Page:Early voyages to Terra Australis.djvu/332

 178 THE houtman's abrolhos.

have perished ; since, in addition to the Batavia in 1629, the Vergulde Draeck in 1656, the Ridderschap van Holland in 1693, and the Zuysdoiy in 1711, two others occur in the list here subjoined as lost between the Cape of Good Hope and Batavia.

The Englishmen who visited these sandbanks in 1840 found several remains of wrecked ships ; thus writes Mr. Crawford Pako •}

" I will relate a few circumstances w^hich were of great interest to us, as marking the position of ancient voyagers, who two hundred years before were similarly engaged to our- selves, and undergoing trial and probation such as we were then exposed to.

" Finding anchorage for our ship at the S.E. part of the southern group, near to a narrow strip of sand on the edge of the reef, which was scarcely large enough to be called an island, we found on it some remains of large timber, evidently a beam of a ship, through it an iron bolt of con- siderable dimensions ; but corrosion had gone on steadily so many years, that the slightest touch reduced it to the size of small wire. Near this were found various other fragments, which most probably had been parts of the same vessel ; but the most remarkable item was a copper coin of the East India N. Company, a doit bearing date 1620 (I think), which was good evidence that these were some of the re- mains of commodore Pelsart, in the ship Batavia. So the anchorage which we occupied was named by us Batavia Koads, and that particular group Pelsart's Group. On another island at the west side of the same group we found

^ Sic in original. The editor does not find this name in the Eng- lish navy. There is, in all probability, a mistake in the transcript of the word given as Pako. The passage quoted is stated in a note to have occurred in a letter dated March 31st, 1853, addressed to Captain WipfF of the Dutch navy, then commanding the corvette Sumatra off Sydney.