The Zuytdorp Story

Work at the Dutch East Indiaman, VOC ship Zuytdorp site is now nearing to a close after almost half a century of investigations. Many diverse people have been involved. In order to understand their combined effect what follows appears in two parts (i) a precis of events that have occurred at the site up to 1986 when the author assumed responsibility for the project and (ii) a resume of events since.

A perusal of these events and developments will provide the reader with an insight into the interdisciplinary nature of investigations into the Zuytdorp and the wealth of people involved in this combined maritime and terrestrial archaeological project. It will also place subsequent reports on this fascinating project into their proper context.

The Story

The spices and trade goods of the East Indies (the area occupied largely by present day Indonesia) were a magnet for European and American merchants and seafarers long before Australia was discovered by the British. The usual route to the Indies was NE from the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1611 however, it was realized that by staying in the belt of westerly winds and the southern Indian Ocean and by then heading north, a much faster voyage ensued and there were less deaths on board.

The problem lay in deciding when to alter course and head north for the chronometer was not yet invented or easily available and as a result, many East Indies bound vessels found themselves in difficulties along the shores of Western Australia.

One of these, the Zuytdorp, a Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship, was lost without trace in the winter of 1712 whilst on a voyage from Holland to Batavia (now Djakarta). The wreck is now known to lie on the cliffs just south of Shark Bay.

Of the seven East India ships known to be lost off the coast of Western Australia, the English East India Company's, Trial (1622), the Dutch East India Company's Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draeck (1656), Zuytdorp (1712) and Zeewijk (1727), the American china trader Rapid (1811) and the Portuguese despatch vessel Correo de Azia 1813, the Zuytdorp is the only wreck from which survivors did not reach the nearest European settlement at Batavia to tell the tale. This makes the wreck of the Zuytdorp unique and renders the remains on the seabed and on the shore nearby, even more significant, as they hold the only know clues to the circumstances of the wreck and to the fate of the ship's passengers and crew.

In 1927, a wreck later identified as the Zuytdorp was found by a combined Aboriginal/European family group who were fencing and trapping dingoes on a remote cliff top on the border of Tamala and Murchison House stations north of Geraldton ,Western Australia. Their leader was the well known and almost legendary stockman, the late Tom Pepper. He and his family found evidence of large camp fires, broken bottles, coins, cooking pots, masts, rolls of lead, breech blocks (the firing mechanism for small bronze swivel guns) and other material on the cliff top and on the reef platform below. The remains were of such a variety that there appears little doubt that one or two camps had been made by survivors of a then unknown wreck. The only real clues were the dates on the coins, the latest being 1711, but this meant little to the small band and the find was kept a close secret.Tom Pepper finally made the discovery known to the authorities over a decade later.

The only known record of the visits (including one of 1939) that were conducted before the involvement of the W.A. Museum in 1971, appear on film, in various newspaper accounts and in a monograph, by Dr. Phillip Playford entitled The Wreck of the Zuytdorp.

In the expedition, to the then unknown site in 1941, the members were ill-equipped both academically and logistically and as a result spent a very short time at the site before being forced out due to the harsh and remote conditions. On the positive side colour and black and white film of these activities was produced and located recently by DrPlayford.