''Aagtekerke'' () was a ship 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 ...

built in 1724. It was lost without trace during its maiden voyage in 1725–26, when it sailed from Cape of Good Hope in the

Dutch Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was inco ...

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

in the Dutch East Indies.

Description

''Aagtekerke'' was built in 1724 by 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 ...

of the

, on their wharf 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 ...

.Aagtekerke, 1724
De VOCsite. Retrieved 5 August 2015. It was named after the nearby village of Aagtekerke. The ship was long and had a load capacity of 850 tons. It had crew of 200 men and 36 guns.

Maiden voyage

On 27 May 1725, the ship sailed out from Fort Rammekens (near Ritthem) under the command of Jan Witboon. The ship first sailed to Cape of Good Hope in the

, where it arrived on 3 January 1726, possibly to load

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

. On 27 January 1726, the ship left for

in the Dutch East Indies, but was lost without trace. At the time, the ship was carrying silver coins and precious metals with a total value of 200,000

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' " gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Emp ...

s. There is some evidence from the crew of the wrecked ship that ''Aagtekerke'' may have been wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands, because they found some remains of a Dutch vessel that had been wrecked before them.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 1720s missing person cases 1720s ships Lost sailing vessels Maritime incidents in 1726 Missing ships of Australia People lost at sea Ships lost with all hands Ships of the Dutch East India Company Shipwrecks of Western Australia

Description

Maiden voyage

See also

References