_Letter of the G.-G. and Counc. to the Managers of the E.I.C, December 4,
1656._
...On the 7th June there arrived here...from the South-land the cock-boat
of the yacht den Vergulden Draeck with 7 men, to our great regret
reporting that the said yacht had run aground on the said South-land in
30 2/3 degrees, on April the 28th, that besides the loss of her cargo, of
which nothing was saved, 118 men of her crew had perished, and that 69
men who had succeeded in getting ashore, were still left there. For the
purpose of rescuing these men, and of attempting to get back by divers or
other means any part of the money or the merchandises that might still be
recoverable, we dispatched thither on the said errand on the 8th of the
said month of June [*], the flute de Witte Valeq, together with the yacht
de Goede Hoop, which after staying away for some time were by violent
storms forced to return without having effected anything, and without
having seen any men or any signs of the wreck, although the said Goede
Hoop has been on the very spot where the ship was said to have
miscarried...[**]
[* The day following that on which the report regarding the Vergulde
Draak had reached Batavia.]
[** Some of the men of the Goede Hoop had gone ashore, but had not
returned.--The Witte Valk had touched at the Southland, but by "bad
weather and the hollow sea" had been compelled to return without having
effected anything.]
In the Castle of Batavia, December 4, A.D. 1656.
Your Worships' Obedt. Servts. the Governor-General and Councillors of India
JOAN MAETSUYKER, CAREL HARTZINCK, JOAN CUNAEUS, NICOLAES VERBURCH, D. STEUR.