trading routes across the Indian Ocean meant that several other vessels including the seventeenth-century Batavia were wrecked on this coast. They represent a unique aspect of inter national maritime trade. Their wrecking led to further expeditions in search of survivors and encouraged the mapping of the little known Western Australian coastline, that was hitherto regarded as The Great Southland.

Specifications

Where built: Holland

Registered: Texel

Rig type: jacht

Hull: wood

Tonnage: 130 lasten ( 260 tonnes)

Length: 41.8 metres (137.3 feet)

Breadth: 9.8 metres (32.0 feet)

Depth: 4.1 metres (13.5 feet)

Port from: Texel

Port to: Batavia

Date lost: 28 April 1656

The vessel

Vergulde Draeck was a jacht with a cargo capacity of 130 lasten. The vessel was purchased by the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company in 1653, and its first trading voyage was between Holland and the East Indies. On 4 October 1655 Vergulde Draeck, under the command of Pieter Albertsz, set sail for Batavia. Aboard was a crew of 193 men, eight chests of silver coin worth 78 600 guilders and a cargo of trade goods worth 106 400 guilders (Green, 1973:267).

Following the Brouwers route, Vergulde Draeck left the Cape of Good Hope with the intention of making use of the trade winds to cross 5000 miles of Indian Ocean before turning north toward the East Indies. However, without the ability to establish longitude and distance with any accuracy, the vessel struck a reef off the Western Australian coast north of Yanchep, near Ledge Point, on the morning of 28 April 1656.

Rediscovery

The English translation, in 1859 and 1899, of the documents relating to the Vergulde Draeck gave rise to much speculation as to the whereabouts of the vessel and its valuable cargo. In 1931 A. Edwards discovered 40 silver coins in the sand-hills just north of Cape Leschenault (Green, 1973:272). The wreck was not found, however, until 14 April 1963 by a group of spear fishermen.

Site location

The site is located just north of Moore River on a reef 12 kilometres south-south-west of Ledge Point, 5.6 kilometres west of the coastline. Which is north of Perth in a North West direction.

The wreck event

The vessel began to break up immediately. Two of the ship's boats were launched but only 75 of the crew were able to make it to shore, along with a few of the provisions and stores. Seven of the crew were immediately dispatched to seek assistance in Batavia, while Albertsz and the rest of the crew remained behind (Green, 1973:267). Forty-one days later, with news of the wreck, the jacht Goede Hoop and the fluit Witte Valke left Batavia in search of survivors. Several other expeditions were mounted in the following year, but all failed to turn up any of the missing crew, although some wreckage was noted in the region of Fremantle.

The Search for the Vergulde Draeck

Almost immediately after hearing the news of the wrecking the Commander of the Council of the VOC dispatched the yacht Goede Hope and the flute Witte Valk to the Southland to search for the wreck and survivors. Both ships failed miserably. The Witte Valk could not approach land due to furious storms and rough seas. The Goede Hoop was more persistent and managed to land a search party at the appropriate latitude. Three of the crew got lost in the bush whilst going inland and were never seen again. A longboat with 8 searchers was smashed on inshore reefs by pounding surf. They were also never seen again. The Goede Hoop returned to Batavia soon after this event leaving the 11 men, possibly stranded and marooned, having found no trace of the Vergulde Draeck or its survivors. She reached Batavia on 14 October 1656. In April 1657 another vessel, the flute Vink, sailed from the Cape to Batavia with instructions to call at the Southland and search for survivors. Once again there was no success, primarily due to bad weather and high seas. The Vink reached Batavia on 27 June 1657. The experiences of the rescue ships with inclement weather along the coast of the Southland, convinced Governor-General Maetsuijker (see picture right) in Batavia, that June and July were not the best months for rescue missions. Still concerned about the fate of the survivors, the next expedition was mounted during the summer. On New Year's Day 1658 the fluit Waeckende Boei and the galjoort Emmeloort, under the command of Captains Samuel Volkersen and Aucke Pieters Jonck respectively, left Batavia in search of survivors of the Vergulde Draeck and the lost 11 crew from the Goede Hoop. They were instructed to rescue survivors and to salvage as much merchandise - especially coins - as possible and to chart the coast carefully. Furthermore, they were to find out if the land was inhabilted and, if so, to try and establish trade with the inhabiltants. They were also instructed to take formal possession of all the places they discovered. Volkerson and Jonck were unequal to the task.Not long into the voyage Volkerson complained that the Emmeloort was too slow and he was having difficulty keeping the vessels together. On Februray 14 they separated and acted independently although they met up on several occasions on the coast of the Southland. The Emmeloort sighted the Southland on 24 February 1658 at 33° 12' S - at about Bunbury - and then sailed north charting the coast. On March 8 at about 30° 25' S fires were seen on the shore. Next day a boat was sent ashore late in the day to discover that the fires had been extinguished. Next day another search party was dispatched and they met up with a group of aborigines who had been responsible for the fires. The party also reported seeing crops of grain growing and land under cultivation. However, no traces of survivors and wreckage of ships was found. The Emmeloort slowly sailed north and reached Batavia on 18 March 1658. Volkerson sighted the Southland at 31° 40' S (near present-day Two Rocks) on 23 February 1658. Sailing past Rottnest Island and noting the submerged reefs between it and the mainland Volkerson lowered a boat which sailed between it and the mainland. The following day they saw fires and a party was sent to investigate. When they returned after two days - due to bad weather - they reported that the beach was littered with wreckage from the Vergulde Draeck. There were also signs that survivors had been there as they found a circle of planks with their ends planted in the sand. Some sort of signal perhaps? Sailing north Volkerson made further landings at 31° 14' S and 30° 40' S but no wreckage was sighted. After fifteen days of bad weather during which time the Waeckende Boei stayed well out to sea, they returned and anchored at the north-east corner of Rottnest Island. A party was sent ashore and upon its return the helmsman had reported that navigation and landing was difficult due to the abundance of stone reefs. The island was well wooded, it was reported, and the party had seen two seals, and a 'wild cat'. That information did not encourage Volkerson to explore the island again. Sailing north a search party made another landing at 31° 09' S on March 20 and found a beam from the Vergulde Draeck. A second landing was made and more wreckage was found. Having been ashore many times and having found wreckage Leeman set out once again with thirteen other men only to return to the Waeckende Boei when he noticed the weather turning bad. On returning to the ship Volkerson disputed Leeman's concerns and send him back. By nightfall the storm had broken and the sea rissen so high that Leeman and his men were unable to land and were forced to ride out the storm in the darkness of night. The storm worsened the next day and the boat lost a rudder and steering had to be managed by using the oars. Eventually Leeman sighted a small inlet between two rocks and with little control over the boat made for the beach. They landed with considerable damage to the boat. Meanwhile, the Waeckende Boei had headed out to sea to ride out the storm. After 4 days Volkerson returned to the site where the boat was last seen. He fired cannons but there was no response. He concluded that the boat and crew were lost, presumably drowned and decided to sail back to Batavia. However that evening, March 28, they saw a fire on the land. He discharged a cannon again and immediately another fire was seen close to the first. Not having another boat onboard and convinced that Leeman and his crew had perished, he could not go ashore to investigate. He decided to stay in the vicinity and wait for daybreak. By then the ship had drifted further north and although Volkerson records that he sailed past the shore and that he got close in to the coast, nothing further happened that prevented him from sailing north to Batavia, which he reached on 10 April 1658. During the 4 days the Waeckende Boei was riding out the storm, Leeman and his crew were doing all they could to repair their damaged boat. Keeping a lookout for the Waeckende Boei they survived by killing seals and gulls and drinking brackish water found in the rocks. They returned to the mainland near where wreckage of the Vergulde Draeck littered the beach fearing that they would be stranded there. Then, on the 28th in the evening, sails were sighted and Leeman ordered a fire to be lit. Shortly afterwards, the Waeckende Boei reduced sail and fired a gun to which Leeman responded with a second fire. They could have sailed their boat to the ship but the sea was rough, it was getting dark and the surrounding reefs were of concern. Instead they decided to wait until morning. But when dawn broke (29 March 1658) the Waeckende Boei was nowhere to be seen. They sailed their boat out to sea trying to find her, but to no avail. They were now marooned . . . . . . With their spirits low, Leeman had to work hard to convince his men that there was only one solution for their plight and that was to sail to Batavia. For a week they worked to outfit the boat for the long voyage on the open sea. When Leeman finally reached Batavia and reported his experience to the Governor-General and his councillors, they decided not to mount anymore expeditions to search for the survivors of the Vergulde Draeck.

The Mystery

So, what happened to the 68 survivors of the Vergulde Draeck and possibly the 11 from the Goede Hoop? Within about 3 months of the wrecking of the Vergulde Draeck 2 ships, the Witte Valk and the Goede Hoop, were on the scene to search for survivors, a truly remarkable rapid response. Yet, they reported no evidence of survivors, not even signal fires from the shore. One would have to assume that the survivors were not in a position to see any sails out to sea. Had they gone inland? That could have been the case as food and fresh water would have been their priority and that was more likely to be found going inland. But would Captain Albertsz, having sent one of his senior officers to Batavia for help, not have set up a system of coast watches to keep an eye out for rescue ships? He would have known that Pelsaert had made it back to Batavia in an open boat after the wrecking of the Batavia and had returned to the wreck site! Two years later Abraham Leeman found the wreck site and again no survivors.

Site description

The wreck site covers an area 50 metres long by 40 metres wide, bound on one side by honeycomb reef. The shallowest part of the reef is less than 1 metre at low tide. The maximum depth over the site is 8 metres. The site itself lies scattered throughout a complex cave system. An inspection of the site in 1972 provided the following description:

"The only wreck material noticeable on the site is overgrown (with weed) and a heavily concreted cannon and anchors [sic], most of the site being covered with a light seaweed and algaeNumerous small, yellow bricks are scattered over the site, and a closer examination may reveal pottery and brass candle-stick (Green, 1977:72)".

Excavation and artefacts

Following the discovery of the wreck the first material raised and recorded was an elephant tusk (African) and some ballast bricks. However, the wreck site was not protected at this time and the details of the artefacts are only gleaned through contemporary newspaper references. Reports of blasting at the site encouraged State Government intervention and the responsibility for the excavation and protection of the wreck site was vested in the Museum.

Exposure of the site to the Indian Ocean swell made any work undertaken on Vergulde Draeck hazardous. However, in early 1972, a full expedition was mounted to systematically excavate the remains of the cargo and ship's fittings. Little remained of the vessel's structure and stratigraphy had been disturbed by the action of looters. Over several months a quantity of artefacts was recovered the collection includes African elephant tusks, ballast bricks, beardman jugs, ceramic masks and medallions, clay tobacco pipes, bronze and brass utensils, various tools, glass bottles, an astrolabe and many silver coins. All of the Artefacts are on display at the Western Australian Shipwreck Museum in Fremantle Western Australia.

External Links

Museum Site on the Vergulde Draeck off perth northern beaches

Site of the VOC Ship Vergulde Draeck sunk off Western Australia