The Duyfken Map 1606
The Narrative
JANSZOON'S MAPPING WAS THE FIRST OF THE DUTCH VOYAGES THAT WOULD CHART ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN COASTLINE IN THE 17TH CENTURY.
The VOC's connection with the Australian continent began on 26 February 1606 when Willem Janszoon (c. 1570 to c. 1630) made landfall at Pennefather River, near modern-day Weipa on the west coast of the Cape York peninsula (northern Queensland). Janszoon, a mariner from Amsterdam, had been instructed by the VOC to explore the Nova Guinea (New Guinea) coast in search of trading opportunities and gold.
He captained the Duyfken (Little Dove), setting sail from Bantam (northeast coast of Java) in November 1605 to the Kei Islands. He then sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, which he charted before heading southeast, past the entrance to Torres Strait (separating the Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea). Janszoon did not realise it was a strait, and its discovery was left to the Spanish mariner, Luis Váez de Torres (fl. 1605-1607), who successfully sailed through it in 1606 on his way to Manila in the Philippines. The Dufyken reached the Cape York Peninsula, which Janszoon took to be a continuation of southern New Guinea and mapped 250 kilometres (155 mi) of coastline from Weipa to Cape Keer-Weer (Turn-Again or Turn-Around). Heading south, Janszoon sailed into Vliege Bay (now Albatross Bay) – the Dutch word vliege means "fly", suggesting that Janszoon and his crew encountered the annoying Australian blowfly. (https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1933/the-dutch-discovery-of-australia/)
The VOC's connection with the Australian continent began on 26 February 1606 when Willem Janszoon (c. 1570 to c. 1630) made landfall at Pennefather River, near modern-day Weipa on the west coast of the Cape York peninsula (northern Queensland). Janszoon, a mariner from Amsterdam, had been instructed by the VOC to explore the Nova Guinea (New Guinea) coast in search of trading opportunities and gold.
He captained the Duyfken (Little Dove), setting sail from Bantam (northeast coast of Java) in November 1605 to the Kei Islands. He then sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, which he charted before heading southeast, past the entrance to Torres Strait (separating the Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea). Janszoon did not realise it was a strait, and its discovery was left to the Spanish mariner, Luis Váez de Torres (fl. 1605-1607), who successfully sailed through it in 1606 on his way to Manila in the Philippines. The Dufyken reached the Cape York Peninsula, which Janszoon took to be a continuation of southern New Guinea and mapped 250 kilometres (155 mi) of coastline from Weipa to Cape Keer-Weer (Turn-Again or Turn-Around). Heading south, Janszoon sailed into Vliege Bay (now Albatross Bay) – the Dutch word vliege means "fly", suggesting that Janszoon and his crew encountered the annoying Australian blowfly. (https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1933/the-dutch-discovery-of-australia/)
The ship's log of the voyage no longer exists, and Janszoon's original map was later lost, but the VOC had it copied when the Duyfken returned to Bantam. This map, known as the 'Duyfken Chart', was discovered in the Austrian National Library in Vienna in 1933. It had supposedly been included in the Secret Atlas of the East India Company, which was only used by VOC navigators and not available commercially until its publication in 1670. Coincidentally 'Torres Strait' was named by James Cook - there is no log-book, chart or journal to support the Torres primacy.
The VOC Secret Atlas
Johannes (II) van Keulen became the hydrographer of the VOC in 1726. In 1753 he produced a printed atlas which was officially known as Part VI of the Zee-Fakkel (Sea-Torch). This atlas became known as the “Secret Atlas”, because it was not for public sale and was intended for use in VOC ships only. After each voyage the atlas was returned to VOC headquarters. (https://mappingbengal.com/the-secret-atlas)
This proposes that an 'Atlas' of all the VOC secret maps accompanied every VOC ship at sea - thus any single loss would entail the total loss of all their secret maps. Perhaps they were as adept at security as they were at keeping logs and making charts.
The VOC existed between 1602 and 1796 when it finally collapsed in bankruptcy after decades of decline as the Netherlands became The Batavian Republic - a de facto French Protectorate from 1795-1806. The Peninsular Wars (1807-1814) opened with the French Revolutionary forces attacking Spain on the way to the invasion of Portugal.
This proposes that an 'Atlas' of all the VOC secret maps accompanied every VOC ship at sea - thus any single loss would entail the total loss of all their secret maps. Perhaps they were as adept at security as they were at keeping logs and making charts.
The VOC existed between 1602 and 1796 when it finally collapsed in bankruptcy after decades of decline as the Netherlands became The Batavian Republic - a de facto French Protectorate from 1795-1806. The Peninsular Wars (1807-1814) opened with the French Revolutionary forces attacking Spain on the way to the invasion of Portugal.
Duyfken Chart - "an extremely accurate charting of the west coast of Cape York"
The task is to test the NMA assertion that "this map is an extremely accurate charting of the west coast of Cape York created by the crew of the Duyfken".
Captain Saris - witness
"two journal entries by the English captain, John Saris, who was lying at anchor off Bantam when the Duyfken left, and who heard of its return to Banda six months later (Purchas, 1625, 385)" Jan Tent Moent Paper
"Captain Saris could not have foreseen that his brief entries were to provide the first, the most important, and the only contemporary record of a voyage during which the first discovery of Australia had been made. Although the names of the ship and its commander were not mentioned, and the extent of the voyage was unrecorded, it was, and it remains, the only record that gives the dates of the departure and return of this vessel." (T.D. Mutch The First Discovery of Australia 1942)
Captain Saris Journal
To paraphrase the original text below:-
18th November 1605 - A small Dutch ship has left Bantam to search for the island called New Guinea which is said to be rich in gold.
15th June 1606 - Nockhoda Tingall arrived from Banda….he told me that the Dutch ship, which went to New Guinea, had returned to Banda after finding the Island: but, when they sent their men ashore to explore opportunities for Trade, nine were killed by Heathen Cannibals; so they were forced to return home.
No mention of Duyfken - no duration of voyage - half crew killed so voyage abandoned..."the most important, and the only contemporary record of a voyage during which the first discovery of Australia had been made."
18th November 1605 - A small Dutch ship has left Bantam to search for the island called New Guinea which is said to be rich in gold.
15th June 1606 - Nockhoda Tingall arrived from Banda….he told me that the Dutch ship, which went to New Guinea, had returned to Banda after finding the Island: but, when they sent their men ashore to explore opportunities for Trade, nine were killed by Heathen Cannibals; so they were forced to return home.
No mention of Duyfken - no duration of voyage - half crew killed so voyage abandoned..."the most important, and the only contemporary record of a voyage during which the first discovery of Australia had been made."
Presumably the Duyfken was the "small ship of the Flemmings", that left Bantam on 18th November 1605 – witnessed and documented by Capt. Saris who was the 2nd Englishman to set foot on Japan and would become Governor (President) of the English Factory to the west of Batavia (Jakarta). Six months later, on 15th June, he was informed of the Duyfken reaching New Guinea and the loss of 9 crew which forced the abandonment of the voyage and her return to Banda.
He writes:-15th June, Nockhoda Tingall arrived from Banda….he told me that the Flemmings Pinnace, which went to discover New Guinea, had returned to Banda having found the Island: but having sent their men ashore to negotiate Trade, nine were killed by the Heathen cannibals; so they were forced to return home.
Six months being the interval between witnessing her departure and being informed of the fate of the voyage - not the duration of the voyage.
To send a single, 66ft vessel on a voyage of some 5,000 nautical miles is ambitious. Even the return trip to New Guinea from Banda would exceed 1000nm to an uncharted coast, reputedly populated by Heathen man-eaters. The absence of soldiers is understandable given the size of the Duyfken which apparently carried 20 crew. The sailors, were unfamiliar with firearms or maintaining order whilst under attack - so that the loss of nine of their number left the Duyfken without sufficient crew to safely manage the ship - so they were 'constrained' i.e. forced to abandon the voyage and return to Banda "finding no good to be done there". The proposition that the ship continued south on a voyage of discovery is an insult to the seamanship of men sent abroad without the resources to accomplish the task - they were lucky to survive. Capt. Saris does not state that the unnamed vessel returned to Bantam.
It is little wonder that a story was concocted to placate the VOC Council for the loss of the crew and abandonment of the voyage. Unintentionally, it set in train a cascade of deception which would echo through successive failures, enshrine the belief that there was no seaway between Australia and Papua and there was nothing of value in the South Land which was 'thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations, of very little use to the Company'.
The successive failures to chart the South Land followed a set pattern: - no logs & no charts survive - crew murdered by ungrateful savages & nothing of value discovered. The VOC obviously didn't believe it, as they continued to send expeditions to resolve the same questions for the next 150 years. The 'Duyfken Defence' that despite terrible hardships, we had a really good look but found nothing of value except all these rivers which we named after the VOC Council members between promontories called Van Diemen and occasional islands all called Maria. The only reason that these names survive is that Matthew Flinders drew an actual map that survives and needed to find different names for hundreds, perhaps thousands of rivers, creeks islands and headlands.
The deceit began with obfuscation by officials seeking to placate the VOC Council with a bit of a story and the expectation that more detail will emerge in the future. The repetition of the vague and unsubstantiated discoveries in subsequent sailing instructions proves merely that no additional evidence ever appeared. The non-existence of evidence in the form of original logs or charts played into the hands of the myriad mapmakers, forgers, art market spivs and antiques trade charlatans who feed the ego of successive generations of the Bonaparte and Lombard brigade that is today eclipsed by the Museums, National Libraries & National Galleries with more public money than sense and zero oversight.
The socio-political purposes of Heeres the Politician come at the expense of the reputation of Heeres the Historian. It is a deceit that was and remains eagerly embraced by a nation which has suffered many indignities - not least being the Nazi occupation. The Nazi corruption of history to fabricate a heroic past and rekindle national pride is a harmonic of history itself. Heeres is a true child of Herodotus, the Father of History & the Father of Lies.
The tragedy is that this deceit has prevented any research into the the true history of the discovery of Australia. Behind the veil of lies there is a vast historical landscape to explore - voyagers from many lands over many centuries - some of them may well have been Dutch. The only hope lies in the kilometres or records held in Jakarta and the hope that they were beyond the reach of Heeres and his accomplices.
He writes:-15th June, Nockhoda Tingall arrived from Banda….he told me that the Flemmings Pinnace, which went to discover New Guinea, had returned to Banda having found the Island: but having sent their men ashore to negotiate Trade, nine were killed by the Heathen cannibals; so they were forced to return home.
Six months being the interval between witnessing her departure and being informed of the fate of the voyage - not the duration of the voyage.
To send a single, 66ft vessel on a voyage of some 5,000 nautical miles is ambitious. Even the return trip to New Guinea from Banda would exceed 1000nm to an uncharted coast, reputedly populated by Heathen man-eaters. The absence of soldiers is understandable given the size of the Duyfken which apparently carried 20 crew. The sailors, were unfamiliar with firearms or maintaining order whilst under attack - so that the loss of nine of their number left the Duyfken without sufficient crew to safely manage the ship - so they were 'constrained' i.e. forced to abandon the voyage and return to Banda "finding no good to be done there". The proposition that the ship continued south on a voyage of discovery is an insult to the seamanship of men sent abroad without the resources to accomplish the task - they were lucky to survive. Capt. Saris does not state that the unnamed vessel returned to Bantam.
It is little wonder that a story was concocted to placate the VOC Council for the loss of the crew and abandonment of the voyage. Unintentionally, it set in train a cascade of deception which would echo through successive failures, enshrine the belief that there was no seaway between Australia and Papua and there was nothing of value in the South Land which was 'thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations, of very little use to the Company'.
The successive failures to chart the South Land followed a set pattern: - no logs & no charts survive - crew murdered by ungrateful savages & nothing of value discovered. The VOC obviously didn't believe it, as they continued to send expeditions to resolve the same questions for the next 150 years. The 'Duyfken Defence' that despite terrible hardships, we had a really good look but found nothing of value except all these rivers which we named after the VOC Council members between promontories called Van Diemen and occasional islands all called Maria. The only reason that these names survive is that Matthew Flinders drew an actual map that survives and needed to find different names for hundreds, perhaps thousands of rivers, creeks islands and headlands.
The deceit began with obfuscation by officials seeking to placate the VOC Council with a bit of a story and the expectation that more detail will emerge in the future. The repetition of the vague and unsubstantiated discoveries in subsequent sailing instructions proves merely that no additional evidence ever appeared. The non-existence of evidence in the form of original logs or charts played into the hands of the myriad mapmakers, forgers, art market spivs and antiques trade charlatans who feed the ego of successive generations of the Bonaparte and Lombard brigade that is today eclipsed by the Museums, National Libraries & National Galleries with more public money than sense and zero oversight.
The socio-political purposes of Heeres the Politician come at the expense of the reputation of Heeres the Historian. It is a deceit that was and remains eagerly embraced by a nation which has suffered many indignities - not least being the Nazi occupation. The Nazi corruption of history to fabricate a heroic past and rekindle national pride is a harmonic of history itself. Heeres is a true child of Herodotus, the Father of History & the Father of Lies.
The tragedy is that this deceit has prevented any research into the the true history of the discovery of Australia. Behind the veil of lies there is a vast historical landscape to explore - voyagers from many lands over many centuries - some of them may well have been Dutch. The only hope lies in the kilometres or records held in Jakarta and the hope that they were beyond the reach of Heeres and his accomplices.
Purchas, Samuel, 1625: Purchas his Pilgrimes. Hakluytus - Contayning a History of the World, in Sea Voyages, & Lande-trauells, by Englishmen & Others. Vol. 1, The Fourth Book, Ch. II. Printed by William Stansby for Henry Fetherston, London.
It is instructive that whilst the journal of Capt. Saris survives - amongst a great many others - yet not a single original chart, log - private log - reminiscences or pilfered copy relating to a single VOC voyage survives.
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Purpose of the voyage
No logs, no charts, personal records, letters nor any documentation survives. The only supporting evidence that the voyage occurred is from Capt. John Saris who was anchored in Banda between 18/11/1605 and 15/06/1606 and diarised the absence. The cartographic technique was to interview members of the crew whose recollections resulted in disconnected features - perhaps either side of points of anchorage - being set within a mapping scheme some 65 years after the event. Two such points are the river mouth above the western promontory of New Guinea and the river mouth at which they went ashore - supposed at Mapoon.
The great variance of scale and the absence of features on Cape York that match those on the map suggest that the Duyfken did not venture past Prince of Wales Island where it would have been obliged to cross the major channel - Endeavour Strait - at the very least.
There is no section of coast that comes anywhere near to replicating such the section of map that is reportedly drawn from the memory of the crew. If they had followed the coast of New Guinea to the east they would have been in an area of shallow seaway that is far less cluttered with islands and shoals than the eastern side. |
If they failed to notice the Torres Strait - wherein the Pacific Ocean creates a tide race over fall which is visible from space - the only possibility is that they arrived on such a tight east/west course as to be protected by the major islands. Perhaps they were in New Guinea - there's suitably large inlet above Fak fak in West Papua.
It is very difficult to recall details of low mangrove fringed coastlines decades after a fleeting visit. The recollections of WW2 servicemen in the Wessel Islands is ample testimony - including those of a qualified surveyor. The only recognisable feature is the Match Point in the GE view above. This complex river mouth - above the striking promontory of Dolok in West Papua - is however absent from subsequent mapping and only appears much later. The most charitable possibility is that they landed on the western extremity of Prince of Wales Island. It is the only protruding piece of land on 1000kms of coast which recedes either side of a reasonable sized opening and some islands immediately above it. |
Rossellini's 1508 Planisphere is noted for its transitional position between the discovery of the Americas and realisation that between California and China lay the cartographers nightmare - the Pacific Ocean - he would have to squeeze 1/3 of the surface of the planet into the Planisphere. All was not lost because Ecuador would make a reappearance as Cape York on the Duyfken Chart.
{Page: 43}
EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK OF DESPATCHES FROM BATAVIA; COMMENCING JANUARY THE 15TH, 1644, AND ENDING NOVEMBER THE 29TH FOLLOWING.TO BE FOUND FOLIO 39.
Instructions for the commodore, Captain Abel Jansz Tasman, the skipper chief-pilot, Franz Jacobsz Visser, and the counsel of the yachts Limmen and Zeemeuw, and the tender de Brak, destined for a nearer discovery of New Guinea and the unknown coasts of the discovered east and south lands, together with the channels and the islands supposed to be situated between and near them.
The several successive administrations of India, in order to enlarge and extend the trade of the Dutch East India company, have zealously endeavoured to make an early discovery of the great land of New Guinea and other unknown east and southerly countries, as you know by several discourses, and maps, journals, and papers communicated to you. But hitherto with little success, although several voyages have been undertaken.
1st. By order of the president, John Williamson Verschoor, who at that time directed the company's trade at Bantam, which was in the year 1606, with the yacht the Duyfhen, who in their passage sailed by the islands Key and Aroum, and discovered the south and west coast of New Guinea for about 220 miles (880) from 5° to 13¾° south latitude: and found this extensive country, for the {Page: 44} greater part desert, but in some places inhabited by wild, cruel black savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the land or waters, as had been desired of them, and by want of provisions and other necessaries they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished: the furthest point of the land was called in their map Cape Keer-Weer[*1], situated in 13¾° South.
The second voyage was undertaken with a yacht in the year 1617 by order of the Fiscal D'Edel, with little success, of which adventures and discoveries, through the loss of their journals and remarks, nothing certain is to be found.
From this time the further discoveries of the unknown east and south countries were postponed until the year 1623 on account of there being no ships to spare; but in the interim, in the year 1619, a ship named the Arms of Amsterdam, destined to Banda, drove past that place and touched at the south coast of New Guinea, where some of the crew were murdered by the savage inhabitants, wherefore they acquired no certain knowledge of the country.
But in the meantime, in the years 1616, 1618, 1619 and 1622, the west coast of this great unknown south land from 35° to 22° S. latitude was discovered by outward bound ships, and among them by the ship Endraght; for the nearer discovery of which the governor-general, Jan Pietersz Coen (of worthy memory) in September, 1622, despatched the yachts De Haring and Harewind; but this voyage was rendered abortive by meeting the ship Mauritius, and searching after the ship Rotterdam.
In consequence of which, by order of His excellency, the third voyage was undertaken in the month of January 1623, with the yachts Pera and Arnhem out of Amboina, under the command of Jan Carstens; with order to make a nearer friendship with the inhabitants of the islands Key, Aroum, [*1) Cape Turn-again] {Page: 45} and Tenimber, and better to discover New Guinea and the south lands, when an alliance was made with the said islands and south coast of New Guinea nearer discovered. The skipper, with eight of the crew of the yacht Arnhem, was treacherously murdered by the inhabitants; and after a discovery of the great islands Arnhem and the Spult (by an untimely Separation) this yacht, with very little success, came back to Amboina.
But the yacht Pera, persisting in the voyage, sailed along the south coast of New Guinea to a flat cove on this coast, situated in 10° south latitude, and ran along the west coast of this land to Cape Keer-Weer, from thence discovered the coast farther southward as far as 17° South to Staten River (from this place what more of the land could be discerned seemed to stretch westward) and from thence returned to Amboina.
In this discovery were found everywhere shallow water and barren coast; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations, and of very little use to the Company. Countries may be seen on the maps which were made of them.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600361h.html#ch-02
EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK OF DESPATCHES FROM BATAVIA; COMMENCING JANUARY THE 15TH, 1644, AND ENDING NOVEMBER THE 29TH FOLLOWING.TO BE FOUND FOLIO 39.
Instructions for the commodore, Captain Abel Jansz Tasman, the skipper chief-pilot, Franz Jacobsz Visser, and the counsel of the yachts Limmen and Zeemeuw, and the tender de Brak, destined for a nearer discovery of New Guinea and the unknown coasts of the discovered east and south lands, together with the channels and the islands supposed to be situated between and near them.
The several successive administrations of India, in order to enlarge and extend the trade of the Dutch East India company, have zealously endeavoured to make an early discovery of the great land of New Guinea and other unknown east and southerly countries, as you know by several discourses, and maps, journals, and papers communicated to you. But hitherto with little success, although several voyages have been undertaken.
1st. By order of the president, John Williamson Verschoor, who at that time directed the company's trade at Bantam, which was in the year 1606, with the yacht the Duyfhen, who in their passage sailed by the islands Key and Aroum, and discovered the south and west coast of New Guinea for about 220 miles (880) from 5° to 13¾° south latitude: and found this extensive country, for the {Page: 44} greater part desert, but in some places inhabited by wild, cruel black savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered; for which reason they could not learn anything of the land or waters, as had been desired of them, and by want of provisions and other necessaries they were obliged to leave the discovery unfinished: the furthest point of the land was called in their map Cape Keer-Weer[*1], situated in 13¾° South.
The second voyage was undertaken with a yacht in the year 1617 by order of the Fiscal D'Edel, with little success, of which adventures and discoveries, through the loss of their journals and remarks, nothing certain is to be found.
From this time the further discoveries of the unknown east and south countries were postponed until the year 1623 on account of there being no ships to spare; but in the interim, in the year 1619, a ship named the Arms of Amsterdam, destined to Banda, drove past that place and touched at the south coast of New Guinea, where some of the crew were murdered by the savage inhabitants, wherefore they acquired no certain knowledge of the country.
But in the meantime, in the years 1616, 1618, 1619 and 1622, the west coast of this great unknown south land from 35° to 22° S. latitude was discovered by outward bound ships, and among them by the ship Endraght; for the nearer discovery of which the governor-general, Jan Pietersz Coen (of worthy memory) in September, 1622, despatched the yachts De Haring and Harewind; but this voyage was rendered abortive by meeting the ship Mauritius, and searching after the ship Rotterdam.
In consequence of which, by order of His excellency, the third voyage was undertaken in the month of January 1623, with the yachts Pera and Arnhem out of Amboina, under the command of Jan Carstens; with order to make a nearer friendship with the inhabitants of the islands Key, Aroum, [*1) Cape Turn-again] {Page: 45} and Tenimber, and better to discover New Guinea and the south lands, when an alliance was made with the said islands and south coast of New Guinea nearer discovered. The skipper, with eight of the crew of the yacht Arnhem, was treacherously murdered by the inhabitants; and after a discovery of the great islands Arnhem and the Spult (by an untimely Separation) this yacht, with very little success, came back to Amboina.
But the yacht Pera, persisting in the voyage, sailed along the south coast of New Guinea to a flat cove on this coast, situated in 10° south latitude, and ran along the west coast of this land to Cape Keer-Weer, from thence discovered the coast farther southward as far as 17° South to Staten River (from this place what more of the land could be discerned seemed to stretch westward) and from thence returned to Amboina.
In this discovery were found everywhere shallow water and barren coast; islands altogether thinly peopled by divers cruel, poor, and brutal nations, and of very little use to the Company. Countries may be seen on the maps which were made of them.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600361h.html#ch-02
The results of testing the NMA assertion that "this map is an extremely accurate charting of the west coast of Cape York created by the crew of the Duyfken" - is a fail.