...By our previous letters we informed Your Worships that on the first of January last we dispatched from here to the...Southland the galiots De Waeckende Boeij and Emeloort, for the purpose of making search for the crew of the lost ship de Vergulden Draecq, and of ascertaining whether they were still alive.  The said ships returned to this place on the 19th of April following, after exploring the coast about the place of the disaster each of them for herself, since they had got separated; having in different places sent manned boats ashore, and fired many cannon shots time after time both by day and night, without, however, discovering any Netherlanders or any traces of the wreck, excepting a few planks [etc.]...which must undoubtedly be looked upon as remnants of the said ship...We herewith hand you the journals of the galiots [*] aforesaid...together with the small charts of the coast drawn up on board each of them[**]...

[* See D and H infra]

[* See E, F and I infra.]

Written in Your Worships’ Castle of Batavia, December 14, 1658.

* * *

JOAN MAETSUYKER, CAREL HARTSINCK, A.D.  V. v.  OULDTSHOORN, N. VERBURCH, D.
STEUR, PIETER STERTHEMIUS.

{Page 77}

D.

Daily Journal kept by skipper SAMUEL VOLKERSENN on board the flute de Waeckende Boeij, sailing in the same from Battavia to the Southland.  A.D. 1658 [*].

[* On December 21, 1657 the G-G. and Counc. resolved to dispatch to the South-land the ships de Wakende Boei and Emeloord, for the purpose of making another attempt at rescuing what might still be rescued of the men, the cargo, etc. of the Vergulde Draak; “and also to get perfect knowledge, once for all, of the situation and trend of the said coast, with its shoals, reefs and shallows.”  The journals of the skippers of both vessels are preserved in the Hague State Archives.  After mature consideration I have deemed it needless to print the said journals here, seeing that MAJOR, Terra Australis, refers to them on pp. 77-90, and gives the substance of the information contained in them (LEUPE, Zuidland, pp. 105 ff. has printed certain parts of the two journals).  But above all, the charts made on this expedition, which are here carefully reproduced, give a more convenient survey of the results of it than could be done by the journals themselves, which for the rest contain little that is of interest for our present purpose.]

E.

Chart of Eendrachisland, 1658, on a small scale.

[Map No. 8.  Kaart van (Chart of) Eendrachtsland, 1658]

{Page 78}

F.

Chart of Eendrachisland, 1658, on a larger scale.

[Map No. 9.  Kaart van (Chart of) Eendrachtsland, 1658]

{Page 79}

G.

A brief account of the west-coast of the South-land.

The South-land has sandy dunes forming many points on the sea-side; the dunes all consist of loose sand overgrown with grass into which a man will sink up to his ankles, and leave deep footprints on withdrawing his feet.