Part 22

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

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

... thought fit to give orders for the ship Vyanen [*] to sail to the strait of Balamboan. sailed [from Batavia] thither on the 14th of January, and from there stood out to sea on the 25th do. She was by head-winds driven so far to south-ward that she came upon the South-land beyond Java where she ran aground, so that she was forced to throw overboard 8 or 10 lasts of pepper and a quantity of copper, upon which through God's mercy she got off again without further damage...

See the Hessel Gerritsz--Huydecoper Chart (No 5.--VII D), which has G. F. De Witts-land.

Instructions for Tasman, 1644 [*].

...Meanwhile in the year 1627 the ship t' Gulde Zeepaert,...discovered...the south coast of the great Southland, and in the following year 1628 the ship Viana, homeward bound from Batavia, equally unexpectedly discovered the coast of the same land on the north side in the Southern Latitude of 21 degrees, and sailed along it a distance of about 50 miles; none of these discoveries, however, resulting in the obtaining of any considerable information respecting the situation and condition of this vast land, it only having been found that it has barren and dangerous coasts, green, fertile fields and exceedingly savage, black, barbarian inhabitants...

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XXII.

(before 1629) DISCOVERY OF JACOB REMESSENS-, REMENS-, OR ROMMER-RIVER, SOUTH OF WILLEMS RIVER [*].

Daily annotations of Pelsaert, 1629 (See infra).

...This 16th [of June]...we were in Latitude 22 degrees 17 minutes. I intended to sail to Jacop Remmessens river.

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Keppler Map (No. 6.--VII E).

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XXIII.

(1629). [*] SHIPWRECK OF THE SHIP BATAVIA UNDER COMMANDER FRAN«OIS PELSAERT ON HOUTMANS ABROLHOS [**].--FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

Woeful diurnal annotations [of Commander PELSAERT] touching the loss of our ship Batavia, run aground on the Abrolhos, or rocks of Fredrick Houtman, situated in 28Ω degrees S. Lat., at 9 miles' distance from the Southland.

On the fourth of June , it being Whitmonday, with a light, clear full moon, about two hours before daybreak...I felt the ship's rudder strike the rocks with a violent horrible shock. Upon which the ship's course was forthwith checked by the rocks...I rushed on deck, and found all the sails atop; the wind south-west; our course during the night had been north-east by north, and we were now lying amidst thick foam. Still, at the moment, the breakers round the ship were not violent, but shortly after the sea was heard to run upon us with great vehemence on all sides...

day broke, we found ourselves surrounded by cliffs and shoals...

I saw no land that I thought would remain above water at high tide, except an island, which by estimation was fully three miles from the ship. I therefore sent the skipper to two small islets or cliffs, in order to ascertain whether our men and part of our cargo could be landed there. About 9 o'clock the skipper returned, informing me that it was well-nigh impossible to get through the rocks and cliffs, the pinnace running aground in one place, and the water being several fathom deep in another. As far as he could judge, the islands would remain above water at high tide. Therefore, moved by the loud lamentations raised on board by women, children, sick people, and faint-hearted men, we thought it best first to land the greater part of our people...

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This day the 6th do... set sail in the pinnace, and on this day touched at two separate islands, where we found at best some brackish water, which had collected in the cavities of the rocks on the beach after the rain, but it was largely mixed with seawater. On the 7th do. we remained here, in order to repair our pinnace with a plank, for we found that without this it would have been impossible to reach the mainland...

On the 8th do. in the morning we set sail from this island for the mainland...

At noon we were in 28° 13' Lat., and shortly after sighted the mainland, which we estimated to lie 6 miles north by west of our ship. The wind blew from the west, and we sounded 25 and 30 fathom about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. During the night we kept off the land, and after midnight shaped our course for it again.

In the morning of the 9th we were still about 3 miles from the land, the wind being mainly north-west with some rain; in the last 24 hours we covered 4 or 5 miles by estimation, course held north by west. The land here extends chiefly north by west and south by east. It is a barren, rocky coast without trees, about the height of Dover in England.

We here saw a small inlet, and some low land with dunes, which we meant to touch at, but on nearer approach we found a heavy sea and violent breakers on the shore, while at the same time the swell from the west suddenly began to run towards the land so strongly and so high, that we could hardly keep off it, the less so as the storm always rose in violence.

On the 10th do. we kept holding off and on for twenty-four hours owing to the strong wind, while the storm from the north-west, which stood on the boat we had taken with us, forced us to cut the same adrift and to throw overboard a part of the bread we had with us, together with other things that were in the way, since we could not keep the water out of our pinnace.

During the night we were in great peril of foundering owing to the violent gale and the hollow seas. We could not keep off the land, because we did not venture to carry sail, and so were wholly at the mercy of wind and waves, while it kept raining the whole night.