Hartog 1616 Eendracht

The Maritime Journals Archives Project, undertaken by Jeremy Green and Adriaan de Jong, has brought together in one place documents that refer to 17th and 18th century encounters with the west coast of Australia. This includes two related to the earliest known encounter – that of Dirk Hartog on board Eendracht in 1616.

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‘1616 Eendracht Comment’

Follow this link to view the part of the original missive from Jan Pietersz Coen, 22 August 1617, that mentions Eendracht’s encounter with the Southland, accompanied by Heeres (1899) transcription and translation.

Eendracht, under the command of Dirk Hartog, with Gillis Miebais as supercargo, departed Texel in the Netherlands for the Indies on 23 January 1616. The vessel arrived at Table Bay on 5 August and departed on 27 August. Sailing east on the Brouwer route Hartog came upon the west coast of Australia on 25 October in 27°S latitude.

Hartog’s log has not been found, and his encounter with the coast is only mentioned in passing in the letter from Jan Pietersz Coen, then Director General in the East Indies, to the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC. Nevertheless, his landing on what was consequently named Dirk Hartog Island is evidenced by his having had a wooden post erected to support a pewter plate engraved with details of his landing. The plate was found by the Willem De Vlamingh expedition in 1697, and can now be found in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Eendracht eventually arrived in Macassar on 14 December.

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‘1616 Eendracht Plate’

Follow this link to view the Dirk Hartog Plate, accompanied by a transcription and translation.