Dirck Hartog
Dirck Hartog is best known as the second European to land on the continent of Australia. Dirk Hartog worked for the Dutch East India Company sailing from Holland to the Dutch East Indies trading in Spices and other goods. Dirck Hartog sighted the western coast of australia in October 1616 on a voyage from Holland to Bantam in Java.
He came into Shark Bay on Western Australia's North west coast and landed on an island now called Dirk Hartog Island. They did not spend much time there but left a plaque. This plaque detailed the name of the ship - the Eendracht of Amsterdam, the supercargo Gilles Miebais of Liege and Jan Stins, steersman Pieter Doores from Brielle. They set sail again for Java on the 27th October.
Dirck Hartog was from a sea-going family and got his first command of a ship when he was 30. He then spent many years trading in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. He was given command of the Eendracht in 1615, the year she was built in Amsterdam. The Eendracht was a largish ship for the times being 700 tonnes , with 32 guns and a crew of about 200. Dirck Hartog ran into Australia on his way to Java because he had gone further than usual east taking advantages of the roaring forties after leaving the Cape of Good Hope.
The plaque that Dirck Hartog left on Dirk Hartog island was discovered by another Dutchman, Willem De Vlamingh in 1697 and returned to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam where it still is on display. After the Eendracht left Shark Bay, she sailed north along the west coast of Australia. Dirk Hartog charted as he went and renamed terra Australis with New Holland. The Eendracht left the Australian coast at about 22 degrees South and headed across the Timor Sea to Batavia.
Dirck Hartog Resources
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