carefully to remark what goods the strange nations most esteem, and to
which they are most inclined; likewise inquire what merchandize and
goods they possess, particularly after gold and silver, and whether
these metals are held in great esteem; to keep them ignorant of the
precious value, seem not greedy after it; if they offer to barter for
your goods, seem not to covet these minerals, but shew them copper,
tutenag,[20] pewter and lead, as if these were of more value to us. If
you find them inclined to trade, keep the goods which they seem most
greedy after at so high a value that none may be sold, nor bartered
without great profit. Likewise take nothing but what you are convinced
will turn out profitable to the Company, which in trading you will
learn. It will be particularly necessary to bring samples of the most
rare things to be found there, and of all the rest exact account, to see
what returns from thence can be made, and for the future may be
serviceable.
You are prudently to prevent all insolences and maltreatment of the
ship’s crew against the discovered nations, and to take care by no means
to insult them, in their houses, gardens, ships, possessions, nor women,
etc. Likewise not to carry away any inhabitants against their will, but
if a few voluntarily should be inclined to go along with you, then you
are permitted to bring them to this place.
We have herein expressed in general our intentions respecting the voyage
you are to undertake, but as upon all that may occur no precise orders
can be given, we leave the rest to your zeal, vigilance and good
conduct, likewise to the council’s prudent dispositions, in a full hope
and confidence you will in this expedition be so vigilant as to succeed
to the service of the Company, when we will not be backward to
recompense your endeavours as you may merit; for if in this voyage are
discovered any countries, islands or passages profitable to the Company,
we promise you by this to reward the conductors and well-behaving ships’
crew, with such premiums as we shall find their good service to have
merited, upon which you all may depend. Likewise you are to fix a
competent premium to those who first shall perceive an unknown country,
island, shoal, rock, or dangerous foul ground, in order to avoid as much
as possible all misfortunes.
To prevent any other European nation from reaping (perhaps) the fruits
of our labour and expences in these discoveries, you are everywhere to
take possession, in the name and by orders of the Dutch East India
Company, of the countries and islands you may arrive at not inhabited by
savages; to put up some signs, for instance, plant trees, sow some fruit
trees, erect a stone or post, and to cut or carve in them the arms of
the Netherlands or of the Company, and in what year and at what time
such a land was discovered and taken in possession, declaring further in
intention by the first opportunity to send people thither from hence,
and to establish a colony, to secure the property nearer to us.
But if it so happeneth (which is not likely) that you discover some
countries or islands that may have a polished government, you are to
endeavour with its chiefs or governors (in the name as above) to make
contract upon the most advantageous terms you possibly can obtain,
including a resignation (if they are inclined to do such); or permission
to frequent the place exclusive of all other nations; or other
advantages for the Company: all which you must note down
circumstantially in your journals, expressing the names and qualities of
those with whom you shall have treated, to serve the Company when it may
be wanted.
In order this dangerous voyage, according to these instructions and our
good intentions, may be well regulated and finished, good order kept
amongst the crew, right and justice administered conformable to the
general articles; and everything (which upon so dangerous and long a
voyage may happen and be required) be done and transacted to the
greatest service of the Company; we appoint by this the Honourable Abel
Jansz Tasman, commodore of the three yachts and the crew which sail with
them: we authorise him to hoist the pendant on board the yacht _Limmen_,
to assemble the council, whereof he is to be constantly president:
command, in consequence, the officers, soldiers, and sailors (no body
excepted) appointed upon the yachts _Limmen_, _De Zeemeuw_, and _De
Brak_, to acknowledge and obey him as their chief and commander; to
support him, by good advice and assiduity, to the forwarding of the
voyage and the ordered discovery of the unknown countries, as is the
duty of vigilant and faithful servants, in such a manner as, upon
return, every one may be able to answer.
The council of the three yachts shall consist of the following persons:—
The commodore Abel Jansz Tasman Constantly President
The skipper chief pilot François Jacobs Of the Limmen
The skipper Dirk Cornelisz Haan } Of the Zeemeuw
Super cargo Isaac Gissmans }
The skipper Jasper Jansz Koops Of the Brak
Cryn Henderiskz First mate Of the Limmen
Carsten Jurjansz[21] First mate Of the Zeemeuw
Cornelis Robol First mate Of the Brak
The junior merchant Anthony Blauw, as councillor or secretary.
By this council shall all occurring business towards forwarding the
voyage, fulfilling of our orders, and administering of justice, be
concluded upon and transacted: if it so happen there is an equal number
of votes the commodore is to have two votes; but in cases of navigation
and discovery of countries, the second mates shall also assist with
advising votes, all which the commodore shall collect, and determine by
the majority of the concluding votes, taking care to have all
resolutions instantly triply registered and strictly complied with for
the service of the Company.
In the council of each particular yacht, the junior merchant or
bookkeeper and high boatswains, shall be called as directed in the
orders of our masters.
If the commodore Tasman (which God forbid) should decease, such a person
shall succeed him as in our sealed act is nominated, which in every
respect, conformable to this instruction, in manner his predecessor
commanded, and (as is right) he shall be obeyed.
The yachts are manned with 111 persons, and amongst them one officer and
16 soldiers. Namely:—
In the Limmen, 45 sailors, 11 soldiers; in all 56 persons.
In the Zeemeuw, 35 sailors, 6 soldiers; in all 41 persons.
In the Brak, 14 sailors, 0 soldiers; in all 14 persons.
—— —— ——
94 sailors 17 soldiers: total 111 persons.
Are well provided with all necessary ammunition, tools and utensils, and
for eight months plentifully victualled. Manage everything well and
orderly, take notice you see the ordinary portion of two meat and two
pork days, and a quarter of vinegar, a half quarter of sweet oil per
week, and a half-quarter of arrack per day, regularly distributed. Each
yacht carries a leaguer and 120 quarts of strong arrack (the _Brak_ is
to be provided from the _Zeemeuw_), which must be carefully distributed
in the cold climate for the health of the people. Notwithstanding you
are plentifully stocked with waterbuts, manage particularly fresh water
and fuel to prevent wanting it; as you would then be obliged to search
after it, to the retarding of your voyage, or return without success, to
your shame and the great detriment of the Company, which has been at
great expense in equipping these yachts; and for these reasons, by
industry and prudence, ought to be prevented from suffering.
We give then no further instructions, and leave to your and the
council’s good conduct and advice what you will have more to do upon
this voyage; only recommending seriously in all emergencies, to use such
prudence as may keep the Company’s valuable ships and people out of all
dangers as much as can be done. For the better to answer this purpose,
we do not approve the commodore much to leave shipboard, but to stay in
the yacht, unless (with advice of the council) the Company’s service may
require the contrary, in order to avoid the object being neglected, by
any unforseen misfortune in this important voyage.
To conclude this instruction, we wish you the protection and blessings
of Omnipotence, which we pray to inspire you with manly courage for the
intended discoveries, and after finishing to return in safety, to the
expanding of His glory, reputation to the mother country, the service of
the Company, our contentment, and to your own everlasting honour.
Out of the castle, Batavia, this 29th day of January, 1644, signed
ANTONIO VAN DIEMEN, CORNELIS VAN DER LYN, JOAN
MAATSÜIKER, JUSTUS SCHOUTEN, and SALOMON SWEERS.
_Southland sealed-up Commission for the Successor of the Commodore Abel
Jansz Tasman, in case of his Decease._
In consideration of the uncertainty of life in the human race, and the
disorders which many times arise from the loss of those in command, and
to prevent as much as possible all evils, we have found good to order,
as we do by this: that if the skipper, commodore Abel Jansz Tasman, upon
this voyage of discovery should decease (which God forbid), the skipper
of the yacht the _Zeemeuw_, Dirk Cornelisz Haan, shall succeed in his
place, shall be acknowledged and obeyed as chief, and receive and follow
this our instruction given to Tasman as given to himself.
In this case, for the service of the Company, is this our meaning and
desire.
Out of the castle, Batavia, day and date as above.
THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK OF CAPTAIN FRANCIS PELSART, IN THE BATAVIA, ON
THE COAST OF NEW HOLLAND, AND HIS SUCCEEDING ADVENTURES.
The Directors of the East India Company, encouraged by the successful
return of the five ships of General Carpenter, richly laden, caused
eleven vessels to be equipped the very same year, 1628, for the same
voyage: amongst which, there was one ship called the _Batavia_,
commanded by Captain Francis Pelsart. He sailed from the Texel on the
28th of October 1628; and, as it would be tedious to the reader to give
him a long account of a passage so well known as that to the Cape of
Good Hope, I shall pass over in silence that portion of his journal, and
content myself with observing, that on the 4th of June in the following
year, 1629, this vessel, the _Batavia_, being separated from the fleet
in a storm, was driven on some rocks which lie in the latitude of 28°
south, and which are called by the Dutch the Abrolhos of Frederick
Houtman. Captain Pelsart, who was sick in bed when this accident
happened, perceived at once that his ship had struck. It was night,
indeed; but the moon shone very brightly, and the weather was fair. He
immediately ran upon deck, and found that all the sails were set; their
course was north-east by north; and the sea appeared covered with a
white froth as far as the eye could reach. He summoned the master, and
charged him with the loss of the ship; who excused himself by saying, he
had taken all the care he could; and that, having discerned the froth at
a distance, he asked his shipmate, what he thought of it; who told him,
that this whiteness was occasioned by the rays of the moon. The captain
then asked him, what was to be done; and in what part of the world they
were. The master replied, that God only knew that, and that the ship was
on an unknown reef. They sounded, and found eighteen feet of water
abaft, and much less foreward. They immediately agreed to throw their
cannon overboard, in hopes that, when the ship was lightened, she might
be brought to float again. They dropped an anchor, however; but
meanwhile there arose a storm of wind and rain, which soon convinced
them of the danger they were in; for, being surrounded with rocks and
shoals, the ship was perpetually striking.
They then resolved to cut away the mainmast, which they did, but this
increased the shock; for though they cut the mast close by the board,
they could not get it clear, because it was much entangled with the
rigging. They could see no land, except an island, which, as far as they
could judge, was at about the distance of three leagues, and two smaller
islands, or rather rocks, which lay nearer. The master was sent to
examine them. He returned about nine in the morning, and reported that
the sea, at high water, did not cover them; but that the coast was so
rocky and full of shoals, that it would be very difficult to land upon
them. They resolved, however, to run the risk, and to send most of their
company on shore, to pacify the women, children, sick people, and such
as were out of their wits with fear, whose cries and noise served only
to disturb them. They put these on board their shallop and skiff; and
about ten o’clock in the morning, they perceived that their vessel began
to break. They redoubled their exertions to get up their bread upon
deck, but they did not take the same care of the water, not reflecting,
in the extremity of their danger, that they might be much distressed for
want of it on shore; but what embarrassed them most of all was the
brutal behaviour of some of the crew, who made themselves so drunk with
the wine, upon which no check was now kept, that they were able to make
only three trips that day, in which they landed one hundred and eighty
persons, twenty barrels of bread, and some small casks of water. The
master returned on board towards evening, and told the captain, that it
was of no use to send more provisions on shore, for the crew only wasted
those they had already. Pelsart then went in the shallop to put things
into some order, and discovered that there was no water to be found upon
the island. He endeavoured to return to the ship, in order to bring off
a supply, together with the most valuable part of their cargo; but a
storm suddenly arising, he was forced to return.
The whole of the fifth day of the month was spent in removing the water,
and some of the merchandise, on shore; and afterwards, the captain in
the skiff, and the master in the shallop, endeavoured to return to the
vessel, but found the sea running so high, that it was impossible to get
on board. In this extremity, the carpenter threw himself out of the
ship, and swam to them, in order to inform them to what hardships those
left in the vessel were reduced; and he was sent back, with orders for
them to make rafts, by tying the planks together, and endeavour on these
to reach the shallop and skiff; but before this could be done, the
weather became so rough, that the captain was obliged to return,
leaving, with the utmost grief, his lieutenant and seventy men on the
very point of perishing on board the vessel. Those who had reached the
little island were not in much better condition; for, upon taking an
account of their water, they found they had not above eighty pints for
forty people; and on the larger island, where there were one hundred and
eighty, the stock was still less. Those who were on the little island
began to murmur, and to complain of their officers, because they did not
go in search of water on the neighbouring islands; and they represented
the necessity of this to Captain Pelsart, who yielded to their
remonstrances, but told them that before he went, he wished to
communicate this resolution to the rest of the people. It was with
difficulty that he gained their consent to this, for the master was
afraid that the other party would keep the captain with them. At length
they consented, but not till the captain had declared, that without the
consent of the company on the large island that he should go in search
of water, he would, rather than leave them, perish on board his ship.
When he got near to the island, he who commanded the boat told the
captain, that if he had anything to say, he must call out to the people;
for that they would not suffer him to go out of the boat. The captain
then attempted to throw himself overboard, in order to swim to the
island; but he was prevented, and the order given to pull off from the
shore. Thus he was obliged to return, having first left these words
written on a leaf of a tablet, that he was gone in the skiff to look for
water in the nearest country or islands that he could find.
They first sought along the coasts of the islands, and certainly found
water in the holes of the rocks, but the sea had dashed into it, and
rendered it unfit for use; they therefore determined to seek farther on.
They made a deck to their boat, as it would have been impracticable to
navigate those seas in an open vessel. A few more of the crew joined
themselves to the company for the same purpose; and after the captain
had obtained the signature of his people to that resolution, they
immediately put to sea, having first taken an observation, by which they
found themselves in latitude 28° 13´ south. A short time afterwards,
they had sight of the continent, which appeared, according to their
estimation, to lie about sixteen miles north by west from the place
where they had suffered shipwreck. They found the water about
twenty-five or thirty fathoms deep; and, as night drew on, kept out to
sea, standing in for the land again after midnight. On the morning of
the 9th (of June) they found themselves, according to their reckoning,
about three miles from the shore; this day they made four or five miles
by many tacks, sailing sometimes north, sometimes west, the coast lying
north-quarter-west, the coast appearing low, naked, and excessively
rocky, being nearly of the same height as that near Dover. At last they
saw a little creek, with sandy bottom, into which they were anxious to
enter, but upon approaching it, they found that the sea ran high, and
the weather becoming more threatening, they were obliged to haul off the
coast.
On the 10th, they remained in the same parts, tacking first on one side
and then on the other, but the sea being still rough, they determined to
abandon their shallop, and even to throw a part of the bread which
remained in the vessel overboard, since it hindered them from clearing
themselves of the water, which the vessel made upon every side. It
rained much that night, and afforded them hopes that their people who
remained upon the islands would derive great relief therefrom. On the
eleventh day, the wind, which was west-south-west, began to sink, and
they steered their course towards the north, for the sea, which still
ran high, obliged them to keep at a distance from the land. On the 12th,
they made an observation, by which they found themselves in the latitude
of 27°. The wind being south-east, they bordered the coast, but were
unable to land on account of its steepness, there being no creek, or low
land, in advance of the rocks, as is usually found on sea coasts. From a
distance, the country appeared fertile and full of vegetation. On the
13th, they found themselves by observation in the latitude of 25° 40´;
by which they discovered that the current had carried them towards the
north, and over against an opening, the coast lying to the north-east.
This day their course lay towards the north, but the coast presented one
continuous rock of a red colour, and of an equal height, without any
land in advance, and the waves broke against it with such force that it
was impossible for them to land.
The wind blew very fresh on the morning of the 14th, but towards noon it
became calm, the latitude being 24°, and the wind at east, but the tide
still carried them farther north than they desired, for their design was
to make a descent as soon as possible; with which view they sailed
slowly along the coast, till, perceiving smoke at a distance, they rowed
towards the spot from whence it proceeded, hoping to find inhabitants
and consequently water. They found the coast steep, full of rocks, and
the sea very high, which caused them to lose all hope of effecting a
landing. At length, six of the men, trusting to their skill in swimming,
threw themselves into the sea, and at last with much trouble and danger
reached the shore, the boat remaining at anchor in twenty-five fathoms
water. These men passed the entire day in seeking for water; and, whilst
thus employed, they perceived four men, who approached them upon
all-fours; but one of our people advancing towards them upon a rising
ground, they immediately raised themselves and took to flight, so that
they were distinctly seen by those who were in the skiff. These people
were savages, black and quite naked, not having so much even as the
covering worn by nearly all other savage people. The sailors, having no
longer any hope of finding water there, swam on board again, wounded and
bruised by the blows which they received from the waves and rocks. The
anchor being weighed, they continued their course along the shore, in
the hopes of finding some spot more adapted for landing.
On the 15th, in the morning, they discovered a cape, from the point of
which there ran a reef or chain of rocks a mile into the sea, whilst
another reef extended itself along the coast. As the sea there appeared
but little agitated, they ventured between the rocks, but found that
they formed only a _cul-de-sac_, and that there was no place for exit.
About noon, they saw another opening, where the sea was smooth, but it
appeared dangerous to attempt it, there being no more than two feet of
water, and many stones. In front of the whole length of this coast is a
table of sand one mile in breadth. As soon as they landed, they fell to
digging wells in this advanced coast, but the water which they found
there was brackish. At length, they discovered some soft rain-water in
the clefts of the rocks, which was a great relief to them, for they were
dying of thirst, having had for some days previously little more than
half a pint of water apiece. Of this, they collected during the night
that they remained there about twenty gallons. It was evident that some
savages had been there a short time before, as they found the remains of
crayfish and some ashes.
On the morning of the 16th, they resolved to return again to the shore,
in the hopes of being able to collect a greater quantity of water from
the rocks, since there remained no chance of their finding it elsewhere.
But no rain had fallen for some time, for they discovered no more, and
the land which they found beyond the rocks which skirted the coast held
out no promise to them. The country was flat, without vegetation or
trees, with nothing in view but ant-hills, and these so large that, from
a distance, they were taken to be the habitations of the Indians. They
found there such a wonderful quantity of flies, that they were compelled
to defend themselves from them. At some distance they perceived eight
savages, each of whom carried a club in his hand; these came up within
musket shot, but when they saw our people advancing to meet them, they
took to flight. At length, finding that there was no longer hope of
obtaining water, our people determined, about mid-day, to leave the
coast, and accordingly departed by another opening in this reef, more to
the northward. Finding by observation that they were in 22° 17´, they
formed the idea of seeking the river of Jacob Remmessens, but the wind
blowing from the north-east, they found they could no longer follow the
coast; when, taking into consideration that they were distant more than
one hundred miles from the place of shipwreck, and that they had with
difficulty found sufficient water for their subsistance, they resolved
to make the best of their way to Batavia, to inform the governor of
their misfortune, and to solicit assistance for the people they had left
in the islands.
On the 17th, they were prevented by fog from taking an observation at
mid-day. This day they made about fifteen miles, the wind being
north-west by north, fresh, and dry, and their route north-east.
On the 18th, they were still unable to take an observation at mid-day,
but, by their reckoning, they made ten miles upon a wind, west
north-west; the weather rough with much rain and wind, which, towards
mid-day, veered from north-east slightly towards the north, their course
lying to the west. The same weather continued the whole of the 19th, so
that they were again unable to take an observation; but by their
reckoning they made about seven leagues, their course lying north
north-east, and the wind being due west.
On the 20th, they found themselves by an observation in 19° 22´ of
latitude, having made, by reckoning, twenty-two miles, their course
lying northerly, and the wind west south-west, fresh, with a slight
rain.
The 21st, they reckoned to have made twenty-three miles in a northerly
direction, the wind varying from south-west to south-east, sometimes
fresh, followed by a calm.