Nederland gouden dukaat 1729 VOC scheepswrak Vliegend Hert

''t Vliegend Hert'' also called ''t Vliegend Hart'' (meaning 'the Flying Deer') was an 18th-century

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

or "mirror return ship" ( nl, spiegelretourschip) of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. ''t Vliegend Hert'' was built in 1729 in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

for the Chamber of

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

. Her maiden voyage was in December 1730, departing from Fort Rammekens (Netherlands) to Batavia (now

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, Indonesia), commanded by captain Abraham van der Hart. On 3 February 1735 ''t Vliegend Hert'' left from Rammekens for Batavia, commanded by captain Cornelis van der Horst. She was accompanied by the smaller ship Anna Catherina, under command of Jacob de Prinse and carried a cargo of wood, building materials, iron, gunpowder and wine, as well as several chests with gold and silver coins. Shortly after departure both ships ran aground in de

Scheldt estuary The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to ...

on the sandbanks around Duerloo Channel and were lost with all cargo and crew. In the following days, barrels with jenever, beer and oil washed ashore on the beaches of

Blankenberge Blankenberge (; french: Blankenberghe; vls, Blanknberge) is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Blankenberge proper and the settlement of Uitkerke. On 1 December 2014, Bla ...

and Nieuwpoort. In 1736, the British diver Captain William Evans salvaged some items, including 700 wine bottles and an iron cannon. Because of the difficult conditions there were no further salvage attempts and gradually the wreck was forgotten. It was not until 1981 that the wreck site would be rediscovered. Many artifacts, including wine bottles, bullets and an intact coffer with 2000 gold ducats and 5000 silver reales were retrieved. In 1991 a second chest filled with gold ducats and Spanish reales was discovered, as well as several cases of silver

ducaton The ducaton, ducatone or ducatoon was a Crown (British coin), crown-sized silver coin of the 16th-18th centuries. The first ducaton-type coin was the Italian scudo, scudo known as the 'ducatone da soldi cento' (of 100 soldi), issued by Charles V, ...

s. As these ducatons (riders) were not listed on the official cargo document it is likely they were smuggled on board by members of the crew to be sold for higher prices in the East Indies.

External links

* http://www.vocsite.nl/schepen/detail.html?id=10436 de VOC-site (Dutch) * http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?4562 The wreck site * http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/239025.pdf Integrated assessment of the buried wreck site of the Dutch East Indiaman 't Vliegend Hart {{DEFAULTSORT:Vliegend Hert, 't, VOC Ships of the Dutch East India Company