8 house bricks from the wreck of ZEEWIJK

ZEEWIJK (Sea-Witch) was a 145ft long, 278 ton, 18th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). ZEEWIJK was built in 1725. On her maiden voyage with master Jan Steyns of Middelburg at the helm, the ship carried 36 iron and bronze guns, 6 swivel guns, a complement of 208 seamen and soldiers as well as a cargo of general building supplies and 315,836 guilders in 10 chests.

A new ship of the Zeeland Chamber of the VOC, her maiden voyage was from Vlissingen (Netherlands) to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), departing in November 1726. In darkness at 7:30pm on 9 June 1727 the ship ran aground on Half Moon Reef on the western edge of Pelsart Group of the Houtman Abrolhos (60 km west of the future site of Geraldton).

A group of 11 survivors and First Mate Pieter Langeweg set off for Batavia in the longboat on 10 July, but were never heard of again. Utilising materials from the wrecked ZEEWIJK and local mangrove timber, the remaining crew built a 20m long sloop in 4 months, named “Sloepie”. On 26 March, 88 men set off for Batavia, arriving safely one month later with the loss of six others on the way.