The Zuytdorp was another of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) vessels that was also destined to play a part in the early history of Australia and indeed Western Australia (WA). For different reasons than the 'Batavia' but even so, quite significant. Zuytdorp owned by the Zeeland Chamber one of the VOC groups left Flushing in Holland in company with the 'Belvliet' both bound for the East Indies. The vessels would have looked similar to those depicted in this picture below.

These vessels were called 'East Indiamen' and were built very sturdily by the artisans in Holland. Well built with the best timbers available and well suited to the long arduous voyages that they often undertook. Their task was to seek rare cargoes of silks, rich spices , scented timbers and precious gems from the Spice Islands north of the unknown continent called 'Great Southland' (Australia).

On a summers day in July 1711 they left Holland loaded with supplies, lead ingots and trading goods and bolted to the deck of Captain Marinus Wysvliets quarters were 8 brass bound chests full of coins worth nearly 250,00 Guilders, including 100,000 newly minted silver guilders. Their elected course took them around the British Isles and down the west coast of Africa where they ran into wild storms, which would cost them dearly in time. When they reached the tropics the wind died and they were becalmed for what seemed an eternity. The crew were restless, there were many floggings and with little rest from the rats, bloodsucking insects and cockroaches, the crew grew increasingly agitated. The remaining vegetables turned rotten and it was only a matter of time before scurvy broke out. The ship put into 2 African ports to take on fresh food but this only compounded the problem because some of the crew contacted malaria. By the time the ship reached the Cape of Good Hope, 112 out of the crew of 286 had died including the skipper and the surgeon. On 22nd April 1712 the Zuytdorp with the merchant vessel 'Kockenge' sailed from Capetown, east bound for Java in the Spice Islands. The 'Belvliet' was to follow shortly after. The course was set to latitude 36 degrees where they would pick up the 'Roaring Forties' and be sent scudding across the Indian Ocean east for 5000 miles before turning north for Batavia. The 2 ships were together on this course for several days, before a bad storm hit them and they were separated. The second ship the 'Kockenge' arrived in Java on 4th July 1712 and the 'Belvliet' a few days later. Of the  Zuytdorp there was no sign, she had disappeared without trace.

Almost 300 years ago the Zuytdorp against orders sailed too close to the Great Southland and driven by wild winter storms was driven helplessly onto these rocks now known as the "Zuytdorp Cliffs", 500 kilometres north of Perth WA. With only nomad aborigines living in the area, the years past until 1927, when in April 1927 a stockman Tom Pepper came across some coins and a carved wooden ships figurehead while riding along cliffs north of the Murchison River mouth.

Pepper is usually credited with the discovery but I am convinced that the mother of Pearly Whitby an aboriginal woman who was the 3rd eldest of 16 children actually found the wreckage in 1926. The local tribes of the area could have known about it some 50 -100 years prior to this time. But the main interest here is the impact on our history and it is with no doubt that there were survivors from the ship who got ashore and eventually had to have contact with the native population in order to survive. This obviously led to integration with the natives, which in turn had a disastrous effect on their tribal life. Unknowingly the disease called "Phorphyria Variegata" was transmitted to the natives by a survivor. This disease is caused by an excess of iron in the body and its origins have been traced back to 2 people in Holland who just happened to be destined to come together, at this time. 8 women were sent to Capetown as brides for single men there, and there one Gerrit Jansz Van Deventer married Ariaanjie Jacobz Van Den Berg in 1688. These 2 people had this very rare disease and eventually handed it down in time. This decimated the local tribes, most of them dying out, as almost all of the known diseases here, were brought here by the white settlers, prior to that the natives used tribal medicine handed down for centuries to treat the minor ailments they had.

Many diving expeditions since that time have uncovered cannons, coins, a ships bell and other personal belongings but the fact remains that during the period of 1980 and 1986 the wreck was looted by divers and fishermen in the area. Over 200,000 coins are still missing!!  But on the positive side of things, many finds on diggings of aboriginal camp sites have unearthed a great deal of proof that survivors did integrate with the natives. In 1990 a tobacco tin with a painted lid was dug up at one such site, while other personal items like clay pipes and glassware were found at different sites. One fact that cannot be denied is, the aboriginal people of the Murchison area, have very distinctive features that are out of character with the normal features of aboriginal people. They have been seen to be taller than average with fair hair, blue eyes and a facial structure that is indicative of the Dutch from South Africa. Make of this what you will, this is a known fact.