Duyfken - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Duyfken (also Duifken or Duijfken) ("little dove" in English, "duifje" in modern Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

) was a small Dutch ship built in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. She was a fast, lightly armed ship probably intended for shallow water, small valuable cargoes, bringing messages, sending provisions, or privateering. The tonnage of Duyfken has been given as 25-30 lasten (50-60 tons).

In 1606, during a voyage of discovery from Bantam (Banten), Java, captained by Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon , Dutch navigator and colonial governor, is probably the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia. His name is sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz....

, she encountered the Australian mainland and Janszoon is thus credited with the first authenticated European discovery of Australia.

Voyages

In 1596, a ship named Duyfken sailed in the first expedition to Bantam

Bantam (city)

Bantam in Banten province near the western end of Java was a strategically important site and formerly a major trading city, with a secure harbor on the Sunda Strait through which all ocean-going traffic passed, at the mouth of Banten River that provided a navigable passage for light craft into...

, the crew was captured by the islanders on Pulau Enggano. On 23 April 1601, Duyfken sailed from Texel

Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...

as the jacht, or scout, under skipper Willem Cornelisz Schouten to the Spice Islands

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...

. After reaching Bantam, the "Moluccan Fleet", consisting of five ships including the Duyfken under admiral Wolphert Harmensz, encountered a blockading fleet of Portuguese ships totalling eight galleons and twenty-two galleys. They engaged this fleet in intermittent battle, driving them away on New Year's Day 1602. Thus, the undisputed dominance of the Iberians

Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...

(Portuguese and Spanish) in the spice trade

Spice trade

Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...

to Europe was ended.

The fleet received a warm welcome in Bantam, repairs were carried out to damage caused in the battle, and a survey of Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

Bay was undertaken, where the Dutch would later build Batavia, their capital in the Indies. Then, sailing by way of Tuban

Tuban

Tuban is a town located on the north coast of Java, in Tuban Regency, approximately 100 km west of Surabaya, the capital of East Java. Tuban is surrounded by Lamongan in the east, Bojonegoro in the south and Rembang, Central Java in the west....

, East Java to the Spice Island of Ternate, cloves were loaded on board and the ship returned to Banda

Banda Islands

The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise...

for a cargo of nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

.

The Duyfken was then sent on a voyage of exploration to the east when the newly formed United Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

(VOC) was granted a monopoly on trade to the Spice Islands by the Dutch government. On the voyage home from the Indies the Duyfken was separated from the larger ships in a storm off Cape Agulhas

Cape Agulhas

Cape Agulhas is a rocky headland in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the official dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, southern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

and reached Flushing

Flushing, Netherlands

Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...

in April 1603, two months ahead of the larger ships.

On 18 December 1603, the Duyfken, with Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon , Dutch navigator and colonial governor, is probably the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia. His name is sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz....

as skipper, set out on a second voyage to the Indies in the VOC fleet of Steven van der Haghen. The VOC fleet captured a Portuguese ship in 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...

and sailed to the Spice Islands via Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, Calicut

History of Kozhikode

Kozhikode , also known as Calicut, is a city in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is the third largest city in Kerala and the headquarters of Kozhikode district....

, Pegu and finally reaching Bantam, Java on New Year's Eve 1604.

In 1605, the Duyfken was in the fleet that recaptured the fort of Van Verre at Ambon

Ambon Island

Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of , and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...

in the Spice Islands, from the Portuguese. She was then sent to Bantam, Java for urgently needed provisions.

In 1605, the Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

(VOC) sent the Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon , Dutch navigator and colonial governor, is probably the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia. His name is sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz....

, to search for trade opportunities in the "south and east lands" beyond the furthest reaches of their known world. Willem Janszoon took the ship southeast from Banda

Banda Islands

to the Kei Islands, then along the south coast of New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, skirting south of the shallow waters around False Cape (Irian Jaya) and then continuing east-southeast.
In early 1606, Janszoon

Janszoon voyage of 1606

Willem Janszoon made the first recorded European landing on the Australian continent in 1606, sailing from Bantam, Java in the Duyfken. As an employee of the Dutch East India Company, Janszoon had been instructed to explore the coast of New Guinea in search of economic opportunities...

encountered and then charted the shores of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...

. The ship made landfall at the Pennefather River

Pennefather River

The Pennefather River in Queensland, Australia, is located on western Cape York Peninsula at . The river is about 11 km long and up to about 2km wide.- External links :**...

in the Gulf of Carpentaria

Gulf of Carpentaria

The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea...

. This was the first authenticated landing on Australian soil and for the first time all the inhabited continents of the world were known to the European science of geography. Janszoon is thus credited with the first authenticated European discovery of Australia. The ship sailed back to Bantam.

In 1607, the Duyfken may have made a second voyage east to Australia. Later in the year, she was sent to Java to get supplies for the beleaguered Dutch fortress on Ternate. In February or March 1608 the Duyfken was involved in hunting Chinese junks

Junk (ship)

A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...

north of Ternate

Ternate

Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....

.

In May 1608, the ship was engaged in a five hour battle with three Spanish galleys. In June, she was sent with larger ships to capture the fortress of Taffaso on Makian Island. A month later, she was brought inside the reef at Ternate for repairs. It seems that she was hauled on her side to repair the bottom but this caused further damage, and the ship was condemned as beyond repair.

Duyfken Replica

A full size reproduction of the Duyfken was built by the "Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation" jointly with the Maritime Museum of Western Australia

Western Australian Museum

The Western Australian Museum is the state museum for Western Australia.The Western Australian Museum has seven main sites: two in Perth within the Perth Cultural Centre, two in Fremantle , and one each in Albany, Geraldton, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder...

and launched on 24 January 1999 in Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

. She then undertook goodwill tours to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, 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...

, and finally Texel

Texel

in Netherlands

Netherlands

. While in the Netherlands, the floor of the hold was replaced by antique Dutch bricks.

For a period in 2005, the Duyfken was berthed alongside the Old Swan Brewery on the Swan River

Swan River (Western Australia)

The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....

in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. The replica was open for visits by the public.

In 2006, Western Australia

Western Australia

played a big role in the 400th anniversary of the original Duyfkens visit to Australia and a national group has begun planning to commemorate the arrival of the Duyfken and to mark this important milestone in Australia's history by also giving recognition to all who followed her and contributed to the mapping of the Australian coast.

The Duyfken was berthed at the Queensland Maritime Museum

Queensland Maritime Museum

The Queensland Maritime Museum is located on the southern bank of the Brisbane River just south of the South Bank Parklands and Queensland Cultural Centre precinct of Brisbane, and close to the Goodwill Bridge....

in Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland

Queensland

until early 2011, when she was placed on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum

Australian National Maritime Museum

The Australian National Maritime Museum is a federally-operated maritime museum located in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After consideration of the idea to establish a maritime museum, the Federal government announced that a national maritime museum would be constructed at Darling Harbour, tied into...

in Sydney.

Voyages

Duyfken Replica

External links

Further reading