Page 9 - TVH 2000 Anniversary Shipwreck Project

Work on the site continued for a further six years until 1993. Efforts to raise the financial resources now considerably increased due to strict requirements imposed by the Health and Safety Executive and the demands of technology needed to counter the adverse conditions of visibility. These together with the requirements to survey the buried remnants of the surviving hull did not bear fruit until 1999, when the Oxford Maritime Trust generously provided a grant that enabled the diving vessel Terschelling to be engaged for a short summer season. The information that was before the current team was set out in reports compiled during 1983 and 1984 by the Rijksmuseum. The report by Ton van de Horst in 1988, with a copy of his book covering all the years to 1993, site and work plans with artefact positions and pre-disturbance surveys, and other descriptions covering all of the year’s work. An analysis of the wreck site and survey led by Mark Hollingsworth in 1985 contained a critique of previous theories about the nature and position of the structural remains of the hull. Considerable benefit was derived from site notes and artefact lists and positions supplied by Mark Fuller (1988-1993) who joined the current project and supplied the much needed continuity. Detailed knowledge supplied by Rex Cowan is included in this report. Information on early divers was derived from Zelide Cowan’s study (Cowan, 1983). The recording system devised for the current project benefited from discussions with Dick Broers, Head of Documentation at the Vlissingen Museum. The system was assisted by the Hollandia Compendium (Gawronski 1992) compiled from a period of eight years work on the wreck site of the VOC Hollandia (1743) by Cowan’s teams from 1971. Many of the recording systems developed for the excavation of the Mary Rose (1979-1982) were also employed. All these varied sources of information were amalgamated to provide an informed starting point. Rex Cowan devised the entire project with logistics management led by Mike Pascoe and the long term relationship built up between Rex Cowan and the Dutch Ministries of Finance and Culture together with the help of Wilbert Weber, Director of the Vlissingen Museum. Frans Mol, Hydrographer to the Rijkwaterstaat, supplied valuable information about the position of the wreck and the nearby sea environment and ensured navigational information to shipping protected the safety of the Terschelling. History and Analysis The origins and history of the VOC since its creation in 1602 and accounts of excavations of a number of wrecked VOC ships have been the subject of a number of detailed publications. These publications and in particular the Hollandia Compendium (Gawronski, 1984) have been of great help, and have been used in the preparation of the classification system, the identification of objects and the interpretation of both structure and artefacts. The VOC was formed into six regional chambers, of which Zeeland (also known as Middleburg) was the second largest. The Vliegent Hart 850 tonnes and built in 1729, was one of the 145ft class of company vessels of which 43 were built in the first half of the 18th century by the Chamber of Zeeland. She was armed with approximately 42 guns, mostly iron except for two 6 pounders around the compass and six small deck swivel guns. Completed in eleven months and twenty-one days, she successfully concluded her maiden voyage having arrived in Batavia from Rammekens in July 1731, returning to Holland in August 1734. The second and final voyage of the Vliegent Hart began from Rammekens in Zeeland at 14.00 hours on February 3, 1735. She left in company with a smaller ship, the Anna Catharina, accompanied by the pilot boat Mercurius. The Vliegent Hart was carrying a cargo of wood, clay building bricks, iron, gunpowder, company monies of gold and silver and other trading goods. With 256 people aboard including 167 seamen, 83 soldiers and six passengers including an eminent lawyer, Jan Douw, who had recently been appointed a member of the Counsel of Justice in Batavia. The skipper of the Mercurius, Willem Gerbrantsz was ordered to steer the two ships in a North Easterly gale between the treacherous sandbanks of the Deurloo channel to the North Sea and from there to accompany them to the Isle of Wight to protect them against privateers. From there both vessels could continue their voyage to the Dutch East Indies via the Cape of Good Hope. -7-