_Letter from the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the E.I.C.,
September 6, 1622._
...On the 5th of July there arrived here [*] a boat with ten men forming
part of the crew of an English ship, named the Triall, and on the 8th do.
her pinnace with 36 men. They state that they have lost and abandoned
their ship with 97 men and {Page 18} the cargo she had taken in, on
certain rocks situated in Latitude 20° 10' South, in the longitude of the
western extremity of Java. These rocks are near a number of broken
islands, lying very far apart, South-east and North-west, at 30 miles'
distance northwest of a certain island which in our charts is laid down
in 22° S. Lat. [**]. The said ship Triall ran on these rocks in the
night-time in fine weather, without having seen land, and since the heavy
swells caused the ship to run aground directly, so that it got filled
with water, the 46 persons aforementioned put off from her in the
greatest disorder with the boat and pinnace each separately, leaving 97
persons in the ship; whose fate is known to God alone. The boat and
pinnace aforesaid arrived here each separately, without knowing of each
other.
[* Batavia.]
[** See, for instance, the chart of Hessel Gerritsz: VII C (1616).]
The ship 't Wapen van Hoorn [*] has also been in extreme peril; at night
in a hard wind she got so near the land of d'Eendracht or the South-land
of Java that she was in 6 fathom before they saw land, which they could
noways put off from, so that they ran on it. But shortly after the storm
abating, they got the landwind, and came off safe, for which the Lord be
praised.
[* She sailed from the Texel, December 22, 1621, and arrived at Batavia,
July 22, 1622.]
The ships Amsterdam and Dordrecht [*] likewise got into great peril near
the land just mentioned in the year 1619. Whereas it is necessary that
ships, in order to hasten their arrival, should run on an eastward course
for about 1000 miles from the Cape de Bona Esperance between 40 and 30
degrees Southern Latitude, it is equally necessary that great caution
should be used and the best measures taken in order to avoid such
accidents as befell the English ship Triall. They say that they met with
this accident through following the course of our ships; that they intend
to dissuade their countrymen from imitating their example, and that their
masters are sure to take other measures accordingly.
[* See _supra_, p. 10.]
For the further discovery of the lands aforesaid we intend, in conformity
with your orders, to send a ship thither as soon as practicable, for
which purpose we have selected the yacht Hazewint [*]. May God Almighty
preserve all your worships' ships from accidents and bring them safe to
port...
[* See _infra_.]