Amsterdam (East Indiaman)

[john sefton]

On 3 July 1990 the Netherlands issued a set of two stamps, the 65c value was called the VOC-Stamp. This stamp was composed of four parts, they are:
Top - Detail of a painting by Abraham Storck (1644-1705) - Detail of an etching by Joseph Mulder (after 1693)
Centre - Photo/slide of the wreck of the East Indiaman AMSTERDAM at Bulverhythe, South England.
Bottom - A part of the monogram of the VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie; which means 'United East India Company'
At the beginning of 1748 the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC had ordered their shipyard to build the AMSTERDAM, a ship of the 150' standard type (this was the biggest
of the three types to which the VOC had decided in March 1742. Then they agreed that they would build ships of 150',136' and 120' in length and every Chamber had to adhere to these agreements. (1 Amsterdam foot was 29.31cm)
The AMSTERDAM was the 20th of this class. Dimensions of the hull were almost 42 1/2m (150') and about 12m wide. Armament was 42 guns. Eight 12pdrs. Sixteen 8pdrs. Eight 4pdrs and Ten swivel guns. Displacement was 1100 to 1200 tons and they could carry some 700 tons of cargo.
In April 1748 they started to build the AMSTERDAM and by October of that same year they had completed her - which was very fast for the time.
Early November 1748 AMSTERDAM lay in the roads of Texel, the island in the North of the Netherlands, from which the VOC ships started their voyage to East India (now Indonesia)
Captain W Klump master of the AMSTERDAM tried to leave between the 15 and 21 November but strong West winds stopped him. Eventually on 8 January 1749 the AMSTERDAM left with 333 people on board (Captain Klump, 3 women. 190 sailors, 128 soldiers and 11 craftsmen)
It took two weeks to pass the Straits of Dover and to reach Pevensey Bay (English South coast) here she touched a sandbank and lost her rudder. That is the reason she looked for shelter behind Beachy head where on 23 January she came to anchor, waiting for better weather.
On 26 January AMSTERDAM had to be beached. It was a favourable place to beach, being at the mouth of a silted up river. Doing this Captain Klump saved his ship, passengers, crew and cargo, among which were 28 boxes containing bars of silver.
The AMSTERDAM sank very quickly in the mud, and nine days after the stranding the cargo could not be reached. In March 1749 the ship and cargo were given up for lost, 27 of the 28 boxes of silver only were brought back to Amsterdam via London.
Remnants of AMSTERDAM are still (1991) to be seen at very low tides at the beach of Bulverhythe, a little town between Hastings and Beachy Head on the English South coast, which the stamp also shows. In 1969 and 1970 'Treasure Hunters' removed large quantities of objects from the AMSTERDAM, metal detectors and an excavator were used.
All kinds of protests were raised against this, then Peter Marsden of the London Museum came to the rescue. In 1973 the 'Protection of Wrecks' Act was passed and the AMSTERDAM became one of the first wrecks to be protected.
The British authorities acknowledged the Dutch Government as the legal heir of the VOC.
In 1975 a Dutch foundation was founded, which decided in 1983 to have some archeaologic researches. These took place in 1984, 1985 and 1986 in an attempt to salvage the wreck and take it to a new museum in the Netherlands.
The AMSTERDAM is one of about 30 East Indiamen which have been discovered along the routes to East India in the last 25 years. Most of them have been excavated by
professionals, bringing to mind the BATAVIA, VERGULDE, DRAECK, ZEEWIJK and the ZUYTDORP which have been mentioned on Australian stamps in one way or another.
The WITTE LEEUW is another one,She is depicted on stamps of St Helena.

Log Book November 1991

Netherlands SG1579