An important vellum manuscript chart of the Dutch East India Company

The fact that not all ships followed the prescribed sailing instructions, is demonstrated by the
1726 disaster of the Ravensteyn. Against Company regulations, this Zeeland Chamber ship
sailed along the west side of the Maldives and ran aground on an outer reef of the Ari-atol.
This catastrophe is mentioned on our chart: Ravensteyn gebleven (Ravensteyn lost here). This
reference is only present on our chart – as is the case with the loss of the Zeewijck. Being chartmaker
of the Zeeland Chamber, Abraham Anias gave full attention to this Zeeland calamity, as a
matter of fact he even drew a detailed chart of the Ari-atol in 1728 (see ill.2).
The wide-spread trading network of the VOC also stretched into the northwestern corner of
the Indian Ocean, where the Company had trading-posts in Suratte, in the Persian Gulf and in
Mocha. From Suratte the VOC ships sailed via Strait Hormus to Gamron in the north of the
Persian Gulf and to Basra on the Shatt-al-Arab. The southern part shows the ‘Isola de Barein’
(Bahrain). While the Gulf was significant for the silk trade, later the trade in gold was more
important.
Literature:
Destombes, M., Cartes Hollandaises. La Cartographie de la Compagnie des Indes
Orientales, 1593-1743. Saigon 1941.
De VOC in de kaart gekeken. Cartografie en navigatie van de Verenigde Oostindische
Compagnie, 1602-1799. ’s-Gravenhage, SDU uitgeverij, 1988.
Gaastra, F. De geschiedenis van de VOC. Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2002.
Paesi, R. Het VOC-retourschip Ravesteyn, Nijmegen, 1999.
Schilder, G.,‘Organization and Evolution of the Dutch East India Company’s Hydrographic
Office in the Seventeenth Century’. In: Imago Mundi 28 (1976).
Sigmond, J.P., Zuiderbaan, L.H., Dutch Discoveries of Australia, 1979, Australia.