Oosterland

A model of the Oosterland
History
Dutch Republic
Name	Oosterland
Namesake	Possibly the town of Oosterland
Owner	Dutch East India Company Chamber of Amsterdam
Completed	1685[1]
Maiden voyage	Wielingen-Batavia
Fate	Wrecked by the Kallendijk on 24 May 1695.
General characteristics [2]
Type	East Indiaman
Tonnage	1123
Length	160 ft (49 m)
Depth	18 ft (5.5 m)
Crew	240-325 men

The Oosterland was a large 17th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; VOC).^[1] The VOC was established in 1602. The ship was wrecked along with another ship by the ship the Kallendijk on 24 May 1695.^[2][3] The shipwreck was discovered by amateur divers in 1988 on the South African coast a few hundred metres from the entrance to Milnerton Lagoon at the mouth of the Salt River. Excavation of the wreck started in the early 1990s in combination with the University of Cape Town and was led by Bruno Werz.

Ship

The Oosterland was built in 1685 for the Chamber of Zeeland at the VOC ship yard in Middelburg.^[2] She undertook her maiden voyage on 25 November 1685 from Wielingen (Chamber of Zeeland) stopping at Santiago (Cabo Verde) from 12 March 1686 till 23 March 1686 and then at the Cape of Good Hope from 17 May 1686 till 8 June 1686 and arrived at Batavia on 31 July 1686.^[4]

The ship was a Dutch "Mirror Return Ship" (Dutch: Spiegelretourschip) built as an East Indiaman for transport between the Dutch Republic and the settlements and strongholds of the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies. Under the captainship of Karel de Marville the ship departed on 29 January 1688 from Wielingen and carried Huguenot refugee families to the Cape of Good Hope where she arrived on 25 April 1688^[2] 4 people died on this voyage.^[5]

The ship undertook 4 voyages during her service with 3 of those used to carry expensive Asiatic products such as textiles, indigo, tropical woods, nuts, baskets and special porcelain.^[1][6]

These voyages took place:^[4][7][8]

Sinking

In the spring of 1694, the Oosterland left the Netherlands with 342 people on board and reached Batavia on 11 June 1695 with over 100 people dying on this voyage.^[1][5][6][9] In February 1697 she left Ceylon under the captainship of Pieter van Ede in convoy with 4 other ships including the Kallendijk and the Waddingsveen after trading for over a year around Asia, stopping at Table Bay due to her crew being ill because of poor drinking water. On 23 May 1697 a strong north-westerly gale arose and sea conditions worsened, the anchor of the Kallendijk snapped in the morning and slammed into the Oosterland damaging the bowsprit and breaking the mainmast, the Waddingsveen may have been a part of the collision.^[1][5][6] Both ships dropped more anchors to attempt to rescue both vessels, the Kallendijk was fortunately brought under control. The following day the Oosterland went adrift after her cables snapped and she hit the shallows near Salt River Mouth and foundered together with the Waddingsveen.^[1][5][10]

According to one report out of 200 people 185 people died when the Oosterland foundered,^[1] however according to another report out of 300 people onboard only 2 survived.^[4][5]

Shipwreck

In 1988 amateur divers Graham Raynor, Michael Barchard and Christopher Byrnes discovered two ship wrecks at the mouth of the Salt River a few hundred metres from the entrance to Milnerton Lagoon only 6m down, they contacted Maritime Archaeologist Bruno Werz.^[7][8][11] In the early 1990s in combination with the University of Cape Town excavation started, the Oosterland excavation is South Africa's first proper maritime archaeology project, the Oosterland and Waddingsveen were identified as the wrecks from their cannons.^[1][7][8] Excavation was hindered by strong winds, currents, cold water and low visibility, during the excavation many artifacts including personal effects, cannons, coils of rope, textiles, cinnamon, wood and diamonds were recovered.^[1][7][8][9]

The wreck site is protected in the South African National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999 and may not be disturbed without the permission of SAHRIS(South African Heritage Resources)^[1]

Historical Significance

Outside of carrying Asiatic cargo the Oosterland also gave passage to various Huguenot refugee families to the Cape.

On the ship's second voyage to the East, it arrived in Table Bay in July 1688. Among the passengers were the ancestors of famous South Africans such as Frederik Willem de Klerk, Coenraad de Buys, Morné du Plessis, Charlize Theron and Daniel Theron.

Modern culture

The high school in Secunda, South Africa, Hoërskool Oosterland has this ship as it's namesake.

References

Sources

• Turner, Malcolm (1988), Shipwrecks and salvage in South Africa – 1505 to the present., Cape Town: Struik, ISBN 0-86977-387-9
• Werz, Bruco E. J. S. (2008), 'Een Bedroefd, en Beclaaglijck Ongeval'. De Wraken van de VOC-Schepen oosterland en Waddinxveen (1697) in de Tafelbaai., Zutphen, Netherlands: Walburg Pers
• Bruijn, J.R.; Gaastra, F.S.; Schöffer, I. (1987), Dutch-Asiatic Shipping In The 17th and 18th Centuries (3 Vols)., The Hague, ISBN 978-94-017-1311-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Coetzee, Leon; Jordaan, Frans (2011), The Huguenots Story (from France to South Africa)