The Duyfken was a petite member of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) fleet sailing the seas of the East in the early seventeenth century.
Launched in 1603, she packed a great deal into her short life; crossing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, supporting attacks against the Portuguese in Africa and India, helping to capture a key fortress, and putting Australia on the map for the very first time, but finally, she succumbed to crippling damage after a fight with Spanish galleys in the contest for the Spice Islands.
Only around 24 metres long with a crew of about twenty, she had three masts, carrying main and topsails on her two front masts and an angled lateen on her mizzen, or rear mast. A small square sail–a spritsail–could also be hung from her bowsprit. She really was a very small ship to cross the world’s oceans: Duyfken (meaning ‘little dove’ in Dutch) would easily fit in an Olympic swimming pool, and her mainmast was the same height as her length; 24 metres. She drew around 2.4 metres, which made her good for exploring and patrolling the reef-bound seas of the Indies.
With a dozen other ships – all larger than her– she made the long and hazardous 14,000 nautical mile voyage from Holland to Java, leaving in the freezing northern winter of 1603 and rounding the Cape of Good Hope in the depths and storms of the southern winter. The fleet arrived at the VOC base at Bantam a year after departing Europe, and sailed onward to take on the Portuguese at Ambon, the strongest fortress of the Indies.
In Dutch parlance, she was a jacht (yacht); a small vessel used for scouting, communications and cargo carrying. While jachts were small, in terms of quantity of hulls and cargo capacity, according to Robert Parthesius in Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters, they made up the major part of the overall fleet in the East Indies at the time (modern Indonesia).
The VOC termed Duyfken a Third-Rate yacht, and graded her as having a cargo capacity of 25 last; a measure used variably to define either a weight of around 2 tonnes, or a volume of about 2.7 cubic metres. Capacity to haul spices and trade goods was fundamental to the ships of the VOC, and not just the great East Indiamen. Even the little jachts had to haul their share of spices, and stand in the battle line as required.
For battle, Duyfken was armed only with two small iron cannon–perhaps six or nine pounders–six smaller guns and four ‘stone-slingers’ which would likely be rail-mounted swivel guns firing a small stone ball or scatter shot. With such a small crew, only minimal weapons could be served and reloaded.
FIRST DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA
After assisting in the capture of Ambon, Duyfken sailed the seas delivering spices, before being dispatched on a reconnaissance mission to the south of the Spice Islands. Under the command of Captain Willem Janszoon, the jacht was sent to follow up reports of a ‘southland’ rich in gold. The VOC was foremost a trading organisation, and was interested in any possibility of profitable ventures in undiscovered lands.
With the year-end easterlies blowing from astern, Janszoon took his ship to Banda and then New Guinea, before following its coast south. He missed identifying the opening between New Guinea and Australia–unsurprisingly, as it is shallow and strewn with islands–leaving it for Spaniard Luis Torres to be the first to sail through and chart it a few months later.
Duyfken picked up the western side of Cape York near the modern mining town of Weipa in February 1606 and continued down the coast for around 200 nautical miles. There were no ports, towns or recognisable habitation, and it was quickly apparent there was nothing of value to trade with the wild indigenous tribes they observed. When several crewmen were killed in skirmishes with the aboriginals, and with no promise of tradeable products in sight, Janszoon turned about and sailed back along the coast, across the unknown strait, and returned to Banda.
She later formed part of a squadron that established Fort Orange on Ternate in the clove islands of the Moluccas, and was posted as a guard ship there for a time in 1606. Two years later, the Dutch attacked the Spanish fort on Tidore Island and then attempted to capture Makian Island to the south. The Spanish had a fort on the island, and the attack was challenged by several of their galleys. During this operation, two Dutch Indiamen ships, the Walcheren and the China were sunk with all hands by what was variously described as a ‘sea-quake,’ or a tsunami.
In the battle with the galleys, the little Duyfken sustained heavy damage and she was taken to Ternate where she was deemed unrepairable. The ‘little dove’ was scuttled just off the reefs, and her bones rest there still, among the Spice Islands where she served much of her time.
THE DUYFKEN REPLICA
After the success of the replica of Cook’s Endeavour, completed in 1993, Fremantle and Western Australia looked for another project to utilise the historic ship-building skills developed during its construction. They decided on a replica of the VOC Duyfken, recognising its importance in Australia’s history as the first recorded discoverer of the continent
The project had its challenges as there were no construction records or drawings for the Duyfken and the design had to be blended together combining extensive research of contemporary artwork, shipping contracts, sailor’s sketches and shipwreck archaeological reports. Once the design was finalised, the construction was carried out as authentically as possible, down to selection of Latvian oak as the planking timber. Forgotten trades like riggers, blacksmiths, spar-makers, sailmakers and block-makers had to be re-learnt, and crew had to be found to learn to sail her.
The replica Duyfken was launched in 1999, and set off on her first voyage north up the West Australian coast in April 2000. She sailed all the way up to the Spice Islands, where her namesake lived and died, and then recreated the voyage of discovery, back down to Cape York.
Later, she sailed all the way to the Netherlands via the Indian Ocean, back to where the original was born, testament to the amazing expertise and timelessness of Dutch seventeenth century ship building technology.
After more extensive voyaging, Duyfken is now based at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, and available for day tours around the harbour. If you are visiting Sydney, definitely look her up; it’s a great way to explore Sydney Harbour.
Climbing aboard will also highlight what a small ship she is, and was. When you think of twenty crew, a load of spices, cannons, supplies, rope and blocks, it really makes you wonder how on earth it all fit. The replica Duyfken is a great salute to the original Duyfken, and we are lucky that a dedicated team put in the effort to allow us a real look at what an Age of Discovery explorer really looks like.
Sources and further reading: To Build a Ship, Robert Garvey, UWAP, 2001; Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters, Robert Parthesius, AUP, 2010; 1606 Discovery of Australia, Henry van Zanden, Rio Bay, 1997, Spice Islands Forts, Simon Pratt, Moshpit, 2020.
