The ''Zaandam'', or ''Sardam'', ''Saerdam'' and ''Saardam'' (alternative spellings of the old name of

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaa ...

), was a 17th-century

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

( nl, jacht) of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...

. It was a small merchant vessel designed primarily for the inter-island trade in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and aroun ...

. The ship sailed for

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

in October 1628 as part of a flotilla commanded by ''commandeur''

Francisco Pelsaert Francisco Pelsaert ( – September 1630) was a Dutch merchant who worked for the Dutch East India Company best known for his role as the commander of the . The ship ran aground in the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coastal regions of Western Au ...

, and arrived safely in Batavia on 7 July 1629. In the meantime, the , flagship of the same flotilla, had been wrecked on a coral reef of the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral ...

on 4 June. Pelsaert and 47 crew and passengers, including most higher officers, made their way with the ship's longboat towards Batavia and were picked up 3 July by the , who sailed into Batavia on 7 July, the same day the ''Sardam'' arrived. Governor

Jan Pietersz Coen Jan Pieterszoon Coen (, 8 January 1587 – 21 September 1629) was an officer of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early 17th century, holding two terms as governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. He was the founder of Batavia ...

ordered Pelsaert and his navigator to immediately return with the ''Sardam'' and 26 of its crew to the Australian coast to rescue survivors and salvage cargo. Sailing off on 15 July, the ''Sardam'' only arrived there on 17 September, due to weather, currents and a misestimate of the wreckage site. It took two months to deal with the aftermath of the notorious mutiny and recover the most valuable cargo. In October, the skipper and five crew members of the ''Sardam'' disappeared while searching for drifted cargo on more remote islands. ''Sardam'' sailed back on 15 November and arrived in Batavia on 5 December 1629 with most of the treasure, but with only 68 men, 7 women and 2 children of the original 250 people that had survived the shipwreck, as the rest had died or been murdered.Roeper, pp. 35-36 On one of her later trips, the ''Sardam'' sailed back and forth between Batavia and

Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan) Fort Zeelandia () was a fortress built over ten years from 1624 to 1634 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in the town of Anping (now Anping District of Tainan) on Formosa, the former name of main island of Taiwan, during their 38-year rul ...

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territori ...

between August 1631 and January 1632. The ship was active until 1636 or 1637.

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References

*{{cite book , first=Mike , last=Dash , author-link=Mike Dash , date=2003 , title=Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny , location=New York , publisher=Three Rivers Press , isbn=9780609807163 1620s ships Batavia (1628 ship) Ships of the Dutch East India Company

See also

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References