1642 tagged posts

For two days they sailed North-west, distancing themselves from the trap they’d found themselves in. But on Dec 28th, they turned back towards the coast, to resume their exploration of the land.

They didn’t have to wait long, and at mid-day, they sighted land again.

They had seen Mount Karioi, near Raglan, and they marked it on the chart but gave it no name. Tasman did however name a place that he didn’t see...

Following the incident in Golden Bay, and the recovery of the cock-boat, the officers of the Zeehaen returned to their own ship, and soon after both ships weighed anchors and turned to leave the Bay heading ENE. At noon they were 2 Dutch myles south of their noon position on the previous day, and there Tasman convened the Ships’ Council.

Visscher’s chart of New Zealand up to the night December 19th, 1642

The Heemskerck and Zeehaen at anchor in Golden Bay

On the morning of December 19^th, 1642, Abel Tasman was sat at anchor in Golden Bay, with his two ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen.

At first light a native boat had come out to them, stayed a while and then gone away. They had showed some of their trading goods to the natives, but the south-landers had shown no interest.

From the land, the Chief had gone out with one of the boats to have a closer look at the enemy. So far, they had only been up close in the dark. Now he had looked in their eyes, he and he had measured their strength. He had demanded that they explain themselves, but had received no satisfaction.

The Maori were extremely wary of visitors.

When they saw strangers, they didn’t know if they were friend or foe, and th...

On the Morning of December 19th 1642, Abel Tasman and the Ngati Tumatakokiri had their first close look at each other.

The events of that day are recorded in Tasman’s journal, the Sailors Journal and the Surgeon-barbers account.

We also have this remarkable drawing by Isaac Gilsemans.

Gilsemans’ drawing of the events of December 19th

It is captioned “A view of the Moordenaers Bay, as you are at anchor there in 15 fathom”, and is a collage of six independent illustrations that each depicts a different part of the day.

The legend at the upper right describes the individual parts of the drawing as below:

A. Our ships.
B. The prows which came alongside of us.
C...

Tasman’s position at anchor on December 18th

Below is Tasman’s journal entry relating to the events of the afternoon and evening of December 18th, 1642.

The original spelling and punctuation are retained, but paragraph breaks have been inserted for ease of reading.

Visscher’s chart of New Zealand up to December 18th

On the morning of December 18th Tasman’s ships sat at anchor near the end of Farewell Spit, on the ocean side. The previous morning they had been 7km to the North of Cape Farewell, and in the day between they had travelled just 27 km.

They had surveyed the end of the sandspit and knew they could enter safely into what appeared to be an excellent harbour; there was shelter from all but a south-east wind.

They could also see valleys that would hold good rivers, and tree covered hills; they should have no difficulty in securing good water and firewood there.

Tasman convened the Ships’ Council, and they determined “that we should try to get ashore here and find a good harbour; and that as we neared it we should send out the pinnace ...

Gilsemans’s coastal survey of ‘Steijle Hoek’ and the land to its North and South

From their anchorage at Nine Mile Beach, Tasman had moved out to sea at the first opportunity, and then headed North.

They spent the rest of the day and night moving across the Karamea Bight, towards “Steijle Hoek (Sharp Point) where the line of the Coast turns from North-South to Southwest-Northeast.

The weather was calm and they drifted very slowly, but by evening they had rounded the point. Beyond there the prospect changed and at sunset the farthest land they could then see was away to their East and slightly North.

“we found the furthest point of the land that we could see to bear from us east by north, the land falling off so abruptly there that we did not doubt that this was the farthest extremi...

The map of New Zealand in the copy of Tasman’s journal held at the National Archive, the Hague.Click to open left page at source Click to open right page at source

In 1898 Professor Heeres from The Dutch Colonial Institute, Delft wrote this in the Introduction of a remarkable volume of work.

“For some years past numerous applications, in the first place from Australia, have been made to us for documents and works relating to Tasman and his discoveries. In the course of the investigations required on our part in order to comply with the wishes of such applicants, we soon became convinced that all existing works on the subject are either unreliable or sadly incomplete.”

What follows in his book is an extraordinarily scholarly examination of the authoritative and extant documents rel...

On the morning of December 15th their most urgent task was to get further out to sea.

Tasman’s progress from anchor to the south of Clyppige Hoek, to near Steijle Hoek.

Tasman had not called the Cape “Clyppige Hoek” (Rocky Point) because it consisted of rolling dunes. It is a tangle of reefs, shallows, rocks, and pinnacles.

They were in a dangerous position.

From their location at anchor, the rocks on Clyppige Hoek formed an obstacle to their North, and to the South were cliffs right back to Punakaiki. This was a lee shore, with a south-westerly current and a prevailing south-westerly wind. They needed to move further out to sea to give themselves room to manoeuvre and options should the conditions change.

With the first breeze of the day they made their way out to open sea, a...

Tasmans progress to his arrival in New Zealand

As Tasman and his ships crossed the sea now named after him, he saw a large high land, and turned to it straight away. He fired a cannon to alert the Zeehaen to his change in course.

It was a momentous occasion.

1628 Map of the World (click to enlarge)

The land they had already discovered, “Anthony van Diemens Landt”, wasn’t unexpected; the Dutch already knew about Australia. The VOC already knew of over half of its coastline; to the North, West and South, only the eastern limits were unknown.

From Van Diemens Landt they sailed directly East, now in completely unknown waters; they were beyond all the extremities marked on their charts.

This English map from 1628 shows “The Southern Unknown Land” as a vague line bearing the inscri...