Draft:Cape storm (1737)

In May 1737 there was a storm in South Africa. When the storm went over the Table Bay on 21 May, nine boats of the Dutch East India Company sank with 207 deaths.

Background

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The Table Bay was at the time a Dutch Cape Colony of the Dutch East India Company. Cape of Good Hope was a regular stop for all ships sailing from the Dutch Republic to Asia or ships returning from Asia to the Dutch Republic.

Shipwrecks

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Most of the sources about the storm states that eight ships were lost due to the storm. The ships Iepenrode, Goudriaan, Flora, De Buis and Duinbeek were destroyed. The ships Westerwijk, Rodenrijs and Victoria stranded. The Papenburg, was the only ship of the fleet that was 'miraculously' preserved.[1] At least one more ship sank being the Victoria[2]

Ship name Type ship Owner Commander Crew Survived Killed
De Buys fluyt Chamber of Enkhuizen [nl] Hendrik Orsel 77 30 47
Duynbeek Chamber of Zeeland [nl] Jan van Thiel 98 87 11
Flora fluyt-variant
(“hekboot”)
Chamber of Amsterdam [nl] Gerrit Pick 111 52 59
Goudriaan [nl] fluyt Chamber of Delft [nl] Jurriaan Zeeman 81 71 10
Paddenburg Chamber of Amsterdam [nl] Van Veerde 105 93 12
Rodenrys fluyt Chamber of Rotterdam [nl] J. van Haerste 82 75 7
Victoria[2] Chamber of Hoorn [nl] Jacob Groot (?) c. 30 ? ?
Westerwyk Chamber of Amsterdam [nl] W. Bos 103 101 2
Ypenroode Chamber of Amsterdam [nl] Elsbergen 83 24 59
Total 776 533 207

[1]

De Buys

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De Buys also written as Buis, Buys, Buisje and Buysje was a 130 foot long fluyt. It was built in 1727 in Enkhuizen for the Chamber of Enkhuizen [nl]. The ship had a loading capacity of 300 last (600 tons) and had 120-175 crew members.

She departed on 22 June 1728 for her first voyage to Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Dutch East Indies from Texel under command of Dirk Dol.

Aftermath

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The Dutch East India Company started an investigation after the disaster, wether the Saldanha Bay located 100km to the north from the Table Bay would be a better bay for their VOC ships. This ultimately didn't happen.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Nederlanden". 's Gravenhaegse Courant (in Dutch). 30 September 1737. p. 1-2 – via Delpher.
  2. ^ a b "Victoria (1724)". vocsite.nl.
  3. ^ "Iepenrode (+1737)". Cultureel Erfgoed (in Dutch).