The Vergulde Draeck sailed from the Netherlands bound for Batavia. The ship foundered in 1656 at Ledge Point, near the mouth of Moore River, leaving 68 survivors stranded. In 1658, two ships were sent to attempt a rescue. Aboard one of the ships, the Waeckende Boey, was officer-navigator Abraham Leeman van Santwits.
This book is a chronicle of the intrepid Leeman, one of the more astonishing heroes of the ocean. Translations of Leeman’s diary and other documents reveal his abandonment, with 13 other men, by their captain.
Leeman’s desperate journey to Java, in an overloaded open boat, battling reefs, swells and gales was an odyssey of leadership and courage.
