Eendracht (1615 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | Eendracht |
| Owner: | Dutch East India Company |
| Builder: | Amsterdam Dockyard |
| Launched: | 1615 |
| Maiden voyage: | 23 January 1616 |
| Homeport: | Texel |
| Fate: | Wrecked and lost, 1622 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | East Indiaman |
| Tons burthen: | 700 tonnes |
| Complement: | ~200 |
| Armament: | 32 guns |
| Service record | |
| Commanders: | Dirk Hartog |
The Eendracht (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːndrɑxt]; Concord) was an early 17th Century Dutch wooden-hulled 700 tonne East Indiaman, launched in 1615 in the service of the Dutch East India Company(VOC). It was captained by Dirk Hartog when he made the second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, in 1616.
Its name in Dutch literally means 'carrying (as) one' meaning together or in concord, but is also translated as "unity" or "union", and was a common name given to Dutch ships of the period, from the motto of the Republic: Concordia res parvae crescunt.
Upon its commissioning, the Eendracht entered the service of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC).
For her maiden voyage on the open ocean, the Eendracht set sail on 23 January 1616 from the Dutch port of Texel in the company of several other VOC ships, on a trading venture bound for Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (the present-day Jakarta). Her captain was Dirk Hartog, a thirty-five-year-old former private merchant, who had sailed for the VOC before but was now again in the employ of the VOC.
Sailing down the west Africa coastline, the Eendracht (unity or concord) became separated from the others in a horrible storm (ref?), and reached the Cape of Good Hope alone around August, but most books say 5 August 1616. She stayed there several weeks, until 27 August when Hartog decided to set out unaccompanied across the Indian Ocean towards their destination.
Hartog's course across the Indian Ocean was a much more southerly one than the route usually followed by such voyages in that time. It made use of the prevailing westerly winds at those latitudes known as the "Roaring Forties", a route which had been pioneered a few years earlier by the Dutch navigator Hendrik Brouwer, who had noted it to be a faster way to reach Java. By this time, the VOC had not as yet instructed all its captains to take advantage of this route, which could reduce the overall traveling time from Europe by a good six months. The decision to do so was taken just a few months after Hartg departed Amsterdam. So Hartog took that decision himself. However, later the intention was to change heading northwards at a more westerly longitude than the Eendracht had done. Whether Hartog had intended to maintain such a southerly course for so long via this route, or was perhaps blown a little off course, is not clear, even to this day.
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