Upright anchor with one fluke and the crown embedded in the seabed.

Zeewijk, 1727

Published

1 October 2022

Last Updated

13 June 2024

Ship

Zeewijk

Country of origin

The Netherlands

Built

1725

Rig

3 masted ship

Tonnage (gross)

306

Port Departed

Rammekens, the Netherlands

Port Destination

Batavia, Netherlands East Indies

Wrecked

9 June 1727, Half Moon Reef, Houtman Abrolhos Islands

Discovery

Hugh Edwards, Tom Brady, Harry Bingham, Max Cramer, Neil McLaghlan, and Dr Colin Jack-Hinton

Protection

Commonwealth Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018

History

On 7 November 1726, the East Indiaman Zeewijk commenced its first journey to Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) in the Netherlands East Indies. It departed from Vlissingen in the Netherlands, as part of a fleet that was commanded by Joris Vermouw, who was aboard Barbesteijn. Along with 208 crew and soldiers aboard, Zeewijk was transporting a cargo of heavy ironwork, bricks, and money for the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) or United Dutch East India Company. Ahead of Zeewijk’s departure, the original skipper was unfit to sail and the inexperienced Jan Steyns was selected to replace him.

After four and a half months, Zeewijk arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. In just under a month, cargo was unloaded and taken ashore, stores were replenished, and new cargo was stowed. Some crew and soldiers remained at the Cape and 22 new crew were recruited. On 21 April 1727, Zeewijk departed the Cape and resumed its journey to Batavia.

Departments

Maritime Heritage

Keywords

Shipwrecks

Shipwreck

Like all VOC ships since 1617, Zeewijk followed the Brouwer Route after departing the Cape of Good Hope. Ships initially sailed south, until they were between the latitudes of 35° and 40° south, and then sailed east, taking advantage of the strong westerly winds (known today as the ‘Roaring Forties’). After about 6,000 kms, ships would then steer a north-north-east course to safely reach the Netherlands East Indies. This route could halve the time it took to get from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia. However, miscalculating the change to the north-north-east heading, could mean colliding with the Australian mainland or its offshore islands and shoals.

Disregarding VOC regulations, on 21 May 1727, Steyns and the ship’s council decided to take an east-north-east heading, with the intention of calling at the Landt van d’Eendracht (modern-day Australia). After the wreck of Batavia in 1629, VOC skippers were given strict instructions to avoid the Houtman Abrolhos Islands and, consequently, the west Australian coast that lay between 60 and 80 kilometres east of the Islands.

In the evening of 9 June 1727, Zeewijk struck Half Moon Reef in the Southern Group of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. The ship lost its masts and took on some water but remained largely intact. This was fortunate for the people aboard, as the hard surf around the ship made it impossible to safely reach the nearby islands. In their attempts, people drowned and boats capsized. It wasn’t until 16 days after the wreck that a boat was successfully launched and the survivors were ferried to the nearby island (modern-day Gun Island).

Handdrawn map showing Zeewijk wreck site to the left, with Gun Island adjacent and Middle and Pelsaert Islands further right.

Location of the Zeewijk wreck site in relation to Gun, Middle, and Pelsaert Islands, 1978.
WA Museum

Factors contributing to the wreck

Negligence

The VOC knew the risks of sailing too close to the coast of west Australia and ordered their ships to avoid the area. The skipper, Steyns recklessly disobeyed these orders and, in doing so, exposed Zeewijk to offshore hazards, including Half Moon Reef where it was wrecked.

After arriving in Batavia aboard Sloepie, Steyns appeared before the High Court of Justice. He was found guilty of not only wrecking Zeewijk, but also falsifying his journals to obscure his role in the disaster and deceive the Governor General and High Council. Steyns was arrested and sued. All his property and money was confiscated, he was fired, and banished from all territories under the jurisdiction of the VOC.

Aftermath of the wreck

Gun Island had fresh water and the survivors found it preferable to set up a camp there, rather than remain on Zeewijk. Less than a month after the wreck, the crew demanded that the officers send a boat to Batavia to organise a rescue. Upper steersman, Pieter Langeweg was nominated to lead the expedition and the best seamen drew lots to accompany him. On 10 July 1727, 12 men set out in the longboat, bound for Batavia. They are presumed to have been lost at sea.

Small, sparse island surrounded by water.

Aerial view of Gun Island, 2008.
Patrick Baker | WA Museum

In the camp, the other survivors were fortunate to have a decent supply of fresh water and food. Their island was home to seals and many small birds. They visited some of the other islands, such as ‘the large island’ (modern-day Middle Island), which also had fresh water, and ‘the long island’ (modern-day Pelsaert Island), where they found wreckage from their ship and mangrove trees.

By the end of October, there had been no rescue attempt and they concluded that the longboat must have failed to reach Batavia. They then made the decision to build a boat and sail to Batavia with all remaining survivors. Salvaging timber and other materials from Zeewijk, and using the resources available on the islands, such as the mangrove trees, the survivors built a boat over a period of five months. During this time, two young men were allegedly caught having sex. They were tried and marooned on two small islands, north of Gun Island.

On 27 March 1728, 88 survivors set sail in their new vessel, Sloepie (Little sloop). The journey was largely uneventful, although six people died along the way, and on 28 April the 82 survivors disembarked in Batavia. When they had encountered another VOC ship in the Sunda Strait, Steyns had secreted them a note intended for the company authorities. He claimed that the crew had risen against him, stealing his command and the company money. Fearing a repeat of the events that followed Batavia’s wrecking, soldiers were dispatched to Sloepie. Naturally, they found nothing wrong, and it was concluded that Steyns must have been suffering delusions due to his illness.

Discovery

In 1840, crew from the HMS Beagle (an English survey ship) landed on the island where the Zeewijk survivors had camped. They found a brass four-pounder swivel gun with a breechblock engraved with VOC initials and, based on this find, they named the island Gun Island. They also found ornamental brass harnesses, two Dutch coins (dated 1707 and 1720), clay pipes, and Dutch wine bottles. Lieutenant John Lort Stokes described the bottles being lined up in a row, as if for the purpose of collecting water.

In the 1880s, guano mining in the Abrolhos Islands began in earnest. Broadhurst and McNeil Guano Contractors leased Gun Island and 19 other islands in the area for an initial five years. In the course of their work, guano miners cleared the topsoil of many islands and Gun Island was one of the most heavily mined islands in the Pelsaert Group. Consequently, many Zeewijk artefacts were found, such as bottles and cooking pots.

In 1952, Lieutenant Commander MR Bromell of the Royal Australian Navy was informed that cray fishers had discovered cannon on the reef to the west of the Pelsaert Group. He revisited the area as commander of HMAS Mildura and located a cannon on the reef, along with other guns and iron artefacts. Three cannon were raised in a later expedition.

Cannon covered in marine growth, on a rocky seabed.

Cannon at the Zeewijk wreck site, 2022.
WA Museum

The main wreck site was located in 1968. Dr Colin Jack-Hinton, from the WA Museum, organised an expedition that included Hugh Edwards, Tom Brady, Max Cramer, Neil McLaghlan, and a second WA Museum staff member, Harry Bingham. Initially cannon and other debris were found, but the next day the main ship was found. That same year, British Petroleum were operating on Gun Island, and during the demolition of a guano camp, human skeletal remains were uncovered.

Earlier in 1830, Commander John Wickham of HMS Beagle had found wreckage at the southern end of an island in the area. He mistakenly believed it to be from an earlier VOC ship, Batavia that had been lost in the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, and consequently named the island Pelsaert Island.

WA Museum expeditions

1968

In 1968, the WA Museum organised the expedition that led to the discovery of the main Zeewijk wreck site.

1972

In 1972, a combined underwater and land survey was undertaken by the Underwater Explorers Club and supervised by the WA Museum. They investigated the inside reef and found five large conglomerates (consisting of concreted metal tubing and barrels of nails), anchors, cannon, and a breechblock. During the island surveys, they uncovered bones, broken pottery, glass fragments, and clay pipes.

Artefacts and marine debris conreted together into a lump, metal nails can be seen at the front.

Conglomeration at the Zeewijk wreck site, 1992.
WA Museum, ZW/A/468

1976-1979

In 1976, the WA Museum commenced the ‘Zeewijk Project’, which was a combined land and underwater survey of sites associated with Zeewijk. The aims were to plot and record the remains of fragments, and and to locate and excavate the Zeewijk camp on Gun Island. The team recorded the distribution of all major wreck site features, such as cannon, anchors, timbers, and other artefacts, in an area extending from the outer reef into the sheltered lagoon. In 1979, the team focused on Pelsaert Island, finding that mangrove trees on the northern shore showed clear evidence of stumps, which had been sawn off some time ago. Zeewijk-related ceramic and glass sherds were also found in the shallows and washed up in the mangroves and saltbushes.

Handrawn mudmap, roughly showing the location of artefacts on the wreck site.

Site plan of the Zeewijk wreck site, 1978.

WA Museum

2001

In 2001, the WA Museum undertook a wreck inspection in response to a proposed aquaculture license on Gun Island. The fieldwork aimed to survey the lease area and record any cultural material found within it. Additionally, the area had to be evaluated for its future archaeological potential. The survey was conducted using tow divers to search the full area proposed for the aquaculture lease. It was determined that the north-west corner of the lease area was most likely to contain material related to Zeewijk, based on prevailing sea and weather patterns, and seabed topography. However, no cultural materials were found during the survey.

2016-2019

The WA Museum participated in the University of Western Australia-led Australian Research Council Linkage Project: LP130100137: Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties: a maritime archaeological reassessment of some of Australia’s earliest shipwrecks. Zeewijk was one of the shipwreck sites revisited as part of the project.

In 2016, an aerial magnetometer survey of the Pelsaert Group was privately funded by Mr John Rothwell AO on behalf of the WA Museum. Thomson Aviation flew the survey and in three fieldwork campaigns in 2016, 2017 and 2019, magnetic targets from this survey were investigated, both on land and under water. Small islands in the Pelsaert Group used by Zeewijk survivors, and later 19th century guano miners were mapped using aerial drones and 3D photogrammetry, recording numerous guano mining-related cultural features including tramway alignments, spoil mounds, stone jetties and structures.

In 2019, an isolated magnetic anomaly located on the outer reef, 500m north of the main Zeewijk wreck site, was confirmed to be a large 3 metre iron cannon observed by the WA Museum in 1978, which was unable to be mapped at time. An attempt to relocate two previously mapped cannon on the inside reef found that they were likely to have become overgrown with staghorn coral, as historical aerial imagery shows that coral beds in this area have grown significantly since the 1980s.

2021

Between 14 and 24 October 2021, the WA Museum inspected the Zeewijk wreck site as part of the Disney+ documentary series ‘Shipwreck Hunters Australia’, in collaboration with Terra Australis Productions and VAM Media. This expedition was the first time the WA Museum had revisited the main Zeewijk wreck site in the outer reef area since conducting archaeological work in the 1970s. The expedition successfully gathered up to date digital imagery of the site to investigate the controversial ‘two wrecks theory’. It was concluded that, consistent with previous work, all the wreckage only related to Zeewijk.

Learn about the other wreck sites featured on 'Shipwreck Hunters Australia'.

2022

Between 11 and 17 March 2022, the WA Museum, Flinders University, Netherlands Heritage Agency (RCE) and University of Western Australia undertook an expedition to map the Zeewijk outer reef site using modern recording techniques, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and with logistical support from the Liddon family. The project aimed to resurvey the main wreck site using GPS (global positioning system) to more precisely locate features, and to georeference the WA Museum’s 1978 wreck site plan (drawn up prior to GPS technology). The team also used photogrammetry to record the underwater archaeological features and site environment, to create a digital 3D model of the site. An unconfirmed report from the 1970s of four additional cannon was followed up, with nothing found.

The 2022 expedition made significant new findings allowing a re-evaluation of the total count of all cannon and anchors in the offshore reef, and inshore lagoon areas. This work, when combined with findings of the earlier Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties project, provides convincing evidence confirming there is only one shipwreck on the Zeewijk site, and negates the hypothesis of two VOC shipwrecks present within the Pelsaert Group. The resulting updated corpus of high-resolution digital imagery, 3D models and site data will greatly facilitate future studies, public interpretation outputs and on-going site monitoring and management of this significant Dutch-Australian mutual heritage site.

Download the 2022 Zeewijk Shipwreck Fieldwork in Pelsaert Group of the Abrolhos Islands