[From the Cape of Good Hope to the Sunda Strait, annotated with tracks of the ship Diemermeer] [cartographic material] / by Isaak de Graaf
- Bib ID:
- 4853138
- Format:
- Map
- Author:
- Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie
- Scale:
- Scale [ca. 1:10,000,000] (E 15°00'--E 120°00'/N 21°00'--S 44°00')
- Description:
-
- [Sydney : Reproduced by Pixel Perfect Pro Lab Pty. Ltd., 2010]
- 1 map : col. ; 71 x 94 cm., mounted in frame 95 x 116 cm.
- Biography/History:
-
Every VOC ship sent to the Sunda Strait in the Far East had to follow a prescribed route. First they had to sail due south from Holland to the Cape of Good Hope where they carried out minor repairs, supplement their stores and give the crew some rest. Then they set sail into the Westerlies, continuously blowing trade winds from the west between 36th and 42nd southern parallels, to sail due east 850 miles before turning either due north or north east towards the Sunda Straits.
Isaac de Graaff (1667 - 5 September 1743). Famous for his work, Isaak de Graaf, the Dutch cartographer is one of the greatest map makers of his time. Since his father Abraham de Graaf was also a renowned cartographer, Isaak de Graaf had the privilege of taking navigating lessons from a very young age from him. Isaak de Graaf was born to Susanna Pietersz Eppingh and Abraham de Graaf in the year 1668. He started his career as a clerk cum cartographer in the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company. Later he was appointed the supervisor of the Atlas Amsterdam. As a reward for his excellent work, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) or the East India Company deputed him as the official cartographer in 1705. Isaak de Graaf compiled 187 maps in his two volumes of the manuscript atlas. The maps depicted the territorial possessions and settlements of the East India Company in the continents of Africa and Asia. The maps were designed to be used by the Board of Directors of the company. The maps from this atlas was recompiled in the Atlas Isaak de Graaf/Atlas Amsterdam by Professor Günter Schilder in the later half of the 20th century. Isaak de Graaf got married to Saderina de Brauw and served the Dutch East India Company till death. He died at the ripe age of 75 in the year 1743.
The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in Dutch, literally "United East Indian Company") was a chartered company established in 1602 and operated until 1796.
- Notes:
-
- Facsimile reproduction of manuscript nautical chart on vellum in very good condition, hand coloured and produced by the VOC. This map covering the Indian Ocean outlines the basic topography a VOC ship needed to know to transverse from the South African Cape to safely reach the Sunda Strait, a narrow passage way between Sumatra and Java. It is important to realise that the VOC cartographers issued this standardised map (along a collection of other carefully updated maps) to their sea captains prior to sailing across the Indian Ocean. The navigator would use this map as a base map and write out the course, date and bearings on its surface. Using de Graaf's 1735 map of the Indian Ocean as a base map, this map has been annotated in pencil showing a time-dated sea-track starting on February 24 [1745] from a position south of the Cape of Good Hope travelling easterly across the Indian Ocean at a constant latitude of approx. 37°S until it reached its hoped-for turning point at Amsterdam Island on May 26. The ship then changed to a northerly course and, despite much delay and buffering by strong northerly winds pushing the ship in the opposite direction south, she reached a landing in the north on what appears to be the Malabar Coast (approx. 10° latitude) on June 10.
- The dates of this sea-track indicate from public records of VOC voyages at this time and place that the ship is the East Indiaman Diemermeer, its captain was Christiaan Boord, that the ship carrying 203 persons set sail from the island of Texel on July 19, 1744 and was bound for Ceylon. Further, the Diemermeer anchored at S. Tiago, Portugal from October 4-15, 1744 before arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on January 11, 1745 for relief and maintenance, having lost 5 persons on the first leg of its voyage and departed the Cape on February 9 with one person not continuing with the ship. And though the ship is shown on the map to have reached the Malabar Coast on June 10, public records show it did not reach its destination of Ceylon until August 14, 2 months later. The map also shows that it was almost one year later that this ship begins the second leg of its journey southeast, leaving Ceylon on May 6 [1746] to sail down the coast of Sumatra until it reaches the mouth of the Sunda Strait on 30 May [1746]. What happened subsequently is unclear though public records indicate that the ship left Ceylon on January 15, 1747 on its return voyage to the Netherlands after recrossing the Indian Ocean, it did not pull into Cape Hope but continued up the west coast of Africa until it sunk off the coast of Guinea.
- Title proper devised by the Map Curator.
- Original seller's catalogue issued as: A list of separately published maps and charts, including a journey to the East Indies : an important set of five manuscript charts of the Dutch East India Company with an introduction by Gunter Schilder. Amsterdam : Nico Israel, 1989.
- National Library's copy has been mounted in a colonial style frame supplied by Fini Frames.
- Source of Acquisition:
- Loan From the collection of Mr Kerry Stokes, AC.
- Subject:
-
- Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie -- Maps -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- Diemermeer (Ship) -- Maps -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- Nautical charts -- Indian Ocean -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- Nautical charts -- East Indies -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- Indian Ocean -- Historical geography -- Maps -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- Western Australia -- Historical geography -- Maps -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- East Indies -- Maps -- Early works to 1800 -- Facsimiles
- Time Coverage:
- 1745
- Other authors/contributors:
- Also Titled:
-
- Title from original seller's catalogue: Map "C"
- VOC chart
- Copyright:
-
Edition In Copyright
You may have full rights to copy, or may be able to copy only under some circumstances, for example a portion for research or study. Order a copy through Copies Direct to the extent allowed under fair dealing. Contact us for further information about copying.
- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2035
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Artistic
- Presumed date of death of creator (latest date):
- 1743
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2010
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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