Tryall
| History | |
|---|---|
 Kingdom of England
|
|
| Name: | Tryall |
| Owner: | East India Company |
| Launched: | 1621 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 25 May 1622 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 500, (bm) |
| Complement: | 143 |
Tryall was a British East India Company-owned East Indiaman launched in 1621. She was under the command of John Brooke when she was wrecked on the Tryal Rocks off the north-west coast of Western Australia in 1622. Her crew were the first Englishmen to sight or land on Australia. The wreck is Australia's oldest known shipwreck.
Tryall (alternate spelling Trial, Triall or Tryal) departed Plymouth on her maiden voyage for Bantam on 4 September 1621, carrying a cargo that included silver for trade in the East Indies as well as a gift for the King of Siam. She stopped at Cape Town for supplies on 19 March 1622. The East India Company had only recently issued orders requiring that its ships sail south of 35°S when en route to the East Indies, as this course made use of the so-called roaring forties and could save up to six months' travel time off the more traditional northern route. Neither Brooke nor any of his crew had sailed via the new southern route previously, or even to Batavia, and they asked in Cape Town for experienced sailors willing to join their crew. Attempts to recruit a master's mate from the East Indiaman Charles were unsuccessful.
The vessel departed on 19 March 1622 and sighted the Australian coast on 1 May 1622, apparently mistaking Point Cloates approximately 100 kilometres south-south-west of North West Cape on the mainland, for an island that Captain Lenaert Jacobszoon and Supercargo Willem Janszoon in the Dutch East India Company ship Mauritius had encountered in 1618 and which is now known as Barrow Island. This navigation error was caused by having sailed too far east, a common problem of the time before an accurate means of fixing a ship's longitude existed.
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