2435) Did You Know Series (67): "The Roosvijk", an ill-fated Dutch East Indiaman, Netherlands which sank during her second trip on 09.01.1740: Mexican Silver Cobs, Silver Reales, Klippes and Pillar Dollars etc recovered from the shipwreck:
The undernoted two links will take you to our blog "Footloose" for two interesting posts written by me on the Dutch presence in Sadras in the 17th Century AD:
About the ill-fated vessel - The Rooswijk:
The Rooswijk was a 850 ton Dutch East Indiaman belonging to the VOC (Dutch East India Company).
(In Dutch, the name of the company is "Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie" or "Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie", literally the "United East Indian Company", which is abbreviated to "VOC") that sank in 1740.
The Rooswijk was built for the VOC "Chamber of Amsterdam" in 1737.
The Dutch had little to offer in Asia to trade for Asian goods, but silver and gold. Therefore the VOC ships sailed to Asia with silver bars and gold coins to pay for Asian goods.
The silver bars were cast in private factories in the Netherlands, run by assayers, from melted down coins, mainly Spanish American “reales”. Once in Asia these bars were melted down again and minted into coins such as rupees, that could be used for payment in the East.
On 09.01.1740, during its second journey to the Batavia in the East, when it sank about 8.00 km from while passing the notorious Goodwin Sands off the Kentish coast with the loss of all 237 souls on board.
There were no known survivors. At the time, it was captained by Daniel Ronzieres. By examining archive documents, researchers were able to identify 19 of the 237 crewmen on board, including Gerrit Hendrick Huffelman, responsible for providing medical care, Thomas Huijdekoper; a 19-year-old on his first voyage; and Pieter Calmer, a sailor who had previously survived the Westerwijk shipwreck.
The only evidence of the disaster appeared the next day when locals found letters washed ashore at Deal.
The sands kept their secret until by chance, in December 2004, they parted and allowed an amateur diver to retrieve two complete chests and hundreds of silver bars. The vessel lies in about 24.00 metres (79 ft) of water at the northeast end of Kellett Gut.
The salvage team, operating in secrecy, continued throughout 2005 by agreement of the Dutch and British Governments.
Divers recovered some of the ship and its contents including bars of silver and gold coins:
In 12/2005, it was made public that between May and September of that year a team led by Rex Cowan had recovered some of the ship and its contents.
This was done in secrecy to avoid attracting looters. Artifacts recovered included approximately one thousand bars of silver, gold coins and a mustard jar.
When the VOC was disbanded in 1798, its possessions fell to the Batavian Republic, the legal successor of which is the current Dutch State, which therefore was entitled to the objects from the Rooswijk.
The type of coins recovered:
She also contained a valuable cargo of Mexican silver which had just been smelted in Amsterdam and which comprised some thirty chests containing 1,000 bars and at least 36,000 silver Reale coins.
The type of coins recovered were several hundred Mexican silver cobs of the 1720s and early 1730s and transitional klippes of 1733-1734, as well as, hundreds of "pillar dollars" and a smattering of cobs from other mints.
However, archaeologists have determined that up to half of the money on board was intended for illegal trade, as they were not part of the sanctioned cargo.
An illegal smuggling of coins flourished:
Many of the discovered coins were also made with small deliberate holes, which suggest that crewmen were sewing them into their clothes to smuggle to the Dutch East Indies.
It is possible that on many voyages out to Batavia, up to half the silver on board was being taken over illegally.
Most of the Rooswijk coins originate from large concreted lumps or stacks, suggesting that they were stored in a tightly-packed manner, perhaps in sacks or chests.
Crewmen were able to make a profit off of buying silver in the Netherlands and then selling it in the Dutch East Indies, where there were no silver mines.
Despite being illegal, the VOC tolerated the smuggling because the profit benefited both the smugglers and the company.
The structure and compartments of the vessel:
After the wreck, the floor timbers collapsed causing the decks of the ship to fall on top of each other. This provides a snapshot of the physical and social aspects of life on board in three layers -
- the top layer consisted of the officers’ dining room,
- the middle layer comprised the constable’s cabin, containing 50 muskets, and
- the bottom layer included the cartridge locker and gun deck, containing bar and round shot.
Rooswijk designated as a protected wreck:
In 2007, the Rooswijk was designated as a protected wreck site under UK legislation which prevented further salvage work taking place.
The Netherlands changed their policy in that same year, making it impossible to issue further salvage rights for historic shipwrecks. The ship's remains lie at a depth of some 25 metres and is presently owned by the Dutch Government.
In 2016 the wreck was placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.
The shipwreck is fast deteriorating due to persistent erosion:
The Rooswijk was at high risk due to persistent erosion, shipworm attacking the wood and the high threat of unauthorised diving.
The Silver Bars:
The VOC and "A" marks are conjoined together.
Links:
The undernoted two links will take you to our blog "Footloose" for two interesting posts written by me on the Dutch presence in Sadras in the 17th Century AD:
5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020
6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020
7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020
Posts on Finland on this Blog:
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16) Ancient Postal Routes - the Postal Boat Race - between Aland and Sweden", Aland, Finland: A EUROPA Postage Stamp of 2.00 Euro issued by Aland Post: Date of Stamp issue: 08.05.2020
For interesting posts from the Caribbean Netherlands on this blog:
9) "De Haar Castle", Utrecht, Netherlands: The first Coin to be released in the "Dutch Castles" Coin Series: A silver Ducat Trade Coin with a history spanning over 350 years, minted by the Royal Dutch Mint: Date/Year of Delivery: 04/2020
10) First Atlases, Netherlands: Commemorating 450 Years of the first Atlas (1570-2020) & others: A Stamp Sheet of six stamps depicting the Atlases which were compiled in the Netherlands in the 16th & 17th Centuries AD: Stamp Set issued by POstNL: Date of Stamp Set issue: 23.03.2020
12) 75th Anniversary of the United Nations Organisation (UNO), The Netherlands: A Coin-card set of three denominations of 0.50 Euros, 0.20 Euros and 0.05 Euros minted by the Royal Dutch Mint to celebrate the milestone: Year of Coin-card issue: 2020
Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY interesting informative post. Thanks for posting."
Thank you so much for visiting this post, Khanna sahab.
ReplyDeleteAnuradha Gupta has commented:
ReplyDelete"felt sad reading about the shipwreck. Only 80 feet of water and all died. Why could'nt they have swum up? But they were plunderers themselves. Mexican silver or gold must have been stolen or taken byforce, in the first place".
Yes, they were very close to the sea coast. They could have changed course at the slightestsigns of a squall coming. They had exerienced sailors on board. Aso, the wreck cound have been discovered much earlier. They must have known about the treacherous watrs too, where the ship sank. Mexican Silver/coins were very popular around the world, as they had extensive silver mines which were rather inexhaustible around this time. Apparently, this lot was minted in Amsterdam. You could be right about the silver being looted/plundered."
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