• DIE ONGELUKKIGE EN TREURIGE VERHAAL VAN DIE SKIP DIE GOUDEN BUYS, 1693, 'n VOC-skip uit Enkhuizen gestrand in St Helenabaai aan die Kaapse Weskus, Afrikaanse vertaling deur Wium van Zyl

DIE ONGELUKKIGE EN TREURIGE VERHAAL VAN DIE SKIP DIE GOUDEN BUYS, 1693, 'n VOC-skip uit Enkhuizen gestrand in St Helenabaai aan die Kaapse Weskus, Afrikaanse vertaling deur Wium van Zyl

: van Gessel (M.) & Kieskamp (A.) comps.

R 200.00
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 147pp., illus., maps, paperback, Hemel & See Boeke, Vermont, 2021

ISBN: 9781037044595

 

First published in 1695 in Dutch as Ongeluckig, of droevigh verhaal van t'schip de Gouden Buys.

Introduction by Marieke van Gessel and Andrea Kieskamp.

In May 1693 the Dutch East Indiaman the Gouden Buys set sail on her maiden voyage from the city of Enkhuizen to the Cape Colony. At the equator the ship was becalmed for weeks and 183 of the 190 men on board died from scurvy and typhoid. The ship then ran aground in St. Helena Bay on 19 October 1693 and five of the remaining crew were killed. One of the two remaining survivors, Lourens Thijszoon, walked to a Dutch outpost, from where a message was sent to the Cape Colony. Governor Simon van der Stel sent four ships to the wreck to retrieve the valuable cargo on board.

One of these, the Dageraad, with 17 chests of specie on board, was wrecked on her journey back to Cape Town, and 16 of her crew members drowned. Daniël Silleman, the only other remaining survivor from the Gouden Buys, was also on board. He survived and eventually returned to Holland. The book published in 1695 is based on his story.

Poet and translator Wium van Zyl is Professor Emeritus of Afrikaans and Dutch at the University of the Western Cape.