Bredenhof, VOC Bredenhof, was a Dutch East Indiaman transport ship that foundered on a reef 120 miles south of Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

 and only 13 miles off the African coast, near the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

, on 6 June, 1753. The loss of the Bredenhof on her third voyage to the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

 was meticulously recorded in the Dutch archives.

History

With a crew composed of about 250 men, the Bredenhof left Holland on the morning of 31 December 1752, heading for Ceylon in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

. But due to the weather conditions and the problems on the journey, by the time they arrived at the Cape 6 men were dead and 9 very sick. Two weeks after setting sail from the Cape to Ceylon they ran into treacherous waters and the Bredenhof was wrecked on a reef. Capt. Jan Nielsen's orders were to throw all the silver bars overboard so that it could not be plundered by any member of the crew, although part of the gold was taken ashore.

Cargo

Built in Amsterdam in 1746, the Bredenhof measured 41.45 m (136 ft) and had a storage capacity of 850 tons. The cargo consisted of 14 barrels containing a large amount of copper coins, 29 chests of silver ingots and 1 chest with 5.000 golden ducates including silver bars that were to be set aside and minted into silver rupees in Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

.

About 200 men formed three separate groups and tried to reach the land in rafts, but only half of them made it. Some got back to Holland in the following year by way of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, but the captain of the ship died on 6 January 1754.

Recovery

Despite the attempt to recover the silver bars and copper coins in the 1750s, modern divers found the shipwreck off the Silva Shoal in the Mozambique Channel

Mozambique Channel

The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...

 in 1986 and a salvaging company was called in by the South African Government to recover all the gold and silver ingots from the sea bed and transport them to Mozambique, operation which was started on 17 October 2003. Some of the relevant items salvaged are 15 iron cannons, 5 anchors, lead rolls and ingots, and some iron bars. A third part of the treasure was sent to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 after a long judicial battle which took more than four years and the part which corresponded to the salvaging company was sold at an auction at Christie’s Amsterdam in that same year.

Voyages

Voyages undertaken by the Bredenhof:

• First Voyage:
  • Kamer van Hoorn -
    • Departure: Texel.
    • Date: 6 May 1748.
    • Capt. Frederik Jansz. van Winsum
    • Destination: Cape Good Hope from 30 September 1748 until 20 October 1748.
    • Arrival: Batavia.
    • Date: 24 February 1749.
  • Kamer van Enkhuizen -
    • Departure: Batavia.
    • Date: 23 April 1749.
    • Capt. Frederik Jansz. van Winsum
    • Arrival: Texel.
    • Date: 01 April 1750.

• Second Voyage:
  • Kamer van Enkhuizen -
    • Departure: Texel.
    • Date: 06 October 1750.
    • Capt. Simon Rood
    • Destination: Cape Good Hope from 31 January 1751 until 16 February 1751.
    • Arrival: Batavia.
    • Date: 26 June 1751.
  • Kamer van Zeeland -
    • Departure: Batavia.
    • Date: 11 October 1751.
    • Capt. Jacob van Wies
    • Destination: Cape Good Hope from 15 January 1752 until 22 April 1752.
    • Arrival: Rammekens.
    • Date: 23 July 1752.

• Third Voyage:
  • Kamer van Zeeland -
    • Departure: Rammekens.
    • Date: 31 December 1752.
    • Capt. Jan Nielson
    • Destination: Cape Good Hope from 11 April 1753 until 26 April, 1753.
    • Arrival: Sank
    • Date: 06 June 1753.