Mauritius (1618 ship)
![VOC ship Mauritius ca 1618 [?] - Painting from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mauritius_-_Detail_uit_Het_uitzeilen_van_een_aantal_Oost-Indi%C3%ABvaarders_van_Hendrick_Cornelisz_Vroom_(1600).jpg)
VOC ship Mauritius ca 1618 [?] Painting from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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| History | |
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 Netherlands
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| Name: | Mauritius |
| Namesake: | The island of Mauritius |
| Owner: | Dutch East India Company |
| Route: | Holland to Bantam, Indonesia |
| In service: | 1618-1622 (Documented) |
| General characteristics VOC Ship Mauritius | |
| Type: | Wooden-hulled sailing ship |
| Service record | |
| Commanders: | Willem Janszoon and Lenaert Jacobszoon |
The Mauritius was an early 17th Century Dutch wooden-hulled sailing ship, documented as being in service to the Dutch East India Company between 1618 and 1622.
On the 1618 voyage, the ship was commanded by Supercargo Willem Janszoon and captained by Lenaert Jacobszoon, when they sighted North West Cape in Western Australia on 31 July 1618. On that occasion they had believed that the mainland peninsular west of the Exmouth Gulf, was an island. They went ashore there and it is written that they discovered human footprints, as follows.
Letter Of supercargo WILLEM JANSZ(OON) to the Managers of the Amsterdam Chamber, October 6, 1618. A. Worshipful Wise Provident Discreet Gentlemen,
(Sailed 1000 miles to eastward in in 38 degrees with notable success.)
The present serves only to inform you that on the 8th of June last with the ship Mauritius we passed Cape de bon esperence, with strong westerly winds, so that we deemed it inadvisable to call at any land, after which we ran a thousand miles to eastward in 38 degrees Southern Latitude, though we should have wished to go still further east.
On the 31st of July we discovered an island and landed on the same, where we found the marks of human footsteps--on the west-side it extends N.N.E. and S.S.W.; it measures 15 miles in length, and its northern extremity is in 22° S. Lat. It bears Eendracht S.S.E. and N.N.W. from the south-point of Sunda at 240 miles' distance; from there (Eendrachtsland) through God's grace we safely arrived before Bantam on the 22nd of August...
Done on board the ship 't Wapen van Amsterdam, October 6, 1618.
The Mauritius is mentioned on the Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht ("Chart of the Land of Eendracht"), which is a 1627 chart by Hessel Gerritsz and is one of the earliest charts that shows Australia.
On the 1618 voyage, the crew visited and partly mapped a river which was named Willems River. Willems River was most likely named after the Commander of the ship Mauritius, Supercargo, Willem Janszoon.
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Wikipedia