VOC ship Eendracht – Western Australian Museum3D Model
VOC ship Eendracht only served the company for seven years, but its impact as a Dutch ‘Age of Discovery’ ship still resonates today.
Eendracht was launched in 1615. On its maiden voyage, the 350 lasten Eendracht set sail in a fleet of VOC ships on 23 January 1616 from Texel, bound for the East Indies. The ship was separated from the fleet in a storm and reached the Cape of Good Hope on 5 August. Hartog remained there until 27 August when he set off across the Indian Ocean.
His course followed the Brouwer route, which was a more southerly route than the one usually followed by such voyages in the early years of the VOC. It made use of the ‘roaring forties’ to sail eastwards before turning north towards Java.
On 25 October, while sailing north towards eastern Indonesia, Hartog unexpectedly sighted land at about latitude 27 degrees south. Hartog anchored in the shelter of an island and some members of the crew went ashore on the north of what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, Australia.
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