Three ships of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch : Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, commonly abbreviated to VOC) and its pre-companies have been named Leeuwin, [1] [2] including the galleon from which parts of the southwest coastline of Australia were first mapped in March 1622. [3]
The Amsterdam was an 18th-century cargo ship of the Dutch East India Company. The VOC was established in 1602. The ship started its maiden voyage from Texel to Batavia on 8 January 1749, but was wrecked in a storm on the English Channel on 26 January 1749. The shipwreck was discovered in 1969 in the bay of Bulverhythe, near Hastings on the English south coast, and is sometimes visible during low tides. The location in 1969 was found by Bill Young, the site agent/project manager for the sewage outfall being built by the William Press Group. With time on his hands during the long stay away from home, he followed up the rumour of the going aground. He was castigated by the Museum of London for scooping out the interior of the bow with a digger as it could have led to the structure collapsing. However, it uncovered the initial items which led to a more extensive excavation of the cargo which reflected life at the time. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. Some of the findings from the site are in The Shipwreck Museum in Hastings. A replica of the ship is on display in Amsterdam.
The United East India Company was a chartered company established on 20 March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock company in the world, granting it a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. Shares in the company could be bought by any resident of the United Provinces and then subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets. It is sometimes considered to have been the first multinational corporation. It was a powerful company, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.
Frederick de Houtman was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern celestial hemisphere and contributed to the creation of 12 new southern constellations.
Duyfken, also in the form Duifje or spelled Duifken or Duijfken, was a small ship built in the Dutch Republic. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bringing messages, sending provisions, or privateering. The tonnage of Duyfken has been given as 25-30 lasten.
The Eendracht was an early 17th century Dutch wooden-hulled 700 tonne East Indiaman, launched in 1615 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Its Dutch name means "concord", "unity" or "union", and was a common name given to Dutch ships of the period, from the motto of the Republic: Concordia res parvae crescunt . The ship was captained by Dirk Hartog when he made the second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, in 1616.
Ridderschap van Holland was a large retourschip, the largest class of merchantmen built by the Dutch East India Company to trade with the East Indies. In 1694 the ship sailed for Batavia on her fifth voyage, but was never heard from again. She is now thought to have been shipwrecked off the west coast of Australia.
The Vergulde Draeck, also spelled Vergulde Draak and Vergulde Draek, was a 41.8-metre (137 ft), 260-tonne (290-ton) ship constructed in 1653 by the Dutch East India Company.
Dutch India consisted of the settlements and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. It is only used as a geographical definition, as there was never a political authority ruling all Dutch India. Instead, Dutch India was divided into the governorates Dutch Ceylon and Dutch Coromandel, the commandment Dutch Malabar, and the directorates Dutch Bengal and Dutch Suratte.
't Wapen van Hoorn was a 17th-century Dutch East India Company fluyt with a tonnage between 400 and 600, built in the Dutch Republic in 1619. During its second voyage it grounded on the west coast of Australia, making it about the tenth ship to make landfall on Australian soil, and following Tryall just a few weeks earlier only the second ship to be shipwrecked in Australian waters, albeit temporarily.
Vianen was a 17th-century Dutch East Indies Company sailing ship, used to transport cargo between Europe and the Indies. She was shipwrecked but refloated on her first voyage, and shipwrecked and sunk on her second. Built at Amsterdam in 1626, she had a gross tonnage of 400.
Aagtekerke was a ship of the Dutch East India Company built in 1724. It was lost without trace during its maiden voyage in 1725–26, sailing from Cape of Good Hope in the Dutch Cape Colony to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.
Leeuwin, was a Dutch galleon that discovered and mapped some of the southwest corner of Australia in March 1622. It was captained by Jan Fransz and was the seventh European ship to sight the continent.
Pieter de Bitter was a 17th-century Dutch officer of the Dutch East India Company. On 12 August 1665 he won the Battle of Vågen against an English flotilla commanded by Thomas Teddeman.
Thirteen ships of the Dutch East India Company and its pre-companies have been named Amsterdam.
The Compagnie van Verre was one of the forerunner companies that were later merged (united) into the Dutch East India Company.
Balthazar de Moucheron was a Dutch trader, ship owner and one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company, but never participated as he went bankrupt in the same year. He is known for his early trading with India (Calcutta) and Indonesia, America, the west coast of Africa, the Baltic Sea and the White Sea (Archangelsk).
The Veerse Compagnie was a pre-company from the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands that was founded by Balthazar de Moucheron, a ship owner from Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands. After the fall of Antwerp he moved his business to Zeeland. The fleet of the Veerse Compagnie was made up of two ships; 'Leeuw' (Lion) and 'Leeuwin' (Lioness) and was headed by Cornelis Houtman. Its fleet left from Veere on 28 March 1598 and returned to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands in 1600.
Adriaen Adriaensz Roothaes was a Dutch captain, Commander of Galle, Ceylon, and acting Governor of Dutch Ceylon from November 1664 to April 1665.
The Leeuwin was a 400-ton jacht of the Dutch East India Company that travelled to the East Indies twice starting 3 April 1653. It wrecked near Macassar on 24 December 1664.
Candia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company which only once traveled for Asia in 1790 and never returned to the Netherlands.