Ridderschap van Holland ("Knighthood of Holland") was a large retourschip ('return ship'), the largest class of merchantmen built by the Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

 (VOC) to trade with the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

. In 1694 the ship sailed for Batavia (now Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

) on her fifth voyage, but did not reach its destination and was never heard from again. She is now thought to have been shipwrecked off the west coast of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Construction details

She was built in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, Dutch Republic

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

 in 1682 by the VOC, and registered at Vlissingen. She was 164 feet long and 39.5 feet wide, with a gross tonnage

Tonnage

Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...

 of about 520 tons.

Early voyages

The Ridderschap van Holland undertook five voyages:

1. She departed Texel on 9 May 1683 under the command of Jakob Pietersz. Kool. She stayed at the Cape of Good Hope
   Cape of Good Hope
   The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
   
    from 14 September to 13 October, and arrived at Batavia on 27 November. On 8 February 1684 she left Batavia for Wielingen, staying at the Cape of Good Hope from 21 May to 20 June, and arriving at Wielingen on 13 October.
2. On 21 December 1684 she departed Wielingen under the command of Jan Gagenaar. After stopping at the Cape from 7 April to 10 May 1685, she arrived in Batavia on 17 July. On 4 December she began her return voyage to Texel under the command of D Hendrick Pronk. She stayed at the Cape of Good Hope from 9 March to 12 April 1686, and arrived at Texel on 20 July.
3. She began her third voyage on 3 January 1686, departed Texel for Batavia. She stopped at the Cape from 20 April to 3 May, and arrived at Batavia on 26 July. On 18 January 1688, she departed Ceylon en route to Amsterdam
   Amsterdam
   Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
   
   , under Pronk's command. She stopped at the cape from 10 April to 30 April, arriving at Amsterdam later that year.
4. She departed Texel on 26 September 1689, bound for Batavia under captain Alexander Simons. She arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 4 January 1690, departed the Cape on 6 February, and arrived at Batavia on 8 April. On 30 January 1692 she began her return voyage to Vlissingen, under the command of Jan Ammansz. It stopped at the Cape of Good Hope from 27 May to 26 June, and arrived at her destination on 14 October.

Final voyage

On 11 July 1693, the Ridderschap van Holland departed Wielingen on a voyage to Batavia. She arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 9 January 1694, remaining there until 5 February. She sailed from the Cape with a crew of around 300, and two passengers. She never reached her destination, and was never heard from again. Contemporary rumours suggested that she had sprung her mast rounding the Cape, limped north and been captured by pirates based at Fort Dauphin

Tôlanaro

Tôlanaro or Tolagnaro is a city in Madagascar. It is the capital of Anosy Region and of Tôlanaro District. It has a port of local importance, and a new port has been built at Ehoala...

, near the south-eastern corner of Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. However, Abraham Samuel, the pirate supposedly responsible, did not arrive in the area until 1697.

In 1697, Willem de Vlamingh

Willem de Vlamingh

Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the central west coast of Australia in the late 17th century.- Vlamingh and the VOC :...

 was sent with three ships to search for the Ridderschap van Holland at Île Saint-Paul

Île Saint-Paul

Île Saint-Paul is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . It is located about southwest of the larger Île Amsterdam, and south of Réunion...

 and Île Amsterdam

Île Amsterdam

New Amsterdam, Amsterdam Island, or Île Amsterdam is a French island in the Indian Ocean located at . It is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.- History :...

, and then along the west coast of Australia. Nothing was found. Two years later, two ships made investigations while visiting Madagascar, but without success.

It is probable that the Ridderschap van Holland was actually wrecked in the Pelsaert Group

Pelsaert Group

The Pelsaert Group is the southernmost of the three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos island chain. Nominally located at , it consists of a number of islands, the largest of which are Gun Island, Middle Island, and Pelsaert Island. The group is named after a Dutch "opperkoopman"...

 of the Houtman Abrolhos

Houtman Abrolhos

The Houtman Abrolhos is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. Nominally located at , it lies about eighty kilometres west of Geraldton, Western Australia...

 islands off the coast of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. The crew of a later East Indiaman, the Zeewijk

Zeewijk

The Zeewijk was an 18th century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company that was shipwrecked at the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia, on 9 June 1727. The survivors built a second ship, the Sloepie, enabling 82 out of the initial crew of 208 to reach their initial...

, which was wrecked on Pelsaert Island in 1727, discovered the remains of a Dutch ship of approximately the correct antiquity on their island, together with numerous artefacts, such as bottles, that suggested some of a ship's crew had survived in the islands for a considerable time. John Lort Stokes

John Lort Stokes

Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who travelled on HMS Beagle for close to eighteen years.Stokes grew up in Scotchwell near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He joined the Navy on 20 September 1824...

, captain of the HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...

, also saw these artefacts in 1840. It is now widely thought that these artefacts were from the Ridderschap van Holland, although it is possible that they came from the Fortuyn

Fortuyn (ship)

The Fortuyn was a ship owned by the Chamber of Amsterdam of the Dutch East India Company which was lost on its maiden voyage in 1724. It set sail for Batavia from Texel in the Netherlands on 27 September 1723. The ship reached the Cape of Good Hope on 2 January 1724, and continued on its voyage...

, which disappeared in 1724 and is now thought to have been wrecked near Cocos Islands

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The Territory of the Cocos Islands, also called Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka....

.

Any archaeological remains were destroyed by guano

Guano

Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...

mining on the island in the early 20th century, so positive identification of the wreck is now impossible.