''Leeuwin'' ("

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

ess", also spelt ''Leeuwine'' in some

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 ...

(VOC) documents), was a Dutch

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

that discovered and mapped some of the southwest corner of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in March 1622. It was the seventh European ship to sight the continent. ''Leeuwins

logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...

has been lost, so very little is known of the voyage. For example, it is not known who captained the ship. However, VOC letters indicate that the voyage from

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...

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 more than a year, whereas other vessels had made the same voyage in less than four months; this suggests that poor navigation may have been responsible for the discovery. The same is suggested by the 1644 instructions to

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Z ...

, which states that The land discovered by ''Leeuwin'' is recorded in

Hessel Gerritsz Hessel Gerritsz ( – buried 4 September 1632) was a Dutch engraver, cartographer, and publisher. He was one of the notable figures in the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. Despite strong competition, he is considered by some "unques ...

' 1627 ''

Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht ''Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht'' ("Chart of the Land of Eendracht") is a 1627 map by Hessel Gerritsz. One of the earliest maps of Australia, it shows what little was then known of the west coast, based on a number of voyages beginning wit ...

'' (''Chart of the Land of Eendracht''). This map includes a section of coastline labelled t Landt van de Leeuwin beseylt A° 1622 in Maert'' ("Land made by the ship Leeuwin in March 1622"), which is thought to represent the coast between present-day

Hamelin Bay Hamelin Bay is a bay and a locality on the southwest coast of Western Australia between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. It is named after French explorer Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, who sailed through the area in about 1801. It is sou ...

and

Point D'Entrecasteaux Point D'Entrecasteaux is a point on the south coast of Western Australia. The first European sighting was by the Frenchman Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in the 1700s, although there were possible sightings by Dutch navigators from ships such ...

. Portions of this coastline are labelled ''Duynich landt boven met boomen ende boseage'' ("Dunes with trees and underwood at top"), ''Laegh ghelijck verdroncken landt'' ("Low land seemingly submerged") and ''Laegh duynich landt'' ("Low land with dunes").

Australian reference to the ship

The south-west corner of Australia was subsequently referred to by the Dutch as t Landt van de Leeuwin'' ("The Land of the Leeuwin") for a time, subsequently shortened to "Leeuwin's Land" by the English. This name ''Leeuwin'' still survives in the name of

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders Ba ...

, the most south-westerly point of the Australian mainland, so named by Matthew Flinders in December 1801. The sail training ship STS ''Leeuwin II'', based in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, Western Australia, is named in honour of ''Leeuwin'', although the "II" refers not to the original ''Leeuwin'' but to a

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

that was already entered in Australia's ship's register under the name.

References

{{reflist 1620s ships 1622 Exploration ships of the Dutch Republic European exploration of Australia Exploration of Western Australia Ships of the Dutch East India Company