Open Access
Subscription Access
Searching for Haarlem (1647 CE):A Ship that Made History
In 1647 CE, the United Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship Haarlem wrecked in Table Bay. The events that followed had far-reaching consequences, and this incident can be regarded as the catalyst that laid the basis for the modern multi racial South Africa. Since 1989, a project is underway to search for Haarlem. The present article provides a brief overview of work undertaken to date. This has resulted in the location of a site that, based on currently available evidence, probably contains the wreck.
Keywords
Cape Town, Haarlem, Saltpans, Table Bay, United Dutch East India Company.
User
Font Size
Information
- Werz, B. E. J. S., In search of the Nieuw Haarlem. In The Dutch East India Company book (eds Guleij, R. and Knaap, G.), W Books/Nationaal Archief, Zwolle, 2017, pp. 61–63.
- Werz, B. E. J. S., Southern African shipwreck archaeology. In The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology (eds Catsambis, A., Ford, B. and Hamilton, D. L.), Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, 2011, pp. 473–494.
- Werz, B. E. J. S., The Haarlem Shipwreck (1647): The Origins of Cape Town, University of South Africa (Unisa) Press, Pretoria, 2017.
- Werz, B. E. J. S., The survivor camp of shipwrecked mariners from the Haerlem. A terrestrial survey. In Diving up the Human past. Perspectives of Maritime Archaeology, with Specific Reference to Developments in South Africa Until 1996 (ed. Werz, B. E. J. S.), British Archaeological Reports (BAR), International Series 749, Oxford, 1999, pp. 76–88.
- Werz, B. E. J. S., The Wreck of the Dutch East India Company Ship Haarlem (1647) in Table Bay and the Establishment of the ‘Tavern of the Seas’. Mariner’s Mirror, 2017, 103, 400–417.
- Werz, B. E. J. S., Steenkamp, W. H. B. and Prowse, M. R., Searching for a symbolic shipwreck in Table Bay: Haarlem (1647). South African J. Sci., 2017, 113(9/10), 1–4.
- Western Cape Archives (WCA), Cape Town, South Africa, Verbatim Copies (VC) 284 nr. 7. Copie missive door voorgeseijden coopman, met de gem[elde] schepen, aende Ed[ele] H[eer] Generael Cornelis vander Lijn, ende Raden van India in Battavia [...] in dato 2en septemb[er] [anno] 1647. (Copy missive from the previously mentioned merchant to the Honourable Gentleman General Cornelis van der Lijn and the Councillors of India in Batavia, dated the 2nd of September anno 1647 and forwarded with the afore-mentioned ships).
- WCA, VC 284 nr. 6. Copie. Rapport, bij den oppercoopman Jacob Hussaert, schipper Thomas Mendoncq, en ondercoopman Dickx gedaen op haeren visite vant verongelucte schip Haerlem. (Copy. Report by the senior merchant Jacob Hussaert, master Thomas Mendoncq and junior merchant Dickx compiled during their visit of the wrecked ship Haerlem).
- WCA, VC 284 nr. 2. Dachregister beginnende den 25 martij 1647 ende eijndigende den 14en septemb[er] daeraenvolgende. (Journal starting the 25 March 1647 and ending the 14 September following).
- Hondius, J., Klare besgryving van Cabo de Bona Esperanca, Amsterdam 1652. (Clear description of the Cape of Good Hope).
- Nationaal Archief (NA), The Hague, the Netherlands, Afdeling kaarten en tekeningen, Collectie Leupe nr. 178, Kaart van de Tafelbaai, het Robben Eiland, de Klip de Walvisch, benevens aanwijzing waar eenige schepen gebleven zijn, 1663. (Chart of Table Bay, Robben Island, Whale Rock as well as indications where some ships foundered).
- Atlas of Mutual Heritage, VEL 0803 and 0804; http://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl
- Van Riebeeck, J., Journal of Jan van Riebeeck I. 1651–1655 (ed. Thom, H. B.), A.A. Balkema, Cape Town/Amsterdam, 1952, pp. 40–41.
- Van Riebeeck, J., Journal of Jan van Riebeeck III. 1659–1662 (ed. Tom, H. B.), A.A. Balkema, Cape Town/Amsterdam, 1958, p. 7.
- Van Keulen, J., Kaart van de Tafelbaai vertoonende de reede van C. de Goede Hoop 1753 (Chart of Table Bay showing the roadstead of the Cape of Good Hope).
- Gawronsky, J., Kist, B. and Stokvis-van Boetzelaer, O., Hollandia Compendium. A contribution to the history, archaeology, classification and lexicography of a 150 ft. Dutch East Indiaman (1740– 1750). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992, pp. 92–94; 487–490.
- Green, J. N., The VOC Jacht Vergulde Draeck Wrecked in Western Australia 1656, part II, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1977, pp. 457; 466–467.
- L’Hour, M., Long, L. and Rieth, E., Le Mauritius la mémoire engloutie, Casterman, s.l., 1989, pp. 215–216.
- Stanbury, M., Batavia Catalogue, Western Australian Museum, Perth, s.a., 27. Idem, Catalogue of Dutch relics, Western Australian Museum, Fremantle, 1979, pp. 24–25; 27.
- Van Duivenvoorde, W., Dutch East India Company Shipbuilding. The Archaeological Study of Batavia and other Seventeenth Century VOC ships, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, 2015.
Abstract Views: 221
PDF Views: 63