# Zeewijk > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Zeewijk > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Zeewijk.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeewijk > Source revision: 1347708587 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Dutch trading ship}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox ship |infobox_caption=''Zeewijk'' |display_title=ital |section1={{Infobox ship/career |country=[Dutch Republic](/source/Dutch_Republic) |flag=60px |name=''Zeewijk'' |namesake=[Buitenplaats](/source/Buitenplaats) Zeewijk |owner=*[Dutch East India Company](/source/Dutch_East_India_Company) *Chamber of [Zeeland](/source/Zeeland) |completed=1725 |fate=[Wrecked](/source/Shipwreck) on the [Houtman Abrolhos](/source/Houtman_Abrolhos) on 9 June 1727 }} |section2={{Infobox ship/characteristics |type=[East Indiaman](/source/East_Indiaman) |tonnage=275.8 tons |length={{convert|41.0|m|ft|abbr=on}} |crew=212 seamen and soldiers |armament=*36 iron and bronze guns *6 [swivel gun](/source/swivel_gun)s }} }} thumb|1845 British Admiralty chart showing ''Zeewijk'' wreck location {{coord|28|54|30|S|113|49|0|E|display=title|scale:100000_type:landmark}} The '''''Zeewijk''''' (or '''''Zeewyk''''') was an 18th-century [East Indiaman](/source/East_Indiaman) of the [Dutch East India Company](/source/Dutch_East_India_Company) ({{langx|nl|Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie}}, commonly abbreviated to VOC) that was [shipwreck](/source/shipwreck)ed at the [Houtman Abrolhos](/source/Houtman_Abrolhos), off the coast of [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia), on 9 June 1727.{{cite web |url=http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/das/detailVoyage/93762 |title=The Dutch East India Company's shipping between the Netherlands and Asia 1595-1795 |website=huygens.knaw.nl |date=2 February 2015 |publisher=Huygens ING |access-date=2020-02-02 }} The survivors built a second ship, the '''''Sloepie''''', enabling 82 out of the initial crew of 208 to reach their initial destination of [Batavia](/source/Batavia%2C_Dutch_East_Indies) on 30 April 1728. Since the 19th century many objects have been found near the wreck site, which are now in the [Western Australian Museum](/source/Western_Australian_Museum). The shipwreck itself was found in 1968 by divers. ==Background== [[File:VOC Octrooigebied 1.jpg|thumb|A 1700 map of the [Indian Ocean](/source/Indian_Ocean)]] The ''Zeewijk'' was built in 1725 with a tonnage of 140 lasten, that is {{convert|275.8|t}}, and dimensions {{convert|145|ft|m}} long by {{convert|36|ft|m}} wide.Measurements quoted in the original Dutch style (lasten and feet) with conversion factors provided by (Ingelman-Sundberg, 1976) It carried 36 iron and bronze guns, and 6 swivel guns.{{cite journal |last=Ingelman-Sundberg |first=Catharina |year=1976 |title=The V.O.C. Ship 'Zeewijk' 1727 report on the 1976 survey of the Site |journal=[Australian Archaeology](/source/Australian_Archaeology_(journal)) |volume=5 |pages=18–33 |doi=10.1080/03122417.1976.12093305 |url=http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2328/342/1/1976005018033_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417032156/https://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2328/342/1976005018033_FINAL.pdf |archive-date=2020-04-17 |access-date=2020-04-17 }} A new ship of the Zeeland Chamber of the VOC, her maiden voyage was from [Vlissingen](/source/Flushing%2C_Netherlands) (Netherlands) to Batavia (now [Jakarta](/source/Jakarta), Indonesia) departing in November 1726.Jeffreys, 1999. p 55. Upon departure 208 seamen and soldiers were aboard, as well as a cargo of general building supplies and 315,836 [guilders](/source/Dutch_gulden) in 10 chests. Jan Steyns from [Middelburg](/source/Middelburg%2C_Zeeland) was the skipper, in his first command, replacing Jan Bogaard who was too sick to sail. The VOC required ships to utilise the [Brouwer Route](/source/Brouwer_Route) to cross from [the Cape](/source/Cape_of_Good_Hope) to Batavia, enjoying the prevailing westerlies by travelling eastwards until turning north. Turning north too late from a miscalculation in the longitude risked being wrecked on the coast or reefs of Australia.Jeffreys, 1999. p 54. However, wishing to call into Western Australia, skipper Jan Steyns ignored VOC directorate and protests from his steersman and headed [east-northeast](/source/Points_of_the_compass). ==The disaster== In darkness at 7:30{{nbsp}}p.m. on 9 June 1727 the ship crashed heavily into Half Moon Reef on the western edge of the [Pelsaert Group](/source/Pelsaert_Group) of the [Houtman Abrolhos](/source/Houtman_Abrolhos) island group, {{cvt|60|km}} west of the future site of [Geraldton](/source/Geraldton%2C_Western_Australia). The impact dislodged the rudder and snapped off the mainmast, but the ship did not break up immediately. The lookout spotted breakers half an hour before the impact but dismissed them as moonlight reflecting off the sea. {{maplink |frame=yes |coord={{coord|-28.8838|113.8134}} |frame-width=360 |frame-height=360 |text=The location of the Zeewijk wrecked on 9 June 1727 at Half Moon Reef on the western edge of the [Pelsaert Group](/source/Pelsaert_Group) off the coast of [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia). |zoom=5 |type=point |marker-colour=#C60C30 |title=Zeewijk |description=wrecked 9 June 1727 }} Heavy sea conditions saw at least 10 men drown at the first attempt to launch a boat. After one week a long boat was launched. Later, most of the remaining crew was ferried on the long boat to what would be later known as [Gun Island](/source/Gun_Island); a flat, rocky, {{cvt|800|by|350|m}} limestone island located {{cvt|4|km}} off the reef.Jeffreys, 1999. p 56. From Gun and surrounding islands, the critical commodity of fresh water was available, as well as vegetables, birds and seals that were combined with the ship's goods to sustain the survivors. While the ''Zeewijk'' did not break up immediately and goods, including the treasure chests, were transferred to Gun Island, it was obvious to the crew that the ship could never be floated from its position locked into the reef. A rescue group of 11 of the fittest survivors and First Mate Pieter Langeweg set off for Batavia in the longboat on 10 July, but were never heard of again. ==Sodomy charge== On 1 December 1727 three of the ship's company reported to the captain that they had found two of the ship's boys, Adriaan Spoor from [Sint-Maartensdijk](/source/Sint-Maartensdijk) and Pieter Engelse from [Ghent](/source/Ghent), "engaged in [the gruesome play of Sodom and Gomorrah](/source/sodomy)" together the previous afternoon.{{cite book|url=https://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/maritime-reports/english-translation-zeewijk-journal-adriaen-van-de-graaff-adriaan-de-jong|title=The journal by Adriaen van der Graef, under-steersman aboard the Ship Zeewijk. 1726 – 1728|first=Adriaen|last=van der Graef|translator=Adriaan de Jong|date=2014|publisher=Western Australian Museum}} After an unsuccessful attempt was made to elicit a confession from the two by putting burning fuses between their fingers, the captain and his council found the boys guilty of having committed sodomy together. They were sentenced to death and marooned, each boy on a separate island, on 2 December.''Australian Shipwrecks - vol1 1622-1850'', [Charles Bateson](/source/Charles_Bateson), AH and AW Reed, Sydney, 1972, {{ISBN|0-589-07112-2}}, p22 This event was commemorated by a 2020 exhibition and publication by artist [Drew Pettifer](/source/Drew_Pettifer) at the [Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery](/source/Lawrence_Wilson_Art_Gallery), entitled ''A Sorrowful Act: The Wreck of the Zeewijk''. Pettifer describes the incident as "the beginning of Australia's European queer history".{{cite book|url=https://www.uwa.edu.au/lwag/-/media/documents/lwag/publications/dp-gatefold-access-eversion.pdf|title=A Sorrowful Act: The Wreck of the Zeewijk|first=Drew|last=Pettifer|publisher=University of Western Australia|date=2020}} In a similar case two years earlier, Dutch East India Company sailor [Leendert Hasenbosch](/source/Leendert_Hasenbosch) was marooned on [Ascension Island](/source/Ascension_Island) in the Atlantic for sodomy, and is presumed to have died of thirst, though his diary was recovered. =={{anchor|Sloepie}}The ''Sloepie''== On 29 October 1727 the ship's log mentions the intentions of the crew to construct a vessel to carry them to Batavia; the ''Sloepie''. On 7 November, the keel of the ''Sloepie'' was laid down.Jeffreys, 1999. p 57. Utilising materials from the wrecked ''Zeewijk'' (including two swivel mounted cannon to protect the treasure from piratesJeffreys, 1999. p 58.) and local [mangrove](/source/mangrove) timber she became a {{cvt|20|m}} long by {{cvt|6|m}} wide [sloop](/source/sloop), resembling a North Sea fishing vessel. Constructed in 4 months and launched on 28 February 1728, the ''Sloepie'' was the first ever European ship built in Australia. On 26 March, 88 men set off on the one-month journey to Batavia. Six died on the way, leaving 82 of the initial 208 to arrive in Batavia on 30 April 1728. Batavia's High Court of Justice prosecuted skipper Jan Steyns for losing the ''Zeewijk'' and falsifying the ship's records. He lost his position, and salary and property to the VOC.Jeffreys, 1999. p 59. ==Discovery and subsequent excavation== [[File:Houtman Abrolhos WA.jpg|thumb|A 1916 map of the [Houtman Abrolhos](/source/Houtman_Abrolhos), showing the Zeewyk Channel between the [Easter Group](/source/Easter_Group) and the [Pelsaert Group](/source/Pelsaert_Group)]] In 1840 {{HMS|Beagle|1820|6}} found relics at the camp site, including a VOC cannon and two coins dated 1707 and 1720 which helped to confirm that the site belonged to the ''Zeewijk''. They named the Zeewyk Channel after the wreck. In the 1880s and 1890s a large amount of material was recovered during [guano](/source/guano) mining. Items including bottles, coins, wine glasses, jars, pots, spoons, knives, musket and cannonballs, tobacco and pipes were found. Florance Broadhurst, son of entrepreneur [Charles Edward Broadhurst](/source/Charles_Edward_Broadhurst) and director of the Broadhurst and McNeil phosphate company, catalogued the finds, initially thinking they were from the VOC ship ''[Batavia](/source/Batavia_(1628_ship))'' and ended up donating most to the Western Australian Museum in Perth.Jeffreys, 1999. p 60. In 1952, during a visit to Geraldton, Lieutenant Commander M.R. Bromell of the [Royal Australian Navy](/source/Royal_Australian_Navy) learned that rock lobster fisherman Bill Newbold had found a cannon on the sea-bed, and during a subsequent visit, Bromell located a cannon on the leeward side of the Half Moon Reef. After an elephant tusk found two years earlier put him on the trail, in March 1968 journalist and diver Hugh Edwards led divers Max Cramer, Neil McLaghlan and Museum staff Harry Bingham and Dr Colin Jack-Hinton to the seaward side of the reef to find the main wreck site.Jeffreys, 1999. p 61. The [Western Australian Museum](/source/Western_Australian_Museum) subsequently conducted several expeditions to survey the site and to recover artefacts, the most notable in 1976 by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, who also completed a catalogue of all the finds from the site.{{cite report |last=Ingelman-Sundberg |first=C. |year=1978 |title=Relics from the Dutch East Indiaman, Zeewijk. Foundered in 1727. |publisher=Western Australian Museum |location=Perth |editor-first=A.F. |editor-last=Lovell |series=Special Publication |number=10 |url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/RELICS%20FROM%20THE%20DUTCH%20EAST%20INDIAMAN%2C%20ZEEWIJK.%20FOUNDED%20IN%201727.pdf |access-date=2021-04-26 |isbn=0724474757 |issn=0083-873X }} In 2022, the Zeewijk wreck site was resurveyed using digital 3D photogrammetry by the Western Australian Museum and Patrick Morrison; 6,413 images were recorded over four diving and snorkelling days, and the survey concluded that the site represents a single Zeewijk wreck rather than both ''Zeewijk'' and ''Aagtekerke''.{{cite report |title=Report on ‘Mapping the Old with the New: Re-imaging the 1727 Zeewijk Shipwreck Site with New Recording Technology’ Project |author1=Ross Anderson |author2=Wendy van Duivenvoorde |author3=Patrick Morrison |author4=Deb Shefi |author5=Alistair Paterson |author6=Martijn Manders |publisher=Western Australian Museum, Department of Maritime Archaeology |number=3392 |year=2023 |url=https://visit.museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-04/20230327_Zeewijk_FieldworkReport_WAM.pdf |access-date=2026-04-08}}{{cite web |title=Zeewijk (1727) wreck site, 2022 |url=https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/zeewijk-1727-wreck-site-2022-5c8a8b3e71d34389b9e9c5572df37f42 |website=Sketchfab |author=Western Australian Museum |date=2023-02-21 |access-date=2026-04-08}} ==See also== *[ANCODS](/source/ANCODS) (Australian Netherlands Committee on Old Dutch Shipwrecks) *[List of Western Australian shipwrecks](/source/List_of_shipwrecks_of_Oceania) *[Leendert Hasenbosch](/source/Leendert_Hasenbosch) ==References== *{{cite book | last = Jeffreys | first = Max | year = 1999 | title = Murder, Mayhem Fire and Storm: Australian Shipwrecks | publisher = New Holland Publishers (Australia) | isbn = 1-86436-445-9}} ==Notes== {{reflist|35em}} ==Further reading== *''The wreck on the half-moon reef'' by Hugh Edwards – the full story of the ''Zeewijk'' * For Swedish readers; historical roman: "KAMPEN mot bränningarna" by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg ==External links== *[http://www.nederland-australie2006.nl/geschiedenis/au/html/ontdekkingsreizigers_schipbreuk4.html The Zeewijk (1727)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518083919/http://www.nederland-australie2006.nl/geschiedenis/au/html/ontdekkingsreizigers_schipbreuk4.html |date=18 May 2008 }} *[http://www.helmink.com/Antique_Map_van_Keulen_Houtman/Scans/Houtman%20Abrolhos%20Zeewijk%20Shipwreck/index.html Antique map of Houtman Abrolhos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070118185742/http://www.helmink.com/Antique_Map_van_Keulen_Houtman/Scans/Houtman%20Abrolhos%20Zeewijk%20Shipwreck/index.html |date=18 January 2007 }} {{maiden voyage sinkings}} Category:1720s ships Category:Maritime incidents in 1727 Category:Houtman Abrolhos Category:Ships of the Dutch East India Company Category:Shipwrecks of Western Australia Category:1725 establishments in the Dutch Empire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zeewijk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeewijk) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeewijk?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.