CEYLON 400th YEAR RELATION WITH THE NETHERLANDS

[aukepalmhof]

Sri Lanka issued in 2002 one stamp for the 400th year relation with Netherland, the stamp shows the arrival of the first Dutch ships under Admiral Joris van Spilbergen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joris_van_Spilbergen in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Three ships owned by and equipped by the Compagnie de Moucheron sailed from Veere in the Dutch Province of Zeeland to the East Indies. Total crewmembers onboard the three ships 225.

SCHAEP (SCHAAP) English SHEEP of 110 ton.

RAM 110 ton. Guyon LeFort died 26 June 1601 she came under command of Sebald de Weert and was sold to the VOC.

LAM (LAMB) a yacht or pinas tonnage?

The report describes that the fleet departed "in Godt's names" from Veere on 5 May 1601. On the Ram 110 ton, under command of vice-admiral Guyon Lefort who had commanded the previous two trips to the East Indies, the SCHAEP was the Admiral ship with Joris van Spilbergen as general and Pieter Cornelisz as captain, while on the yacht LAM skipper Willem Jansz was in command.

From 10 to 15 May, however, they had to repair one of the ships in the English port of Dartmouth because this turned out to be a leak, which meant that a lot of bread had become wet and was thrown overboard.
They were already at Madeira on 29 May and two days later at Palma. On 11 June they exchanged shots with a few Portuguese ships when they wanted to enter the port of Porto Dale in the mouth of the Gambia River.
Fortunately, only three or four crew were injured, while two or three Portuguese were killed and some injured. A Portuguese ship was also seized, but returned a few days later when the Portuguese confessed "their own fault and guilt”. A week later they left again after they had "washed their ships and made repairs on all ships"

After the departure of the Cape Verde Islands, they arrived in Annabon, Equatorial Guinea on 26 July, where they left on 30 August, and then reached Table Bay on 15 November.

Van Spilbergen reaches a bay which he calls "Table Bay" by reason of a high mountain, flat on top and square like a table. He lands and the Dutch are granted permission to bring a tent ashore for the ill of their ships.
On 1 January they left again and arrived on 1 February at Sofola (now New Sofola in Mozambique), where they stayed for three days. They reached Comoros on 17 February, from where they sailed on 12 April. Ceylon was reached on 30 May, where they stayed until 03 September.
31 May 1602 - Batticaloa, Ceylon - Van Spilbergen anchors in Batticaloa harbour with the "LAM" and the "SCHAAP " after twelve months of voyage. He stays for 4 months
03 July 1602 - Batticaloa, Ceylon - The "RAM" arrives in Batticaloa
06 July 1602 - Kandy, Ceylon - Van Spilbergen meets King Vimaladharmasuriya I of Kandy
03 September 1602 - Batticaloa, Ceylon - After negotiating with the King of Kandy, van Spilbergen sets sail to Aceh
They visited Aceh and the surrounding area from 16 September to 3 April 1603. They finally reached Bantam on 27 April.

After considerable action, the fleet departed from Bantam on 28 August 1603 with 5500 bags of pepper, 200 bags of nuts, different types of stones, amber gray, cinnamon, silk, porcelain, mace and indigo. On 08 November they rounded the Cape of Good Hope, arrived in St. Helena on 26 November and stayed there for a month to refresh themselves. There they also encountered the ship DE JAGER that had been so leak that they had to stay on St. Helena for four months to repair the ship.
On 29 December, they left again with "Godt praise" (thank God) with live goats and pigs as provision on board and reached the equator, on 14 January 1605. They finally reached Vlissingen on 24 March 1605, where they anchored and thanked "Godt for his ghenade and merckelicke custody."

By looking up the three vessels in the VOC database, all three were mentioned for this voyage but then the database gives not more voyages for the VOC, so the fate of the three vessels is not known.

http://www.familiehoutepen.nl/nl/eigena ... sreis.html and various other web-sites.
Sri Lanka 2002 16.50R sg?, scott?