Page 227 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

The galley and stove
The location of large numbers of briclcs on the main
wreck si", concenlra",d around grid location 270105, around gun No. 14 (see Edwards Plan Fig. 24), suggests that they may have fonned part of a galley area. This con· clusion is supported by the fact that the disposition of the guns on the wreck si", indicaleS that there was a disconti- nuityinthelineofgunsbetweenNo.13andNo.14.Thus, it may be assumed that there was a space in the gundeck to allow for the galley and bottler's room and, at this pair of gunports, the guns were not mounted. It is suggested that someofthebriclcs,atleast,fonnedpartoftheship'sgalley
and were not intended as supplies for the Indies as was common in the mid-17th century. The Vergulde Draeek was carrying briclcs at the time she was wrecked and these were clearly the supplies that were requesled in the Eijseh for 1656. On her first voyage to the Indies in 1653, the Vergulde Draeek unloaded 26000 Vries elijnkert, this was out of a total of400000 elijnkertrequested in theEijsch for 1653. It is not clear at what point the V.O.C. started exporting bricks to the Indies. The intense building activ- ity in Batavia as the city was expanding during the 1620s may have stimulated the transportation of briclcs as a
'paying' ballast
217
;.,.