Vergulde Draeck

The Vergulde Draeck was wrecked on the 28 April 1656, near the mouth of the Moore River. Of the 193 on board, only 75 managed to reach the shore in two of the ship’s boats and only a small of amount of provisions were saved. Seven men including the understeersman were sent to Batavia in one of the boats, the other had capsized on landing. The captain, Pieter Albertsz stayed with the remaining survivors. It took the ship’s boat 40 days to get to Batavia and almost immediately two boats were sent to search for the survivors. These were the yacht Goede Hoop and the flute Witte Valke. They were unsuccessful and in the process the Goede Hoop lost a boat and eleven men. In 1658 another two ships, the Emeloort and the Waeckende Boey, were sent to both chart the coastline and look for survivors. The fate of the 68 survivors who were initially left remains an intriguing question. This was a large complement of people which could be expected to be able to form an organised group. Unlike the Batavia, the Master of the Vergulde Draeck stayed with the survivors to keep order and authority. It is likely that such a large group would have made an impact on local inhabitants. The ships sent in search of them reported wreckage, and even fires, but attempts to make contact were unsuccessful.