Page:Early voyages to Terra Australis.djvu/269

 VOYAGE OF WII,LE:\r DE VLAMINGH. 113

resolved that, " for various reasons," the expedition should be undertaken from the Cape of Good Hope, under the command of William de Vlamingh, with orders to land at the islands of Tristan d'Aciinha, on this side of the Cape, and also at the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, to examine and to survey them.

For this purpose three ships were fitted out : the frigate De GcelvincJc, commodore Willem de Vlamingh ; the hooker De Nijptang, Captain Gerrit Collaert ; and the galiot We- seltje, Captain Cornelis de Vlamingh, son of the commodore.

" On Thursday, the ord of May, 1696, at one o'clock in the morning, the noble Burgomaster Hinlopen sent the Company's boat, having on board the Commander Barent Fockesz, with orders that we shoukl put to sea at daybreak." They accordingly weighed anchor, and set sail northwards towards England.

On the result of this expedition the Governor-General and Council of India report to the Directors of the Council of Seventeen as follows : —

" For the result of the voyage of the three above-men- tioned ships, which, according to the order of the Gentle- men Seventeen of the 10th of November 1695, and 16th of March 1696, and according to your instruction of the 2ord of April of the same year, have prosperously completed their journey over the islands of Tristan d'Acunha, the Cape, islands of Amsterdam and St. Paulo, and have also arrived here, both crew and vessels in a tolerably good con- dition, we shall principally have to refer you to their jour- nals and notes, together with their maps and some drawings of those places ; all of which, with the draughtsman himself, the overseer of the infirmary Victor Victorsz, will reach you by the ship 's Latds Weharcn ; the drawings, packed up in one box, consisting of eleven pieces, viz. : —

7 of several places on the South Land. 1 of the island Tristan d'Acunha.

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