Tasman, Abel Janszoon.

[john sefton]

Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 – 1659)

Born in Lutjegast, Groningen, he joined the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (V.O.C.) [=Dutch East India Company] in about 1632.

He went out to Batavia (Djakarta) and is known to have served as first mate of the Weesp and captain of the Mocha engaging pirates, smugglers and rebels in skirmishes to protect the interests of the V.O.C.

He returned to Holland in 1637 as senior officer of the Banda, returning to the East Indies as captain of the Engel in 1638, bringing his wife Jannetje and daughter Claesjen with him. (Tasman, and his wife family are depicted in a picture by Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp of 1637.) Arriving in Batavia on 11th October 1638 he went out on patrol until May 1639.

On 2nd June 1639 Anthony van Diemen, governor of the V.O.C. in Batavia sent Mattijs Hendrickszoon Quast in the Graft to Formosa (Taiwan) and asked Tasman in the Engel to support him.

Tasman then became involved in trading with Japan and Cambodia.

In 1642, a Chinese merchant in Sumatra was giving the V.O.C. a lot of grief. Tasman eventually brought the man back to Batavia as a prisoner.

Van Diemen in conjunction with the geographer, Franchoys Jacobszoon Visscher, gave Tasman orders to find the great southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita.

On the 14th August 1642, the ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen left Batavia for Mauritius with Tasman in charge and Visscher as an interested party hoping to confirm the existence of Terra Australis.

Leaving Mauritius, he headed south and discovered Amsterdam Island in the Southern Ocean. Continuing south and then heading east. Through a bank of fog, he came across another coastline on 14th December 1642, which was to become Anthonij van Diemen’s Land (=Tasmania). He saw and named Mounts Heemskerck and Zeehaen in the area of Macquarie Harbour. Sailing south he tried to anchor in Storm Bay, rounded the Suyd Caep (=Cape Pillar) eventually anchoring in Frederick Henries Baej (northeast of the Forestier Peninsula), where his crew went ashore on 2nd December 1642.

Proceeding up the coat he discovered Maria Ejlandt (Maria Island) and Vanderlin’s Ejlandt (actually part of the Freycinet Peninsula). A council of officers decided to proceed eastwards in search of the Solomon Islands and so the discovery of the Bass Strait and that Tasmania is an island was left to others.

On 13th December 1642, after crossing the thousand or so miles of what is now the Tasman Sea, European eyes saw Staten Landt for the first time. It was originally named Staten Landt as Tasman hoped that it joined the land of the same name discovered near Cape Horn by Schouten & Le Maire.

Subsequently the first Staten Landt was proved to be an island and Tasman’s discovery was renamed New Zealand.

Heading northwards, he passed Capes Foulwind and Farewell (both named by Cook) and anchored in Moorenaars Baej (= Murderers’ Bay, where four of the crew members, who were trying to row from one ship to the other were killed by the Maoris. After this incident, he never tried landing in New Zealand.

Continuing northwards, he entered Zeehaen's Bocht (= Cook Strait). Tasman conjectured that it could be a route to another sea, but the prevailing winds prevented him from exploring further as he was afraid he might get trapped and not be able to extricate himself.

He sailed up the east coast as far as Cape Maria Van Diemen, but was either unable to land or did not want a repeat of the Murderers’ Bay incident, to get fresh water.

At Drij Koningen Ejlandten (= Three King’s Islands) on 7thJanuary 1643 he headed northeast where he encountered Amsterdam Island (=Tongatapu) on the 19th. Here he received a friendly welcome and was able to re-provision.

His rather erratic journey back to Batavia was via Prinz Willem Ejlandt (=Prince William Island), Rotterdam Ejlandt (=Nomuka, Anamocka) to the east of the Fijian Islands, New Ireland, the north coast of New Guinea and passing between Buntung and Celebes (=Sulawesi).

However, he had proved New Holland (=Australia ) to be an island without actually seeing it!

Although he had made some very important discoveries, the Council of the V.O.C. found him to be lacking in his investigations and that he had not explored the seas to the west of Chile.

He was dispatched on a second expedition to investigate geography of New Guinea and New Holland.

Leaving Batavia in February 1643 with three ships – the Limmen with Visscher as pilot, the Zeemeeuw under the command of Dirck Cornelis Haen and the Bracq under Jasper Jansz Koos, he encountered Banda Island he coasted New Guinea as far as the Torres Strait without recognising New Guinea and New Holland were separate islands.

Tasman then followed the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and along the coast of Arnhem Land past the Dundas Strait and Melville Island and on to the North West Cape.

Although he was promoted to the rank of commander and appointed to the Council, this voyage, despite accurate maps, was also considered to be a failure because he had failed to find any potentially wealthy lands.

In 1647 he led a fleet to Thailand (=Siam) to trade and the following year failed to capture a Manila galleon. He left the service of the V.O.C. in disgrace and set up, quite successfully, as an independent trader. He died on or around 22nd October 1659.

1.Cuyp is believed to have painted the picture, but it has not been fully authenticated.
2.The unknown southern land. This land mass was conjectured to exist between about 40° & 50° south down towards the South Pole because it had to balance the land masses of the northern hemisphere.
3.Now Golden Bay.
4.He did not see Mount Egmont (=Taranaki) as it was shrouded by low cloud.
5.Not the same Amsterdam Island he named earlier.
6.The transition of the name New Holland to Australia is mainly due to Matthew Flinders. James Cook uses the term once in his journals.

This article was submitted by Richard Hindle.

See also http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=2&t=7829

Sources:

The Encyclopedia of Exploration to 1800 by Raymond John Howgego, Hordern House, 2003, ISBN1-875567-36-4.

The Farthest Corner – New Zealand, a twice discovered Land by Harry Morton & Carol Morton Johnston, Century Hutchinson Ltd., 1988, ISBN 1-84119-011-4.

[aukepalmhof]

On 13 December 1642 Abel Tasman, one of the most capable captains in the service of the Dutch East India Company, sighted the New Zealand coast from his ship the HEEMSKERCQ. The billowing surf and rocky shore made landing impossible and he altered course to the north and sailed up the coast. Tasman, who had left Batavia in August 1642, accompanied by a fly boat, the ZEEHAEN, was engaged in a search for new and profitable lands with which his Company might trade according to the custom of that day. He thought the land sighted was part of "Staten Land" but the country was subsequently named after the Netherlands province, Nieuw Zeeland (New Zealand).
New Zealand 1940 2d sg616, scott
Source:New Zealand Post.

[Anatol]

PMR 2019; [P].