Tasman’s expedition was conducted under comprehensive written instructions, and all decisions were taken with reference to these instructions. Tasman didn’t have sole charge of the expedition; he was the president of the ships’ council, on which he held the casting vote.

Their instructions included details on how to proceed when encountering new land, and the method by which they should lay claim to it.

Isaac Gilseman’s drawing of the ships at anchor in Frederick Hendricx Bay.

“All continents and islands, which you shall discover, touch at and set foot on, you will take possession of on behalf of Their High Mightinesses the States General of the United-Provinces, the which in uninhabited regions or in such countries as have no sovereign, may be done by erecting a memorial-stone or by planting our Prince-flag in sign of actual occupation, seeing that such lands justly belong to the discoverer and first occupier; but in populated regions or in such as have undoubted lards, the consent of the people or the king will be required before you can enter into possession of them, the which you should try to obtain by friendly persuasion’ and by presenting them with some small tree planted in a little earth, by erecting some stone structure in conjunction with the people, or by setting up the Prince-flag in commemoration of their voluntary assent or submission; all which occurrences you will carefully note in your Journal, mentioning by name such persons as have been present at them, that such record may in future be of service to our republic.”

The bay that they anchored in is now called “Marion Bay” after the Frenchman, Marion du Fresne, who stayed there in March 1772 whilst on his voyage in search of Great Southern Lands.

On the morning of December 3rd, Tasman and Isaac Gilsemans lead another party into Blackmans Bay. They took the same two boats as the day before, and again were a well-armed party with “a number of musketeers, the oarsmen furnished with pikes and side-arms”.

Their caution was based on the accepted wisdom of the day. Tasman’s instructions included the following;

“In landing with small craft extreme caution will everywhere have to be used, seeing that it is well-known that the southern regions are peopled by fierce savages, for which reason you will always have to be well armed and to use every prudent precaution”

They had returned empty handed. They found that the available water in the bay was all so low lying as to be brackish from the tide. On his return he convened the council, and they determined to execute their duty regarding claiming the land, and then move on.

The honour party comprised Tasman and “Pilot-major Francoys Jacobsz, Skipper Gerrit Jansz, Isack Gilsemans, supercargo on board the Zeehaan, subcargo Abraham Coomans, and our master carpenter Pieter Jacobsz.”

They had met with no indigenous people, so only the last of the recommended options was available to them; planting a flag.

“We carried with us a pole with the Company’s mark carved into it, and a Prince-flag to be set up there, that those who shall come after us may become aware that we have been here”

In the course of the afternoon, the conditions began to worsen, and the cock-boat from the Zeehaen, with Gilsemans and Visscher on board, turned back to the ships. Tasman however, pressed on in order to execute their obligation.

Gilseman’s drawing (rotated to north) of the ships at anchor in Frederick Hendricx Bay besides a modern coastline, and Tasman’s movements in the Bay.

“ When we had come close inshore in a small inlet which bore west-south-west of the ships the surf ran so high that we could not get near the shore without running the risk of having our pinnace dashed to pieces. We then ordered the carpenter aforesaid to swim to the shore alone with the pole and the flag, and kept by the wind with our pinnace; we made him plant the said pole with the flag at top into the earth, about the centre of the bay…

…. Our master carpenter, having in the sight of myself, Abel Jansz Tasman, Skipper Gerrit Jansz, and Subcargo Abraham Coomans, performed the work entrusted to him, we pulled with our pinnace as near the shore as we ventured to do; the carpenter aforesaid thereupon swam back to the pinnace through the surf. “

Tasman’s journal for that day recorded that his duty had been performed.

“…we have been here, and have taken possession of the said land as our lawful property”

Conditions deteriorated further. In the evening they had to lower their yards and put out a second anchor, but by the next morning the storm had abated. The storm must have been severe, as on raising the anchors the next day they found that one had both flukes completely snapped off; they raised only the shaft.

Their efforts to find water had been unsuccessful, and so it was decided they should follow the coast “to pass to north to landward of the northernmost islands and seek a better watering-place”. They sailed along the coast noting “several columns of smoke” as they passed.

They had seen no people, but there was little doubt that they had been seen.

When Visscher had explored around Blackmans Bay he’d reported that “they had heard certain human sounds and also sounds nearly resembling the music of a trump or a small gong not far from them though they had seen no one”. While they were exploring, observers on the ships “saw clouds of dense smoke rising up from the land”

Similarly, when the flag was being planted, Tasman observed;

“… leaving the above-mentioned as a memorial for those who shall come after us, and for the natives of this country, who did not show themselves, though we suspect some of them were at no great distance and closely watching our proceedings.”

Tasman’s journal for that day, 4th December 1642, concluded:

“Here it would be meet to describe the trend of the coast and the islands lying off it but we request to be excused for briefness sake and beg leave to refer to the small chart drawn up of it which we have appended.”

Visscher’s map of Tasmania side by side with a modern coastline

Visscher’s chart of Tasmania is quite remarkable. It is drawn with west at the top of the page, (shown rotated here) and compares very favourably with a contemporary map, conmsidering that most of the time they were more than 20 km off the shore, and that they had no means of accurately determining longitude.

The next day, December 5th, they tried to follow the coast again, but found themselves unable to.

On the west side of Tasmania they had been concerned about being driven onto the shore, and now, they couldn’t reach it.

Coastal survey of the land they passed on leaving Frederick Henricx Bay.

“at this point the land fell off to the north-west so that we could no longer steer near the coast here, seeing that the wind was almost ahead. We therefore convened the council and the second mates, with whom after due deliberation we resolved, and subsequently called out to the officers of the Zeehaen that, pursuant to the resolution of the 11th ultimo we should direct our course due east,…
… we then shaped our course due east for the purpose of making further discoveries”

Now they turned east, having determined to sail at the latitude 41° for a further 26° of longitude.

Sailing east in search of “further discoveries”, another large land extending from 34°s to 47°s, now lay across their path; New Zealand.

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The VOC was constantly striving to improve their business. They found ways to be more cost efficient by carrying back loads into Japan and the Malay Peninsula, and were regularly improving the routes they took, to shorten the journey times. They also periodically invested directly in new exploration.

Searching for new goods to trade was a very expensive business; it bore a double cost. There was the cost of provisioning a vessel and paying its crew, but there was also the ‘opportunity cost’; while a vessel was off exploring, it wasn’t performing the profit generating task of carrying goods back to Europe. This made exploration a difficult business activity to justify. However, the “Heeren 17″, the 17 man council that ran the VOC decided in 1605 to assigned two small vessels specifically to the task of exploration; the Deft, and the Duyfken. The VOC took this expensive task extremely seriously, as is demonstrated by their choice of skipper. Willem Janszoon, who commanded the Duyfken, was also a member of ‘the Council of the Indies'; the management team responsible for the VOC’s operations in Batavia.

In 1606, Willem Janszoon commanding the Duyfken, was exploring the off Southern coast of New Guinea. He took a course, south through the Arafura Sea, then south-east. There he met new land, and though he assumed this to still be a part of the New Guinea coast, he had actually discovered Australia. He went ashore at the Pennefather River in the Gulf of Carpentaria, thus becoming the first authenticated European to reach Australian soil.

Cape York, Australia. Charted in 1606, and mistakenly labelled New Guinea.

Willem Janszoon followed the coast south, charting the coast as he passed it, before turning north and returning to Banda. At the end of his voyage, as all VOC Commanders were required, he turned his journal and all his notes and charts over to the company cartographer. His coastal survey of the west coast of what we now know as Cape York subsequently appeared on a VOC company chart.

This was the first time that any part of Australia had appeared on a chart.

In 1611, while Hendrik Brouwer was sailing from from the African Cape Colony to Batavia he discovered that it was quicker to first go south to the latitude of 40°S, thereby gaining the advantage of the ‘roaring forties’, and then follow this eastwards before turning north to Batavia. The VOC noted this time saving and gave new instructions to its commanders sailing from the Cape Colony to Batavia, requiring them to take the “Brouwer route”. While this was done in the interest of increased profit, it placed many more vessels in the latitude, and travelling in the direction of, Australia.

In October 1616, separated from the others boats he had sailed with, Dirk Hartog commanding the Eendracht unexpectedly found ‘various islands’ at latitude 26°S.

He made landfall at an island off the coast of Shark Bay, Western Australia, which is now called Dirk Hartog Island after him. His was the second recorded European expedition to find the Australian continent, and the first on the west coast. He spent three days exploring the area before leaving a pewter plate on a post to mark his visit. It bore the inscription;

On the 25th October, arrived here the ship Eendracht of Amsterdam; the first merchant, Gilles Mibais, of Luyck; Captain Dirk Hartog; of Amsterdam; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam; undermerchant Jan Stoyn, upper steersman, Pieter Dockes, from Bil, Ao, 1616…

The Hartog Plate is now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Between 1616 and 1629, seven other VOC vessels travelling the Cape Colony to Batavia route found themselves on the West Australian coast; the Vyanen, Zeewulf, Dordrecht, Amsterdam, Leeuwin, Batavia and Gulden Zeepaert. The last of these undertook an extraordinary detour.

The Gulden Zeepaert had left the Netherlands in 1626 bound for Batavia. She was commanded by Francois Thijssen, and had on board ‘Supercargo’ Peter Nuyts, the vessels VOC merchant and also a member of the Council of the Indies.

In January 1627 the Gulden Zeepart came upon the south-west coast of Australia near Cape Leeuwin, so named after the VOC vessel that had met this coast in 1622. Peter Nuyts had also been aboard the Leeuwen on that occasion. Standing instructions to the Commander were to follow the Brouwer route, and if land was encountered, to head northwards and then on to Batavia. However, the Gulden Zeepaert, presumably yielding to the superiority of Nuyts, followed the coast south and then west. Incredibly they continued 1800 km eastwards, across the Great Australian Bight, as far as Ceduna, just 500 km west of Adelaide, before finally turning around and making for Batavia.

Not all VOC Australian discoveries were accidental. In 1623, the Arnhem and the Pera, followed in 1636 by the Cleen Amsterdam and Cleen Wesel, were despatched to further explore the ‘south lands’. These voyages charted the northern coast of Australia from the Gulf of Carpentaria westwards.

Prior to Abel Tasman’s Voyage, Dutch vessels had visited parts of the Australia coast on 20 occasions, and after each voyage the charts and journals were sent forward to the company cartographer.

Parts of Australaia known to the VOC prior to Abel Tasman’s voyage.

By 1642 the VOC had knowledge of approximately half of Australia’s coastline, yet they hadn’t set up a trading fortress there. All accounts of the country sent back to the Netherlands spoke of a barren land; and whilst there were people there, they had found nothing of value to trade.

In 1617, in the interests of securing their intellectual property, the VOC moved away from contracting their cartographic services, and engaged Hessel Gerritsz to work exclusively for them.

All charts and logs from returning VOC commanders were submitted to Gerritsz, where he collated them. He compiled the ‘south land’ discoveries into a single chart, which he added to as new information was received. The result, drawn in 1628, is a quite remarkable map of ‘Australia’ as we now know it.

Gerritsz chart of Australia, 1628 (this image loads slowly)

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