(1627) VOYAGE OF THE SHIP HET WAPEN VAN HOORN, COMMANDED BY SUPER
CARGO J. VAN ROOSENBERGH.
FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.
_Letter Of Supercargo J. Van Roosenbergh to the Directors of the E.I.C.,
November 8, 1627._
Worshipful Wise Provident Very Discreet Gentlemen,
You have no doubt received my letter from Illa de Mayo...
On the 7th of September we resolved to run for the South-land, that we
might be near Java before the middle of October. On the 17th do. we
sighted the land of d'Eendracht near Dirck Hartochs reede [road-stead],
at about 7 miles' distance from us; the land was of middle height,
something like D'overen [Dover] in England; it is less low than has been
asserted by some, and of a whitish hue, so that at night it cannot be
seen before one is quite close to it. When by estimation we were at two
miles' distance from the land, the coast seemed to have a foreshore
consisting of small hills here and there. According to our observations
the land lay quite differently from what the chart would have us believe,
to wit, North by West and North-north-west, from a point three miles
south of the aforesaid height to a point 8 or 9 miles north of it; which
were the farthest points seen by us; this constituting a difference Of 3Ω
{Page 53} points with the chart, which makes it North-north-east and
South-south-west. We cast the lead five miles off the shore in 75 fathom,
muddy bottom mixed with small red pebbles, and five glasses afterwards,
two miles off shore, in 55 fathom sandy bottom, for hardly anything was
found sticking to the lead when heaved. We had seen no other signs of
land beyond gulf-weed floating about in small quantities just as in the
Sargasso Sea, and some land-birds flying high overhead. The many-coloured
birds which we met near the islands of Tristan de Aconcha, left us two
days before, just as they did when we got near Cabo de bone Esperança, so
that they would seem to dislike the land. Instead of them, we saw a black
bird with a white tail, having white streaks here and there under its
wings; a bird, it seems, of rare occurrence. Three or four days before we
also saw a number of sanderlings. Close inshore we also saw a quantity of
cuttlebone, but the pieces were very small and scattered, so that they
could hardly be seen in hollow water, except by paying very close
attention to them and only 6 or 8 miles off shore, seeing that the steady
west-wind prevents their getting out to sea, which they would certainly
do, if now and then the wind blew from the east for a few days in
succession. Careful estimations based on the globosity of the earth will
give the best signs after all. By estimation we have got into...[*]
Longitude, some of our steersmen having got one or two degrees more, some
less, which in the plane charts makes a considerable difference, about
217 miles by calculation. I repeat that since I have seen the land a good
deal earlier, it will be expedient in the plane chart to mark out a
distance of about 200 miles, to westward of St. Paulo island and to
eastward of Madagascar, the said distance to be passed over in drawing up
reckonings, seeing that the plane chart involves serious drawbacks; the
same might well be done to eastward of the Cape, in such fashion as Your
Worships' cartographers and other experts, such as Master C. J. Lastman,
shall find to be most expedient for the Company's service. Seeing that we
had nothing to do near the coast, and there was a fair wind blowing for
us to make use of, we deemed it advisable that night to run north-west,
and the next morning, having got north into 20 degrees S. Lat., from
there to hold a north by-west course for Java, whither God Almighty may
in safety conduct ourselves and those who shall come after us.
[* Left blank.]
On the 27th do. in the evening, when it had got dark, the water suddenly
turned as white as butter-milk, a thing that none of those on board of us
had ever seen in their lives, and which greatly surprised us all, so
that, concluding it to be caused by a shallow of the sea, we set the
foresail and cast the lead, but since we got no bottom, and with the
rising moon the water again resumed its usual colour, we made all sail
and ran on full speed, satisfied that the strange colour had been caused
by the sky, which was very pale at the time. On the 28th in the morning
very early, the water became thick, and shortly after we sighted land,
being two islands, each of them about 2 miles in length; at 4 miles'
distance from the land we cast the lead in 65 fathom sandy bottom. At
noon in Latitude 8°, three miles off shore, we found ourselves to have
run too far to eastward, wherefore we held our course to westward up to
the 2nd of October, when by God's grace we passed the Princen islands,
and arrived off Bantham on the 9th do. By estimation the land of
d'Eendracht is marked in the chart fifty miles too far to eastward, which
should also be rectified...
Done in the ship 't Wapen van Hoorn, November 8, A.D. 1627, lying at
anchor before Batavia.
Your Worships' obedt. Servant
J. V. ROOSENBERGH.
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