On this stamp of 20p issued by St Helena in 1976 is depict the Dutch VOC ship WITTE LEEUW, there is not a painting or drawing of the vessels, that the designer of the stamp used a vessel of the VOC of that time. The other stamps of the set show us some porcelain a gun salvaged from the wreck. The 3p stamp depict Portuguese ships off St Helena, the names of the ships are know but not any details.
Built in 1601 for the Chamber of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) of Amsterdam, built at Amsterdam, most probably on the VOC yard at Amsterdam, as a yacht.
Named WITTE LEEUW, (White Lion.)
Tonnage 350 last, about 700 tons. Dim. between 150 to 160ft, beam 36ft.
Armament between 24 and 30 guns, mostly iron guns but also some bronze guns.
She sailed on her first voyage from Texel on 23 April 1601, and arrived at Bantam 22 Feb. 1602. Most probably she made a coastal voyage in Indonesia, most yacht were used for the coastal trade and discovery voyages. She sailed from Bantam on 18 Oct. 1603 and arrived at the Netherlands in July 1604.
12 May 1605 she sailed from Texel under command of skipper Wouter Jakobsz, and arrived on 01 May 1606 at Johore, on arrival there were 104 persons on board.
19 June 1607 she sailed from Bantam bound for the Netherlands, were she arrived in May 1608.
The third voyage she sailed from Texel on 30 Jan. 1610 under command of Capt. Klaas Rutgersz. Smit in a convoy of 7 ships. During the voyage she lost the contact with the fleet and arrived at Bantam on 16 Nov. 1610. During the voyage she stayed at Verhagens Bay from 24 July till 3 Aug. and at Mayotte (one of the Comores Group in the Mozambique Channel) from 29 Aug. till 27 Sept.
After discharging she took part in a voyage along the islands and the Philippines, thereafter used in the spice trade in the Dutch East Indies.
November early December 1612 she loaded at Bantam spices and Ming porcelain (an source gives she had also 1.311 diamonds on board) for the home market, and under command of Capt. Roelof Simonz. de Bloem she sailed on 05 December 1612, together with three other vessels of the VOC for the Netherlands, during the voyage two English vessels joined the Dutch ships. A stopover at St Helena was made for fresh provisions, and on 01 June 1613 the ships sailed out from the Jamestown Bay anchorage. After sailing they run into two Portuguese carracks the CASA DA NOSSA SENHORA DE NAZARETH under command of Dom Jerônimo D’ Almeida, and the CONCEIÇAO.
The Dutch immediately attacked the two Portuguese vessels, but the WITTE LEEUW was not so lucky she got a hit in her powder room and an explosion followed which made so much damage that the WITTE LEEUW sank. A English source gives: John Tatton the master of the PEARL one of the English vessels told, one of his (WITTE LEEUW) peeces broke over his “Powder Roome”, as some thought, and the shippe blew up all to pieces, the after part of her, and so sunke presently. Also an other Dutch ship got damaged, and the Dutch retreated
Part of the crew were saved and reached the Netherlands on board of the two other ships the VLISSINGEN and BANTAM.
In 1976 more than 360 years after the wrecking of the WITTE LEEUW a diver Robert Stenuit, looking for treasures, located 5 guns in a water depth of 33.5 meters, after salvaged and new dives an other gun, silver objects, jewels, golden ornaments and Ming porcelain of the Wai Li period were found.
Due to the explosion of the poop, the remaining parts of the wreck are spread over a great area, till sofar not one of the 1.311 diamonds have been found.
On St Helena 1978 20p sg 346 and 1998 15p sg 767.
Source: Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries by J.R. Bruijn, F.S. Gaastra and Schöffer.
http://www.vocshipwrecks.nl/home_voyage ... leeuw.html http://www.naufragios.com.br/witteleeuw.htm Portuguese but has a nice print of the VOC yard at Amsterdam where the WITTE LEEUW was built.
Ceramic Load of the WITTE LEEUW by van der Pijl-Ketel.