Tall Ships

Van Noort Circumnavigation

The Dutch were not far behind the Spanish and the English in attempting to circumnavigate the world. Between 1598 and 1623 about five circumnavigation voyages sailed from Dutch ports. Oliver Van Noort set out in 1598 from Rotterdam with four ships - the Maurice, Concord, Hope, and the Henry Frederike. Oliver van Noort was the admiral, James Claas van Ulpenda commanded the Henry Frederick, and was the vice admiral, the Concord was commmanded by Captain Peter van Lint, and the captain of the Hope was JOhn Huidecoope. Van Noort's aim was to establish a Dutch trading presence in the Spice Islands. The fleet of van Noort stopped at Plymouth to pick up an english pilot, Mr Mellish, who had been around the world with Thomas Cavendish. They sailed from Plymouth on 21st September.

They passed the islands of Tenerife and Grand Canary on the 6th October and on the third of November they sight the Guinea coast. They were off Cape Formosa in latitude 3 degrees 30' North on December fourth and on the tenth December sent a boat ashore to Princes Island The fleet was still in the Atlantic a year after setting out. Van Noort had been delayed by bad weather and a clash with the portuguese. Before they made Brazil at cape saint thomas, several of the crew had died of scurvy and other diseases. They found herbs and sour plums which cured the scurvy. They pass cape fair, cape frio, and on the ninth of March they made Rio de Janeiro but had to sail to the island of St Sebastian where they stocked up with fresh water and wood.

The Dutch made early attempts to find a cure for scurvy and the Dutch East India Company(VOC) made great use of fresh fruit and vegetables. It is a shame that other seafaring nations did not take heed of the Dutch until centuries later. The ships of Van Noort reached the Cape Virgins on 4th November 1599 but the currents and winds prevented them from entering Magellan Straits for three weeks. Eventually van Noort struggled on through the strait and reached the Pacific Ocean after ten weeks in the Magellan Straits. The Dutch suffered privations, lost 35 men in a fight with the Patagonians, and buried many of their crew from disease. The vice admiral begged with van Noort to turn back but was marooned for his transgression.

He had lost one of his ships and half of his crew by February 1600 when he began to sail up the coast of South America, calling in at Valparaiso. He caught the trade winds in May and crossed the Pacific to the Marianas, and Guam. At Guam they stocked up with fish, coconuts, bananas and sugar cane. On the fifteenth October 1600 they arrived at the Phillippines and revictualled by pretending to be Spanish. On the first of December van Noort captured a ship of fifty tons coming from Japan. Van Noort leaves Luzon and sails for Borneo, then to Jortan in Java. Van Noort sailed between Bali and Java on the fifth of February 1601 and into the Indian Ocean on the way to the Cape of Good Hope. They arrive at St Helena and leave on 30th May. On the 26th August 1601 he reached Amsterdam with one ship and a very reduced crew.

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