Frederick de Houtman
He also sailed in 1598 1599 on a second voyage led by his brother Cornelis de Houtman. Cornelis was killed on that expedition, and Frederick was imprisoned by the Sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra, but used his two years of captivity to study the local Malay language and to make astronomical observations. These observations supplemented those made by Keyser on the first expedition and possibly contributed to the creation of 12 new southern constellations. In 1603 de Houtman published his stellar observations in an appendix to his dictionary and grammar of the Malayan and Malagasy languages.
He was present at the annexation of Bantam as a Dutch trading post in 1596 and Jacatra in 1602 when the Portuguese were expelled by the Dutch. The Dutch East India Company was established in that same year and he was appointed as a senior naval officer. 19 years later, age 50, he was appointed governor of the Moluccas, a post he held for three years until his retirement due to ill health and his subsequent return to his homeland in 1624. He died on 21st October 1627, aged 56, nine years after sighting the Western Australian coast on his fourth journey between Texel and Java in 1619.
Pelsart Island, Houtman's Abrolhos
In 1618 Houtman commanded a fleet of 11 Dutch trading ships which left Texel in December of that year. Houtman sailed aboard the Dordrecht, named after a town in the Netherlands, was skippered by Reyer Janszoon van Buiksloot. After Houtman left the Cape of Good Hope he followed the eastern route to the Indies according to the new regulations. Leaving the cape he sailed into a brisk wind and headed north-west, until on 17th July, 1619 they reached latitude 360 30' S whereupon they set a north-easterly course. On the evening of 19th July 1619 after travelling 240 miljen, Houtman sighted what he called 'The South Lands behind Java', somewhere between present day Mandurah and Bunbury. Heavy surf caused Houtman to abandon an attempt to go ashore.
Detail of "Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht", 1619, showing features labelled "Fr. Houtman's abrolhos"
After leaving the coast the following day Houtman passed an island (Rottnest) and then came again upon the mainland at latitude 290 32'S. The scenery had changed. What they saw was a low-lying land with a coastline fringed by dangerous reefs. On 29th July a 16 km stretch of islands and broken reefs was encountered. Houtman marked his chart 'Abri voll olos', an internationally used Portuguese phrase literally translated as 'keep your eyes open', a recognised warning to navigators to keep clear - a call which has a similar effect to 'fore' with golfers. The name appeared on all subsequent charts as Houtman's Abrolhos. At noon on 30th July, Houtman altered course eastward and sighted another stretch of land. He concluded that this was the 'Land of Eendracht'. After 6th August no more land was sighted until reaching the coast of Java 13 days later.
Zuytdorp Cliffs, D'Edel's Land
Two accounts of the voyage were recorded; one by Houtman and the second by Jacob D'Edel, who was a Councillor for the Indies, travelling aboard the Amsterdam on a return voyage to Jakarta. Both men wrote enthusiastically about the Southland in their reports to Prince Mauritz and the Council of the VOC. Houtman's description of the visit was recorded thus: "on the evening of the 19th we suddenly saw a land which we steered away from. On the 20th we found it to be a mainland coast extending north and south ... seemed to be a very good land, but we could not make the coast owing to breakers and heavy seas ... on the 29th we thought ourselves to be in open sea, shaped our course north by east, at night we unexpectedly came upon a low lying coast, a level broken country with reefs all round it ... this shoal is to be carefully avoided, it is lying in 280 46' S. On 2nd August ... turned our course eastward; at noon we again sighted land which the ship Eendracht discovered ... no doubt that all the land we saw in 22, 23, 25 degrees and which we sighted down to 33 degrees, is one uninterrupted mainland coast ..."
D'Edel described Australia as a 'red, clayish land, and, according to some people's description, could be found rich in gold'. It is worth noting that their complimentary descriptions of New Holland were not shared by subsequent explorers and discoverers until the visit of James Stirling in 1827. According to contemporary charts by cartographers, Hessel Gerritz and Thevenot, Houtman followed the coast from around latitude 290 to 260 S, though Johannes van Keulen has extended this to 320 to 200 S. This would appear to be accurate as D'Edel's report refers to an island (Rottnest?) which was first sighted on the same day as the mainland. The section of the coast seen by Houtman and D'Edel bore tha name D'Edel's Land for over 200 years.
Ships of the Antarctic Explorers The Discovery of New Zealand - Dumont d'Urville