Lost VOC Ships

Between 1694 and 1727, three ships, on voyages from Cape Town to Batavia, were lost at sea and never heard of again.

These are their stories.

RIDDERSCHAP VAN HOLLAND

The Ridderschap van Holland disappeared on a voyage from Cape Town to Batavia. This vessel belonged to the largest class of the company’s ships, 160 Amsterdam feet (45.3 metres) long, with a nominal carrying capacity of 260 lasts (520 tons) and an actual capacity of 1.138 tons. Passengers on the Ridderschap van Holland’s fifth and final voyage to the Indies included a senior VOC official, Sir James Couper (originally from Scotland), who was scheduled to take up an appointment as a member of the Council of the Indies in Batavia. The ship disappeared after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, bound for Batavia, on 5 February 1694.

Early conjecture was that the Ridderschap van Holland, like the Batavia and the Vergulde Draeck before, had probably been wrecked on the coast of the South Land. In 1696, it was decided to despatch a search expedition of three vessels, under the command of Willem de Vlamingh, to seek signs of the wreck and rescue any people who might have survived.

Rumours were later received at the Cape to the effect that the Ridderschap van Holland had been taken by pirates based at Fort Dauphin, near the south-eastern corner of Madagascar, and in June 1698 the Cape Political Council recorded that the ship might have been lost in that way. Even so, there was still hope that survivors could be found, and in 1699 two ships visiting Madagascar sought to establish the fate of the missing vessel, but without success.

Research has now shown that the fate of the Ridderschap van Holland was still regarded as unknown in 1713, nineteen years after its disappearance, when it was mentioned in relation to the loss of the Zuytdorp. The resident uppermerchant and administrator at the Cape of Good Hope, Willem Helot, wrote that “the ship Ridderschap van Holland, having departed from this bay for Batavia in 1694, has never been heard of again, nor any information about the ship received”. It seems that the idea that the ship had been taken by pirates at Madagascar must by then have been abandoned.

Wreckage and other relics seen in the southern (Pelsaert) group of the Houtman Abrolhos by survivors of the Zeewijck in 1727, and by Stokes of the Beagle in 1840, could well have been derived from the Fortuin, which had disappeared a little more than three years earlier. Alternatively, they could have been from the Ridderschap van Holland, lost in 1694.

FORTUIN

The 1720’s were disastrous years for the VOC, marked by the loss of many ships and cargoes. In 1722 alone, five ships were wrecked in a storm at the Cape, and six were destroyed during a cyclone near Mauritius. Between 1724 and 1727, three ships were lost between the Cape and Batavia: the Fortuin in 1724, the Aagtekerke in 1726 and the Zeewijck in 1727. Only one of these, the Zeewijck, is definitely known to have been wrecked on the Western Australian coast, but the other two could have been lost there. Each was on its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to the Indies, and they all belonged to the same class of ship, 145 Amsterdam feet (41 metres) long, with a nominal carrying capacity of 140 lasts (280 tons). 

The Fortuin, owned by the Chamber of Amsterdam, sailed from Texel on 27 September 1723, reached the Cape of Good Hope on 2 January 1724, and sailed for Batavia on 18 January. It was never heard of again. At that time of the year, the ship was not supposed to run within sight of the South Land, but it may have inadvertently travelled too far east and been wrecked there. Alternatively, it could have been lost in some other way, perhaps being wrecked on St Paul or Amsterdam Island, or going down during a cyclone before reaching Batavia. We may never know the answer. 

However, wreckage and other relics seen in the southern (Pelsaert) group of the Houtman Abrolhos by survivors of the Zeewijck in 1727, and by Stokes of the Beagle in 1840, could well have been derived from the Fortuin, which had disappeared a little more than three years earlier. Alternatively, they could have been from the Ridderschap van Holland, lost in 1694. It seems less likely that the wreckage came from the Aagtekerke, as that ship had disappeared only a year before the Zeewijck was wrecked, and consequently more signs of the vessel and any survivors might have been expected.

AAGTEKERKE

The Aagtekerke was built in 1724 for the Chamber of Zeeland, receiving the same name as an earlier ship that had been lost at Plymouth in 1712. Both were named after the town of Aagtekerke in Zeeland, and each was wrecked on its maiden voyage. Following the second loss, the directors of the VOC must have decided that bad luck was associated with the name, as it was never used again for a company ship. 

The second Aagtekerke left Rammekens on 27 May 1725, arrived at Cape Town on 3 January 1726, and left on 29 January for Batavia. Nothing was ever heard of it again, and no information has come to light to indicate its fate. The ship could have been wrecked on the coast of Western Australia, but no positive evidence of this has yet been found. Wreckage and other relics seen in the southern (Pelsaert) group of the Houtman Abrolhos by survivors of the Zeewijck in 1727, and by Stokes of the Beagle in 1840, could well have been derived from the Fortuin, which had disappeared a little more than three years earlier. Alternatively, they could have been from the Ridderschap van Holland, lost in 1694.

It seems less likely that the wreckage came from the Aagtekerke, as it had disappeared only a year before the Zeewijck was wrecked, and consequently more signs of the vessel and any survivors might have been expected.

Source: www.vocshipwrecks.nl

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