Abrolhos Islands

The Western Australian Museum is embarking on a new search for a possible fifth Dutch East India Company (VOC) shipwreck, believed to have been lost at the Abrolhos Islands off the Mid West coast around 300 years ago.

An aerial magnetometer survey of a section of the Pelsaert Group has begun, funded by long-time Museum supporter and Chairman of Austal Ltd, John Rothwell. The survey is looking for magnetic anomalies that would indicate the presence of another, as yet undiscovered, historic shipwreck.

Among the known wrecked ships still unaccounted for is the Aagtekerke, a VOC vessel that left the Netherlands on its maiden voyage in 1725 and was lost the following year without a trace.  

Western Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles said historical research and previous surveys indicate there is a high probability an as yet unknown 18th Century shipwreck lies in the vicinity of the survey area.  

“There is a body of evidence that suggests there is another historic shipwreck in that area that may, or may not, be the Aagtekerke but first we have to find it, and that is not as easy as it sounds given that several previous searches have been unsuccessful,” Mr Coles said.

“The current search is being led by the WA Museum’s Head of Maritime Archaeology Jeremy Green and we are working with a number of key stakeholders including well-known wreck hunter Hugh Edwards who believes the Aagtekerke will be found here. Even if a wreck is found, however, we will still need to determine what that ship is.

The survey area includes Half Moon Reef which is the site of the 1727 wreck of the VOC vessel Zeewijk. Records from Zeewijk survivors note the presence of timbers and artefacts from an older shipwreck in the surrounding area.

The survey will extend further than the reef, based on the understanding a wreck could be located in deeper water within the wider Pelsaert Group of islands.

Should the Aagtekerke be found at the Abrohlos, it will be the fifth VOC wreck to be located along the Mid West coast. The others are Vergulde Draeck (wrecked in 1656); Batavia (wrecked in 1629); Zeewijk (wrecked in 1727); and Zuytdorp (wrecked in 1712).

“The Museum has been investigating and interpreting these and other significant wreck sites for nearly 50 years, and holds arguably the biggest collection of excavated maritime archaeological material in the world,” Mr Coles said.

“Our shared maritime heritage with The Netherlands is significant and in what is this year, the 400th anniversary of the first European contact with Australia with Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog’s arrival at Inscription Point near Shark Bay in 1616, it is even more important we collaborate and increase our efforts to find the elusive fifth Old Dutch shipwreck.   

“We are very grateful to John Rothwell for his ongoing support of the Museum, without which we would not have been able to begin this important search.”

All historic shipwrecks are protected under the Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976) which makes it illegal to damage wreck sites or remove artefacts from them.    

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Media contact
Di Ingelse
Acting Media Manager
Western Australian Museum
di.ingelse@museum.wa.gov.au