Concordia (1696 ship)

The Concordia was a Dutch sailing ship of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, commonly abbreviated to VOC) that left Batavia on 15 January 1708 with two other vessels, Zuiderburg and Mercurius.[2] Concordia had 130 people on board and was bound for the Cape of Good Hope and then the Netherlands. She was last sighted by Mercurius in open seas to the south of the Sunda Strait on 5 February 1708, in bad weather.

Concordia
History
Netherlands
NameConcordia
OwnerDutch East India Company, Delft
BuilderDutch East India Company, Delfshaven
Launched1696
FateLost at sea, 1708
General characteristics
Tons burthen900 tons
Length145 ft (44 m)
Complement200–225 people [1]

History

Built in 1696, Concordia was a large ship for her day, being approximately 900 tons. On 15 January 1708, under the command of Joris Vis, the Concordia set out from Batavia on a return trip to the Netherlands with two other VOC ships; Zuiderberg and Mercurius.[3] Of the 130 passengers and crew on board, there were several women returning home and some Balinese being deported from the Dutch East Indies to the Cape of Good Hope, due to bad conduct.[4]

Only the Mercurius reached the Cape of Good Hope. The Captain of Mercurius reported that Concordia and Zuiderburg had last been sighted together in open seas to the south of Sunda Strait on 5 February 1708, in bad weather. On 22 February, the crew of Mercurius found floating debris. They saw several goods in the water, some firewood, a chest of tea, a Chintz piece of cotton, a carpenters boor, white candles, and the staves for barrels.[4] The Concordia was officially listed as being lost somewhere near Mauritius in 1708.[5][6][7]

One known passenger aboard the Concordia was Mr Constantijn van Baerle, a VOC official.[4][8]

Leeds Mercury hoax

In 1832, a covert English expedition to inland Australia commanded by a Lieutenant Nixon reportedly discovered a group of white Dutch people (300 people) living in a desert oasis believed to be Palm Valley in the Northern Territory.[9] The existence was first reported in February 1834 in the English newspaper Leeds Mercury.[10][11] There were other articles in a Dutch scientific journal, and the Perth Gazette of 1837.[4][5]

The newspaper story claimed that Nixon had spoken to the settlers in a broken form of old Dutch,[12] and the leader or chief of the group was a descendant of an officer whose name was "van Baerle". The party remained with the group for eight days.

Nixon stated:

... their fathers were compelled by famine, after the loss of their great vessel, to travel towards the rising sun, carrying with them as much of the stores as they could, during which many died; and by the wise advice of their ten sisters they crossed a ridge of land, and meeting with a rivulet on the other side, followed its course and were led to the spot they now inhabit, where they have continued ever since.[4][10]

Despite extensive research, no trace or direct evidence of the settlers has ever been found. Historians now believe the original 1834 Leeds Mercury story was a hoax.[5][13]

See also

References
  1. "De VOC-site – Scheepsgegevens Concordia – 1696". 2002–2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  2. "The Dutch East India Company's shipping between the Netherlands and Asia 1595-1795". huygens.knaw.nl. Huygens ING. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  3. Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis (2008). Details of voyage 6183.3 from Batavia. Retrieved on 10 June 2008.
  4. Ammerlaan, Tom (2004). "Early Dutch emigrants to Australia: Chapter 8". Tom Ammerlaan's Homepage. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  5. "Dutch Shipwrecks on the Western Australian Coastline". Life on Perth. 2008. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  6. Bruijn, Jacobus Ruurd; Gaastra, Femme Simon; Schöffer, Ivo, eds. (1987) [First published 1979]. "With assistance of E.S. van Eyck van Heslinga". Dutch-Asiatic shipping in the 17th and 18th centuries: Homeward-bound voyages from Asia and the Cape to the Netherlands (1597-1795). Rijks geschiedkundige publicatiën, Grote serie, 165–167. Vol. 3. The Hague: Nijhoff. ISBN 90-247-2282-9. OCLC 6166608.
  7. "6183.3 Concordia". VOC Shipwrecks. 2008. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  8. Constantijn van Baerle (2008). Constantijn van Baerle Archived 21 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 10 June 2008.
  9. Hiddins, Les (6 July 1996). "The Dutch Settlement". Bush Tucker Man. Season 3. Episode 5. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  10. "What happened to the white settlers at Palm Valley?". VOC Historical Society. 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  11. "Leeds Mercury Article". Western Australia Now and Then. 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  12. Thomas, Hedley (16 July 2016). "Bush Tucker Man Les Hiddins' great Dutch adventure". The Australian. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  13. "The White Tribe Story" (PDF). VOC Historical Society. September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
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