Name/TitleCoin from the wreck of the Dutch ship BATAVIA
About this objectCoin from the wreck of the Dutch ship BATAVIA.
BATAVIA was the flagship of the Dutch East India Company. In 1629 whilst enroute to Java it struck the Morning Reef off Beacon Island on the Western Australian Coast and sunk. The tale of the survivors of the wreck is legendary with many of the passengers and crew being murdered by mutineers.
In 1972-76 the site was excavated by the Maritime Archaeology Department from the Western Australian Museum and now forms the basis of the display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum.
Collection of archaeological shipwreck material salvaged by Ben Cropp.
Date Made1624
Period17th century
Place MadeAmsterdam, Netherlands
Medium and MaterialsSilver.
Measurements25g weight.
Object TypeCurrency and Shares
Object numberSF000986
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art