Sebald de Weert
Encyclopedia
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...
captain and vice-admiral of 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...
(known in Dutch as Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC). He is most widely remembered for accurately plotting the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
in 1600.
Early life
De Weert was born in Antwerp, the sixth of 17 children of Johannes (Jan or Hans) Sweerts de Weert (b. 1538) and Clara (Claartje) Wonderer (1541–1595). The family soon (Jan 10, 1569) left Antwerp for CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, in Hans' own words to escape the "tyranny and persecution". In 1575/6 the family moved to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, between 1579 and 1584 they were back in Antwerp, and by 1586 they lived in Middelburg
Middelburg
Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...
.. Sebald was originally employed as a ship's navigator with the VOC (in Middelburg?), and over the years worked his way up to vice admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
in the Dutch East India Company. He signed his name "Sebalt", but had the official Latinized name "Sebaldus", and has often been referred to in English and French as Sebalde de Weert, and in Spanish and Portuguese as Sebaldo de Weert.
Beginning of the Straits of Magellan – Moluccas voyage
In and around the year 1598, several exploratory expeditions left RotterdamRotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
for eastern discovery traveling in many different routes. On June 27, 1598, a voyage of five ships with 494 men under the command of Jacques Mahu
Jacques Mahu
Jacob Mahu was a Dutch Explorer and leader of an expedition of five ships to IndiaThe first expedition, which was organised by Pieter van der Hagen and Johan van der Veeken, consisted of a fleet of five ships and about 500 men.The ships with their initial captains were:* The Hoop, captained by...
and financed by Pieter van den Hagen and Johan van der Veken, two wealthy Dutch retailers, and equipped by Magelhaanse Compagnie, left Goeree (Holland), bound for the Moluccas, in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. They headed Southwest toward the Straits of Magellan in South America, intending to navigate the straits then turn Northwestern toward Asia.
The ships with their (initial) captains were: Hoop (Hope), captain Jacques Mahu, leader of the expedition, Liefde (Love), captain Simón de Cordes, second-in-command, Geloof (Believe), captain Gerrit van Beuningen, Trouwe (Faith), captain Jurriaan van Boekhout, and finally Blijde Boodschap (Good Tiding or The Gospel), captain Sebald de Weert. The Blijde Boodschap was better known as Vliegend Hart (Flying heart) prior to this particular voyage.
After leaving European waters the ships spent April 2 to September 29 at the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. Many of the crew of the Hoop caught fever there, with some of the men dying, among them Admiral Jacques Mahu. He died on September 23, 1598, leaving the expedition without its leader. Simón de Cordes replaced Mahu's command with Gerrit van Beuningen becoming vice-admiral. As such Van Beuningen was moved to the flagship which led to Sebald de Weert moving to relieve van Beuningen of command of the Geloof. Due to an outbreak of scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
, the vessels made a short diversion from December 16, 1598, to January 2, 1599, to take on supplies in Annobón
Annobón
Annobón may refer to:* Annobón Province* Annobonese language* Annobon people...
an African trading island south of São Tomé Island
São Tomé Island
São Tomé Island, at , is the largest island of São Tomé and Príncipe and is home in 2009 to about 157,000 or 96% of the nation's population. This island and smaller nearby islets make up São Tomé Province, which is divided into six districts. The main island is located 2 km north of the...
. The flotilla finally crossed the Atlantic in January 1599 and reached the Straits of Magellan on April 7, 1599. Much to their dismay they found they were unable to sail for more than another four months due to strong adverse winds. The fleet wintered in the Fortesene Bay until August 23 and until August 28 in Ridres Bay. During this time around 120 more of the crew died due to the harsh weather and hostile Patagonian natives, even though the ships still had enough provisions at this time.
Tough times in dire straits
On September 3, 1599, the Pacific was finally reached. The ships ran into more trouble as they were caught in a torrential storm with three of the vessels getting lost from the Geloof and Trouwe, who never lost sight of one another during the storm and both wound up being swept back into the Straits of Magellan. When the Geloof finally lost sight of the Trouwe, Captain De Weert found himself with a restless crew threatening to force a return home to the Netherlands. The Trouwe eventually found shelter from the weather at the Chilean island Chonos, where several of the crew including the group's new commander, Simón de Cordes, were eventually killed by natives. Those who survived never returned to Europe.Both the Hoop and the Liefde also met hostile natives, who were most likely mistaken for Spaniards. The natives killed both ships' captains and a large number of crew members. After the ships found one another they decided to head in the direction of Japan rather than the Moluccas. The Hoop was later lost in a vicious storm but the Liefde, commanded by a new captain, Jacob Quaeckernaeck
Jacob Quaeckernaeck
Jacob Jansz. Quaeckernaeck was a Dutch seaman and Captain of the Liefde, the ship which transported William Adams to Japan in 1600....
, with a decimated crew, eventually managed to reach Usuki in the province of Bungo
Bungo Province
was a province of Japan in eastern Kyūshū in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Buzen Province. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces.-History:...
on Kyushu Island by April 19, 1600. The men were so physically weakened by the trip that only six of the remaining 24 survivors were able to even walk.
The Geloof turns back to the Netherlands
Unlike his colleagues on the Liefde, Sebald de Weert's ship never made it to Asia. He encountered the Dutch seafarer Olivier van NoortOlivier van Noort
Olivier van Noort was the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world.Olivier van Noort was born in 1558 in Utrecht. He left Rotterdam on 2 July 1598 with four ships and a plan to attack Spanish possessions in the Pacific and to trade with China and the Spice Islands...
, who on his ship Mauritius, would later become famous as the first Dutchman and only the fourth sea captain to circumnavigate the world. Van Noort would also be famous from the same journey as being the man who sank the Spanish galleon San Diego
San Diego (ship)
The galleon San Diego was built as the trading ship San Antonio before hastily being converted into a warship. On December 14, 1600, the fully laden San Diego was engaged by the Dutch warship Mauritius under the command of Admiral Olivier van Noort a short distance away from Fortune Island,...
in Manila Bay
Manila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...
.
Van Noort was still on the first leg of his historic voyage and was also to be on a northwestern track so Sebald de Weert attempted to join forces with the two Van Noort vessels. But de Weert's ship could not keep up due to his crew being physically too weak and van Noort's ships being too fast. Nevertheless, both Van Noort and De Weert were eventually blown back eastward into the straits again where the two captains met for a second time. Having left Rotterdam with four ships Van Noort now had just lost two ships to terrible Straits of Magellan storms yet Van Noort was determined to press on across the Pacific. De Weert on the other hand hoped to strengthen his crew's physical condition prior to making another attempt at the Pacific. As such De Weert planned to sail his ship to the eastern part of the straits to hunt penguins in the "Penguin Islands". His plans did not come to fruition as strong winds blew the ship back east again. De Weert then decided to take his men back home to the Netherlands.
On his way back, he sighted and tried to make landfall on the Falkland Islands (see below) in January 1600. The ship past the equator in March 1600 and visited the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
on June 6. Upon finally reaching the Netherlands (Goeree) on July 13, 1600, only 36 of the Geloofs original 105 crew members were still alive.
De Weert's original command, the Blijde Boodschap, had been so short on supplies that, in November 1599, they were forced to sail into the Spanish port of Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
in Chili. The Spanish being in the 80-year war with the Dutch, the ship was immediately confiscated and the crew imprisoned for a long period of time. In fact, the captain, Dirck Gerritz Pomp
Dirck Gerritz Pomp
Dirck Gerritszoon Pomp, alias Dirck China was a Dutch sailor of the 16th-17th century, and the first known Dutchman to visit Japan....
, who had once worked for the Portuguese in Japan and China voyages, was held as long as 1604 when he had finally been released to return home due to a Dutch-Spanish prison exchange.
Ceylon voyage
It is known that Sebald de Weert made at least one other important sea voyage, which would be his last. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company (VOC), sent three ships under now Vice Admiral Sebald de Weert and Admiral Wijbrand van Warwijck with de Weert heading for JavaJava
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Ceylon and 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...
. Warwyck was to split off once in Asia and visit China's coasts and establish trading posts, or “factories” as they were called in the day. Political intrigue would play a large role in De Weert's trip.
In competition with the Portuguese for influence in Ceylon, now modern day Sri Lanka, a Dutch envoy, Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen was a Dutch naval officer of the 17th century.His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa....
, arrived at Batticaloa
Batticaloa
Batticaloa is a city in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. It is the seat of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka. It is on the east coast, south by south east of Trincomalee, and is situated on an island.-Etymology:...
in July 1602 and met with Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
based king Vimala Dharma Surya. Vimala Dharma Surya's kingdom had lost much of its geographical sphere of influence to the Portuguese. By the time of van Spilbergen's visit Vimala Dharma Surya was relegated to virtually a rebel leader based in the interior of Ceylon. Yet the situation had be ripe for the Dutch as Vimala Dharma Surya had come to terms with the fact that although the Portuguese were not quite a match for him inland, they had gained the upper hand along the coasts of Ceylon because they were militarily and commercially a great sea power. To compete, the king's forces either must also become such a power or they should effect an alliance which would act as a counter balance. Since the Portuguese then controlled most of the Ceylonese coastal areas and the Ceylonese as well had no background as sea farers, inland Kandy's naval development was highly doubtful. Vimala Dharma Surya considered a potential alliance with the Dutch to be an opportunity to stymie the Portuguese on the seas and in the coastal areas. To exploit the situation, van Spilbergen entered into negotiations with Vimala Dharma Surya promising commercial, naval and military assistance against their common adversary.
Sebald de Weert was sent to Ceylon officially by Admiral Wijbrand van Warwijck to follow through on implementing van Spilbergen's negotiation outcomes. De Weert had official Dutch backing with an offer to help Vimala Dharma Surya's Kandy based forces. It had been decided that the Kandy troops and Dutch forces would launch a joint offensive on the Portuguese. The mission went awry months later at a banquet dinner in May/June 1603 at Batticaloa
Batticaloa
Batticaloa is a city in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. It is the seat of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka. It is on the east coast, south by south east of Trincomalee, and is situated on an island.-Etymology:...
. At the banquet many of the Dutch crew had apparently been rowdy and were misbehaving disrespectfully toward the hosts which was upsetting to the Kandyans. The king, Vimala Dharma Surya, was pressured by a quite drunken Vice Admiral De Weert to board the Dutch ship with him. Mistrusting the foreign party's intent as for such pressure could mean a hostile manoeuver and could be seen as a potentially direct threat to his life and rule, Vimala Dharma Surya became suspicious of De Weert's intentions and refused to go aboard. Vice Admiral de Weert, being drunk and unruly, insulted the king for his refusal. Vimala Dharma Surya then attempted to imprison de Weert and the Dutchman resisted vigorously. Vice Admiral de Weert was immediately killed as well as all of the unruly Dutch crew.
De Weert's death dealt a blow to any Kandy-Dutch alliance in Ceylon until the next king, Senarat, succeeded to the Kandyan throne in 1604. Once in power Senarat began again to solicit Dutch support. In 1612 a new Dutch envoy, Marcelis Boschouwer, concluded a treaty of alliance with King Senarat. The king granted the Dutch extensive commercial concessions and a harbor for settlement on the east coast in return for a promise of armed assistance against any and all Portuguese attacks. Later the Dutch ousted the Portuguese from Ceylon and ruled until the next century when the British in turn ousted the Dutch and eventually took the whole island, including its holdout interior Kingdom of Kandy.
Sebald de Weert's “unusual” natives"
During De Weert's time in the Magellan Straits there were some anthropologically noteworthy events that are associated with him. One instance of which is that De Weert and several crew claimed to have seen members of a “race of giants” while there. De Weert described a particular incident when he was with his men in boats rowing to an island in the Magellan Strait. The Dutch claimed to have seen seven odd-looking boats approaching with were full of naked giants. These giants supposedly had long hair and reddish-brown skin. The Dutch claim to have shot three of the giants dead with their muskets before the giants finally retreated to the shore. On the shore the giants were apparently able to uproot trees from the ground to protect themselves from the musket fire and they waited with spears and stones so they could attack the Dutch intruders should they make a beach head. In fear of the giants, the Dutch dared not land.De Weert's claims to sightings of giants were not totally unusual for this region as Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
also first recorded sighting in 1520 in the straits at San Julian. It was also claimed that Magellan captured two male giants as specimens to return to Europe, but the giants died en route. These creatures were supposedly over three meters tall. Many others including Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
, Pedro Sarmiento
Pedro Sarmiento
Pedro Enrique Sarmiento is a former Colombian football player and manager. He played for Atlético Nacional and América de Cali during his professional career. After winning several national club titles he became a trainer...
, Tome Hernandez, and Anthony Knyvet claimed to have seen giants in the Straits of Magellan with the last sighting have been at Cabo Virgines in 1764 by Commodore John “Foul Weather Jack” Byron
John Byron
Vice Admiral The Hon. John Byron, RN was a Royal Navy officer. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with weather.-Early career:...
. De Weert's expedition is the only one to have claimed to have witnessed aggressive behavior on behalf of the giants.
Also according to Theodore de Bry (1528–98) in Part IX of his landmark Historia Americae Sive Novi Orbis (History of American Grand Voyages), Sebald de Weert reported how his crew had captured and imprisoned a Tierra del Fuegan
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
mother with two children on the south side of the Magellan route heading eastward. While they released the mother and the younger child, they carried the older daughter forward to Europe, where she soon died. De Weert noted that the mother had fed the children on raw birds, which was an oddity well noted in de Bry's work.
Sebald de Weert's heritage: "Sebald Islands"
It was on his homeward leg back to the Netherlands after having left the Straits of Magellan that De Weert noticed some unnamed and uncharted islands, at least islands that did not exist on his nautical charts. There he attempted to stop and replenish but was unable to land due to harsh conditions. The islandsJason Islands
The Jason Islands are an archipelago in the Falkland Islands, lying to the far north-west of West Falkland. Three of the islands, Steeple Jason, Grand Jason and Clarke's Islet are private nature reserves owned by the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York...
Sebald de Weert charted were a small group off the northwest coast of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and are in fact part of the Falklands. De Weert then named these islands the “Sebald de Weert Islands” and the Falklands as a whole were known as the Sebald Islands until well into the 18th century. In 1766, the British settlers of Saunders Island renamed the small group of the NW that De Weert had plotted Jason Islands
Jason Islands
The Jason Islands are an archipelago in the Falkland Islands, lying to the far north-west of West Falkland. Three of the islands, Steeple Jason, Grand Jason and Clarke's Islet are private nature reserves owned by the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York...
and Carcass Island
Carcass Island
Carcass Island is the largest of the West Point Island Group of the Falkland Islands. It lies north west of West Falkland and south east of the Jason Islands...
after the vessels Jason and Carcass on which they had arrived. In Spanish these are still known as the "Islas Sebaldes" or "Sebaldinas" for short.
Although Sebald de Weert is usually credited with first sighting the Falklands in 1598, both the Spanish and British claim their own explorers discovered the islands earlier. See History of the Falkland Islands
History of the Falkland Islands
The history of the Falkland Islands goes back at least five hundred years, with active exploration and colonisation only taking place in the 18th century...
for further reading.