The Shipwreck that Changed the History of South Africa
Following the discovery of the sea route to India by the Portuguese in the late 15th Century, the Dutch built up a powerful merchant navy during the 16th and early 17th Centuries. They established their own trading empire in the East Indies through the activities of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Companij (VOC), the Dutch East India Company. The headquarters were in Batavia (now Djakarta), on the island of Java (in present-day Indonesia), and a steady stream of merchant ships sailed back and forth between the Netherlands and Batavia by the mid-17th Century.
On 25 March 1647, the Nieuw Haerlem, one of a fleet of three Dutch East Indiamen which was en route from Batavia to the Netherlands, dropped anchor in Table Bay. Without warning, a strong south-easterly gale sprang up, and the Nieuw Haerlem, with 120 people aboard, was driven ashore and stranded opposite Rietvlei (approximately where the Dolphin Beach complex stands today).
The Nieuw Haerlem was laden with a valuable cargo of pepper, cinnamon, candy sugar, gold cloth, Chinese porcelain, and indigo. Most of the cargo was salvaged from the stranded vessel and as much as possible was loaded on to the remaining vessels of the fleet. The captain then instructed a junior officer, Leendert Janszen, to remain behind with approximately 60 crewmen to look after the remaining cargo.
The stranded crew built a temporary fort, which they named Zandenburgh, to protect them from the Khoekhoen. They survived by living on hunted cormorants and penguins, and by drinking fresh water obtained from a well, which they sank to a depth of 20 metres. They obtained salt from the nearby salt marshes. They also traded copper and tobacco for sheep and cattle with a Khoekhoe tribe known as the Goringhaiquas. The crew lived at the site for about a year before they were eventually rescued on 3 April 1648 by another home-bound fleet.
Upon their return to Holland, Janszen and a fellow officer, Nicolaas Proot, submitted a report to the directors of the Dutch East India Company, recommending that a refreshment station be established at the Cape, pointing out its strategic location, the fertility of the land, the abundance of fish, and, most importantly, the lack of animosity towards strangers from the indigenous people. Jan van Riebeeck, a disgraced VOC official who had been aboard a ship in the fleet that had repatriated Janszen and his crew, was asked to comment on this report. He supported Janszen and Proot in all respects.
The wreck of the Nieuw Haerlem therefore led directly to the First Dutch Occupation of the Cape, for on 6 April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay in command of a fleet of three ships with instructions to establish this refreshment station.
An entry in Van Riebeeck's journal for 20 May 1652 mentions that he paid a visit to the wreck, which was still buried in the sand, and that in the vicinity there were salt deposits in fair abundance.
The Dutch historian Hondius, writing in the same year, gives the following description of the fate of the ship and its crew: "On the eastern side of Table Bay is the Bight of Sardines (Bogt van Sardanje), where the Haerlem came to grief in 1647 about two and a half miles along the Bight, north of the Salt River." The Bight of Sardines clearly refers to the coastline from the Salt River mouth to Bloubergstrand, as is evident from the map accompanying Hondius' description. How many of you knew that the original name of Milnerton was the Bight of Sardines or that Jan van Riebeeck had passed through the area?
Despite the existence of Hondius' map and Van Riebeeck's corroborative evidence, the sites of the wreck of the Nieuw Haerlem and of Fort Zandenburgh have never been found, although a marine archaeologist named Dr Bruno Werz claims to be close to uncovering the wreck.
On 25 March 1647, the Nieuw Haerlem, one of a fleet of three Dutch East Indiamen which was en route from Batavia to the Netherlands, dropped anchor in Table Bay. Without warning, a strong south-easterly gale sprang up, and the Nieuw Haerlem, with 120 people aboard, was driven ashore and stranded opposite Rietvlei (approximately where the Dolphin Beach complex stands today).
The Nieuw Haerlem was laden with a valuable cargo of pepper, cinnamon, candy sugar, gold cloth, Chinese porcelain, and indigo. Most of the cargo was salvaged from the stranded vessel and as much as possible was loaded on to the remaining vessels of the fleet. The captain then instructed a junior officer, Leendert Janszen, to remain behind with approximately 60 crewmen to look after the remaining cargo.
The stranded crew built a temporary fort, which they named Zandenburgh, to protect them from the Khoekhoen. They survived by living on hunted cormorants and penguins, and by drinking fresh water obtained from a well, which they sank to a depth of 20 metres. They obtained salt from the nearby salt marshes. They also traded copper and tobacco for sheep and cattle with a Khoekhoe tribe known as the Goringhaiquas. The crew lived at the site for about a year before they were eventually rescued on 3 April 1648 by another home-bound fleet.
Upon their return to Holland, Janszen and a fellow officer, Nicolaas Proot, submitted a report to the directors of the Dutch East India Company, recommending that a refreshment station be established at the Cape, pointing out its strategic location, the fertility of the land, the abundance of fish, and, most importantly, the lack of animosity towards strangers from the indigenous people. Jan van Riebeeck, a disgraced VOC official who had been aboard a ship in the fleet that had repatriated Janszen and his crew, was asked to comment on this report. He supported Janszen and Proot in all respects.
The wreck of the Nieuw Haerlem therefore led directly to the First Dutch Occupation of the Cape, for on 6 April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay in command of a fleet of three ships with instructions to establish this refreshment station.
An entry in Van Riebeeck's journal for 20 May 1652 mentions that he paid a visit to the wreck, which was still buried in the sand, and that in the vicinity there were salt deposits in fair abundance.
The Dutch historian Hondius, writing in the same year, gives the following description of the fate of the ship and its crew: "On the eastern side of Table Bay is the Bight of Sardines (Bogt van Sardanje), where the Haerlem came to grief in 1647 about two and a half miles along the Bight, north of the Salt River." The Bight of Sardines clearly refers to the coastline from the Salt River mouth to Bloubergstrand, as is evident from the map accompanying Hondius' description. How many of you knew that the original name of Milnerton was the Bight of Sardines or that Jan van Riebeeck had passed through the area?
Despite the existence of Hondius' map and Van Riebeeck's corroborative evidence, the sites of the wreck of the Nieuw Haerlem and of Fort Zandenburgh have never been found, although a marine archaeologist named Dr Bruno Werz claims to be close to uncovering the wreck.
ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING..
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