Archaeologists have discovered that bad weather brought a Dutch East India Company ship to the coast of Western Australia

New research has revealed that the Dutch East India Company ship Zuytdorp probably foundered on the coast of Western Australia in 1712 due to a storm and poor navigation conditions.

In the article published In Journal of Maritime ArcheologyFlinders University archaeologists Dr Ruud Stelten and Professor Wendy van Duivenvoorde analyzed logbooks, modern cartographic and navigational knowledge and weather patterns from the time in an attempt to understand how the ship sank.

Over the past century, four Dutch shipwrecks have been found off the coast of Washington state, perhaps the most famous of which is the Batavia and the horrors of its mutinous crew.

Discovered in 1927, about 60 km north of the coastal city of Kalbarri, Washington, and formally identified in 1958, Zuytdorp was traveling from the Dutch port of Vlissingen en route to Batavia, now present-day Jakarta, when it was lost at sea.

“Since the identification of the Zuytdorp wreck, there have been many theories about the cause of the shipwreck, including poor navigation or misadventure, but although it has been the subject of a number of archaeological investigations, the exact circumstances of the ship’s sinking remain unclear,” he added. says Dr Stelten from Flinders’ College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

As with other shipwrecks off the coast of Washington State, one of the leading theories for the cause of the shipwreck was longitude; that is, if the crew did not know exactly how far east they were, and therefore how far from the west coast of Australia, its coastline could suddenly appear without warning.

Analyzing contemporary cartographic and navigational knowledge, the authors assessed the maps available to the ship’s officers, the visibility of the coast and the signs indicating the proximity of land recorded in contemporary ship logs.

“Our analysis suggests that Zuytdorp’s officers had access to sufficient cartographic information to successfully navigate the Indian Ocean and the west coast of Australia,” says Professor van Duivenvoorde, a leading maritime archaeologist at Flinders’ College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

“The crew observed numerous warning signals indicating that the vessel was approaching the coast and took various steps to avoid a collision, so the theory that there was a sudden and unexpected rendezvous with the shore is an unlikely scenario.”

However, the authors were able to note evidence of a severe course weather patterns in the region in a given period.

“This is a key element in solving the mystery and shows that the more likely scenario is that the ship deliberately reached the Australian coast and was pushed ashore by a storm,” says Professor van Duivenvoorde.

The authors say the current research provides for the first time a detailed analysis of why one scenario is more likely than another.

“Researching historical recordsnavigation charts and weather conditions, we were able to create a more accurate picture of what probably happened to Zuytdorp all those years ago,” says Dr. Stelten.

“This study highlights the resilience and navigation skills of VOC officers. The sinking of the Zuytdorp was not due to lack of skill or information, but rather to the unpredictable nature of the sea.”

The authors say the findings could pinpoint the location of the ship’s lost anchors and could prove a useful method for discovering what happened to other shipwrecks around the world.