''Princess Amelia'' was a Dutch merchant ship of 38 guns and 600 tons ( bm) built in 1634 and wrecked off Swansea, Bristol Channel, in 1647. She served the Dutch West India Company and was one of the largest merchant ships of her day with 38 guns.

Russell Shorto Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist who is best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, '' The Island at the Center of the World''. Shorto's research for the book rel ...

, ''The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America.'' First Edition.

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random ...

(a Division of

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 2004), p.179. During her 1647 arrival to and departure from

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...

, her captain was Jan Claesen Bol, who was 28 at the time. The ship carried

Petrus Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Net ...

, the new

Director-General of New Netherland This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) in North America. Only the last, Peter Stuyvesant, held the title of Director General. As t ...

, his wife Judith Bayard, and Stuyvesant’s councilors to Manhattan, where they landed May 1647. During her time in port, Captain Bol sat in council with Stuyvesant and others in New Amsterdam. When she sailed from Manhattan to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

on 16 August 1647, she was loaded with 200,000 pounds of dyewood from Curaçao and around 14,000 beaver pelts. It was also carrying 107 passengers and crew, including the recently fired

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Willem Kieft Willem Kieft (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647. Life and career Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director ...

for his return to Amsterdam. He was returning to defend himself against the charges leveled by among others, the Rev.

Everardus Bogardus The Reverend Everardus Bogardus (1607 – 27 September 1647) was the dominie of the New Netherlands, and was the second minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest established church in present-day New York, which was then located on ...

(the colony’s principal Dutch Reformed dominie), and banished colonists Jochem Pietersen Kuyter and Cornelis Melyn, who would also have to answer charges of insubordination for their role in Kieft’s ouster. The other passengers included numerous Dutch West India Company soldiers who had recently arrived in Manhattan from Brazil and the Caribbean. On 27 September 1647, Captain Bol mistook the Bristol Channel for the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and ran ''Princess Amelia'' aground off Mumbles Point, Wales, near

Swansea, Wales Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City ...

, () where she broke apart. Twenty-one of the 107 passengers survived, including Kuyter and Melyn, who later reported that Kieft had acknowledged his administrative mistakes before drowning. The Rev. Bogardus, Melyn's son, and most of the soldiers also drowned. Insurance claims and lawsuits over the loss claims lasted for years.

, ''The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America.'' First Edition.

(a Division of

, 2004), p.191-192. Early popular sources describe the event thus: Charles Hemstreet,
CHAPTER V: WILLIAM KIEFT and the WAR with the INDIANS
Chap. in ''The Story of Manhattan'', (New York City:

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan R ...

, 1901), Released as ''The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Manhattan, by Charles Hemstreet'', E-text prepared by Gregory Smith, David Garcia, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team Some of the furs on board came ashore in Swansea Bay and were sold off in their bundles for bargain prices. Kuyter and Melyn were found not guilty of insubordination and later returned to their families in New Amsterdam. Two cannon, small arms, and silver coins were salvaged from the wreck by Squire Mansel but were lost on Rhossili beach before they got to his home of Henllys, Llandewi, Gower.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Amelia (1634 ship) Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1647 disasters Age of Sail merchant ships of the Dutch Republic Dutch West India Company 1630s ships Age of Discovery ships Exploration ships of the Dutch Republic Individual sailing vessels New Netherland Shipwrecks of Wales