An important vellum manuscript chart of the Dutch East India Company

The chart here belongs to the first group and is specified on the list as ‘Indische zee
gelijkgradige van de Caap tot de Straat Sunda’ [Plane chart of the Indian Ocean, from the
Cape to Sunda Straits], for a price of six guilders and ten stuivers (halfpennies). The chart
plays a key role for the crossing and navigation of the Indian Ocean. After a compulsory
period of rest at the Cape of Good Hope, the VOC ships were required to follow a prescribed
route (sailing instructions or sailing orders) for the journey from the Cape to the Sunda Strait.
The course first had to be set due south to the regions with continuous blowing westerns
winds. With these advantageous sailing winds one had to sail 850 miles to the east and then
steer the bow north towards Sunda Strait.
Because determining longitude on the open sea was of great difficulty in those days, the
crossing of the Indian Ocean was a hazardous journey. By changing eastern to northern course
too late, some VOC ships unexpectedly ran aground on the reefs and shoals of the west coast
of Australia and sank, especially in darkness. A famous fatality is the 1727 shipwreck of the
Zeewijck, a 70 tonnes vessel equipped by the Chamber of Zeeland.
Part of the west coast of Australia is visible on this chart (ill. 5). Despite the fact that the outer
corner has been cut off (because of the later use as book binding), the Australian coast is
visible under the name [Land van] den Eendragt, a name originating from the oldest Dutch
contact with this coast by the ship Eendracht in 1616. On our chart this is also testified by the
name Dirck Hartogs Rhee.
A remarkable feature of this chart is the reference to the 1727 calamity of the Zeewijck:
Zee[wijck] geble[ven] (Zee[wijck] lost here). On June 9, 1727, this 145 foot ship ran aground
on one of the coral reefs (Half Moon Reef) of the Houtman Abrolhos. Part of the castaways
could survive on nearby Gun Island and after many miseries they succeeded to build a small
sloop from the wreck of the Zeewijck. After ten months, approximately 90 men (of the crew
of 208 that had sailed from Zeeland) managed to leave Gun Island. Incredibly, they managed
to reach Sunda Strait and arrived in Batavia in April 30, 1728.
The reference to the wreckage of the Zeewijck has not been recorded on any other known
VOC vellum chart of the Indian Ocean, the fact that it is recorded here is a further
confirmation that this chart was produced in Middelburg. In the waters between the Australian
coast and Java a few islands can be seen. The name Trials Rudsen reminds the loss of the
English ship Trial in 1622, and the name Monij (today’s Christmas Island) goes back to the
visit of the fleet of Willem de Vlamingh in 1697.
Our chart shows hundreds of toponyms along the coasts. Although the majority is in Portuguese,
we also see Dutch names along the west coast of Sumatra (Cocos Eijlanden, ’t Verkens Eijland,
Goefortuijn, Nassou); on Sumatra (gebroken Hoek, vlacke Hoek); in Sunda Strait (t Prince
Eijland). Remarkable in Malacca is the reference to Straet Sincapura. In Bengal the
Timmerswerf (carpenter’s wharf) is mentioned. On the Orissa coast is a reference to the 1643
disaster of another VOC ship: Neptunus verongeluckt (Neptunus lost).
The plane chart f the Indian Ocean did not only serve for the crossing to Sunda Strait, but also for
the journey to Ceylon. After approximately 700 miles east of the Cape, the course is changed
north, as is testified on our chart by faint traces of a plotted track in pencil (of which
unfortunately only the number 14 is decipherable, tracks were drawn in pencil and erased later).