''Horssen'' was an

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 ...

operated by the

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

chamber 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''). She was launched in 1784 and made the voyage to the Far East in 1786. She then had sailed for several nearby ports in Asia, when she finally set out for the successful return voyage in 1791, carrying aboard the prisoner

Mary Bryant Mary Bryant (1765 – after 1794) was a Cornish convict sent to Australia. She became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony. Early life Bryant was born Mary Broad (referred to as Mary Braund at the E ...

to Cape Town. After arriving in Europe in 1792 she was put out of service.

Commanders

''Horssen'' was commanded by Jakobus van den Berg (1727–1819) in 1785 and 1787, and thereafter by his son-in-law Georg Philipp Gas (1760–1808), of German descent from Willauw, who was married to Bergs daughter Anna Maria van den Berg.

Maiden voyage to East India

Captain van den Berg, assisted by Lieutenant Georg Philipp Gas, sailed from

Goeree Goeree-Overflakkee () is the southernmost delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant ...

on 14 November 1785 with a total of 272 people aboard,The Dutch East India Company's shipping between the Netherlands and Asia 1595-1795
/ref> probably calling at Portsmouth, and arriving at the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

on 13 February 1786, where they stayed for 17 days up to 2 March 1786 and disembarked 31 persons. The passage to

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 ...

took another 89 days, and the ''Horssen'' arrived there on 30 May 1786 together with the VOC ship ''Schoonderloo'', a ship formerly commanded by Captain van den Berg in 1782. Counting people on both of these ships, of the 408 seafarers, 93 soldiers, 16 craftsmen and 26 passengers including 24 Chinese departed from Goeree, only 339 seafarers, 59 soldiers, 10 craftsmen, and 37 passengers (incl. the 24 Chinese) had reached alive at Batavia. Conditions in Batavia were most sickening and infectious then, mainly due to standing waters in the

Gracht ''Gracht'' (; plural: ''grachten'') is a Dutch word for a canal within a city. ''Grachten'' often have a round shape, and form a circle around the city cores in the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern Germany. Outside the Netherlands, the word '' ...

canals the Dutch had built there, and some crewmembers of the ''Horssen'', having survived the voyage, died there, e.g. the soldier Johan Daniel Ramdohr from Raderorwaldt on 27 June 1786.

Further voyages

On 10 July 1786 the ''Horssen'' departed from Batavia and sailed to China. On 17 January 1787, with 99 persons aboard, 4 of whom should perish on the voyage, she sailed from China to the

, where she had a stay from 11 May until 10 June. She arrived at Goeree in the Netherlands on 23 August 1787,still being commanded by Jakobus van den Berg. On return, evidently, some issues with the payload (porcelain) occurred, causing debts for the Delft VOC chamber. Under the new command of George Philipp Gas, on 28 May 1788, with 237 person aboard, the ''Horssen'' traveled form Goeree to the Cape, where she arrived 12 October 1788. Departing on 17 October, she arrived in Batavia on 1 January 1789. After roughly a year, there followed minor trips within Asia. On 14 January 1790 the ''Horssen'' sailed to Bantam, returning to Batavia on 15 February. On 20 May 1790, she was sent to Chormandel and returned to Batavia on 3 December 1790. On 14 July 1791, she was ordered to sail for Java, and returned on 3 October 1791.

Return voyage with
Mary Bryant Mary Bryant (1765 – after 1794) was a Cornish convict sent to Australia. She became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony. Early life Bryant was born Mary Broad (referred to as Mary Braund at the E ...

Captain Gas was ordered for the return voyage to Europe before 17 December 1791, when the first call for a

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

of the four retourschips ''Vreedenburg'', ''Horssen'', ''Hoornweg'', and ''Standvastigheid'' (a Hoeker bought in Rotterdam in 1785) was issued. After second (19 December) and third (20 December) drum calls for assembling the crews, the ships started their voyage on 21 December for Cape Town. Database
on vocsite.nl, ID 10487 -accessed 27 February 2020. On board of the mentioned first three ships, the recaptured escapees of the Bryant family held in irons, as well as 10 survivors of

HMS Bounty HMS ''Bounty'', also known as HM Armed Vessel ''Bounty'', was a small merchant vessel that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787 for a botanical mission. The ship was sent to the South Pacific Ocean under the command of William Bligh to acquire ...

and crew members of

HMS Pandora Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Pandora'' after the mythological Pandora. Another was planned, but the name was reassigned to another ship: * , a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1779. She was sent to capture the ''Bounty'' mut ...

including Captain

Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate * Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and ora ...

, were transported as passengers. The ''Horssen'' had registered 124 person on board, i. e. 105 seafarers, 7 soldiers and 12 passengers including one female and two male slaves, amongst them

and her daughter Charlotte. The ships arrived at Cape Town on 19 March 1792, after losing 8 seafarers. Mary Bryant, all the English persons, and others (totalling 15 people) were disembarked there. The ''Horssen'' left the Cape on 11 April, and finally reached

on 12 July 1792. Later, Captain Gas acted as the Captain of VOC ship ''Siam'' travelling from Netherlands to

Dutch Bengal Bengal was a directorate of the Dutch East India Company in Mughal Bengal between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1800. It then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British accor ...

late 1793, returning on 18 May 1795. Genealogy website
/ref> In 1799 he lived still as a resident in

Citations and references

Citations References *Bruijn, J. R. (2011) ''Commanders of Dutch East India Ships in the Eighteenth Century'' (Boydell Press) *Bruijn, J.R., I. Schöffer, and F. S. Gaastra (1987) ''Dutch Asiatic shipping in the 17th and 18th centuries / 1. Introductory volume''. (The Hague: Nijhoff). * * * {{cite book , last=Preston , first=Diana , title=Paradise in chains : the Bounty Mutiny and the founding of Australia , publication-place=New York , date=2017 , isbn=978-1-63286-610-3 , oclc=983797394 1784 ships Ships built in the Netherlands Ships of the Dutch East India Company Age of Sail merchant ships Convict escapees in Australia

Commanders

Maiden voyage to East India

Further voyages

Return voyage with Mary Bryant Mary Bryant (1765 – after 1794) was a Cornish convict sent to Australia. She became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony. Early life Bryant was born Mary Broad (referred to as Mary Braund at the E ...

Citations and references

Return voyage with
Mary Bryant Mary Bryant (1765 – after 1794) was a Cornish convict sent to Australia. She became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony. Early life Bryant was born Mary Broad (referred to as Mary Braund at the E ...