''Hollandia'' 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 ...

(Dutch: ''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie''; ''VOC'') which, on her maiden voyage, was wrecked on Gunner Rock, west of Annet,

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

on 13 July 1743 causing 306 fatalities (276 sailors and soldiers and 30 passengers). The wreck was discovered in 1971 by Rex Cowan, a London attorney.

History

''Hollandia'' was built by the Dutch East India Company in 1742 in Amsterdam to a new design, as a 32-gun, 700-ton ship with a length of . On 3 July 1743 she left Texel as part of a

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 ...

bound fleet carrying a large amount of trade coin and several important passengers. On 13 July 1743 she became separated from the fleet and struck Gunner Rock near Annet, Isles of Scilly in the early hours of the morning, sinking nearby with the loss of all hands.

Salvage

Rex Cowan began his search for ''Hollandia'' in 1968, starting with Dutch and English archives and using advanced (for the time) equipment such as a

proton magnetometer A proton magnetometer, also known as a proton precession magnetometer (PPM), uses the principle of Earth's field nuclear magnetic resonance (EFNMR) to measure very small variations in the Earth's magnetic field, allowing ferrous objects on land ...

, finally locating the wreck on 16 September 1971. A large quantity of coins was recovered, as well as bronze cannons and mortars.

References

External links

''Hollandia'' on wrecksite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollandia Age of Sail merchant ships of the Dutch Republic Cornish shipwrecks Maritime incidents in 1743 Ships of the Dutch East India Company Shipwrecks of the Isles of Scilly