On 30 July 1653 the jaght the SPERWER (the Sparrow Hawk) of the VOC (The United East Indian Company) sailed from Taiwan to Nagasaki. Under normal circumstances the jaght would have arrived at least at the end of November in Nagasaki, However it never arrived there and it never returned to Taiwan either. It disappeared without trace. As months went by, the governors of the VOC, gave up all hopes and in October the ship, its crew and its precious cargo were officially declared to be lost.

Almost thirteen years later the chief of the VOC-factory in Nagasaki received the peculiar message that a number of eight Dutchmen,exotically dressed and floating in a primitive barge, was picked up by the Japanese at one of the islands of the Goto-archipelago. They would be brought to Nagasaki by the Japanese authorities as soon as possible. On 14 September 1666 they arrived at the docks of Nagasaki. It appeared to be a part of the crew of the lost ship the SPERWER. In a fragile Korean fishermen's boat they started off ten days before, with a risky journey to freedom, from a place at the south coast from Korea.

The Journal of Hendrick Hamel

Journal, describing the fate of the officers and crew of the VOC-jaght the SPERWER in the period from 16 August, when the jaght shipwrecked off the coast of the island Quelpaert, south of the coast of Coree till September 1666, when eight of the survivors from Coree arrived in Nangasackij in Iapan with description of nation and country of Coree.

By order from the Governor-General and the Counsel of the Indies, the jaght the SPERWER sailed at 18 June 1653 from Batavia, with destination Taijoan (Tainan). One of the passengers aboard was Mr. Cornelis Caesar who would relieve Mr. Nicolaes Verburgh as governor of Taijoan, Formosa (Taiwan). After a prosperous journey the jaght arrived on 16 July here after in the roadstead of Taiwan, where Mr. Caesar disembarked and the cargo was unloaded. At 30 July, the jaght left by order from the governor and the Council from Taijoan to Iapan.

The day thereafter, the weather was beautiful, but in the evening there was a storm coming up from the coast of Formosa, which increased in the course of the night. On 1 August we were at dawn break in the neighborhood of a small island. We tried to anchor at the leeward of this island to shelter for the strong wind and high waves. With a lot of effort we succeeded to do so. But we could only pay out the anchor rope a little, because behind us was a big reef, on which the surf ranted and raved heavily. The skipper discovered this island purely by chance, when he was looking out of the window from the back of the ship. Because of the rain and the dark weather the sight was so bad that we could only see a musket shot far. We were not far from being stranded which would wreck the ship irrevocably.

When it brightened up a little bit, we discovered that we were that close to the coast of China that we could see troops of armed Chinese on the beach hoping our ship would strand. With the help of the Almighty this disaster was not to happen. Because the storm didn't decrease but increased, we stayed anchored that day and the following night. At the morning of 2 August, the weather was calm. Because the Chinese were still waiting for us like hungry wolves at the beach, we decided to raise the anchor and set sail, to get out of sight of the Chinese and to get into full sea. The day and the following night the weather was calm.

At the morning of the third of August we discovered that the current of the sea drifted us back for another 20 miles, so we could spot the coast of Formosa again. We sailed then with good weather and a soft breeze between that island and the mainland of China. At 11 August, the wind rose with rain coming from the southeast, so we set course in the direction of northeast and northeast-east. At 12, 13 and 14 August the weather became worse and worse with a lot of wind which was changeable, hence we had to hoist the sails in order to lower them the next moment. On top of that the sea became so turbulent, that the ship swayed heavily and sprang leaks at several places.

Because of the continuous rain we couldn't take our bearings, so just had to wait where the wind would bring us. Most of the time we navigated with lowered sails, to decrease the risk to be thrown at the coast of one or the other island by the violent storm, as much as possible.

At 15 August, the wind was so fierce, that we couldn't understand each other on deck because of the howling of the wind. Moreover the ship took a lot of water now, so we had to pump or drown. Besides high seas came rolling over, so we expected the ship to sink any minute. At dusk a wave as high as a house swept away the galleon and a part of the back of the ship. The bowsprit swayed dangerously to and fro, that we were afraid to lose the whole bow. Everything was done to repair the damage. Because of the heavy swaying of the ship and the high waves, we didn't succeed in doing so. For safekeeping us, ship and cargo the skipper thought it would be best to hoist the jib a little, so we could keep the ship straight into the waves. While some of the mates were busy doing so, a huge wave came over, washed them nearly from the yard and the ship was filled with water.

Here upon the skipper shouted: "Men, we are in Gods hand. Because one or two more of these waves and we will be scuppered. We can't do anything anymore."

It had just stricken two glasses of the middle watch, when the lookout shouted: "land ashore". He added that we were just one musket shot away from it. The darkness and the rain were the reason we didn't notice the land earlier. We dropped anchors immediately after tacking, by means of the rudder. But because of the depth of the sea and the speed of the ship, which resulted of the storm, the anchors didn't catch and the ship stranded. In three jolts, the ship was dashed against the rocks.

Of the ones who were below decks in their bunks, several had no chance to come up to save their skin. Of the ones on deck, several jumped overboard, others were swept away by the waves. With fifteen men we reached the coast where we crawled with much effort on the rocks. Some of us still wore their night gowns, and others were heavily wounded.

In the beginning we thought we were the only survivors, but a little later we heard above the roaring of the storm, the moaning of the people in the wreck. Because it was that dark we couldn't distinguish anything and we couldn't undertake a rescue attempt.

On 16 August, at dawn, the ones who could still move reasonably walked along the beach to see if there were any survivors. Here and there a few of them appeared. It seemed that 36 men survived the shipwrecking, of which a number of them, as said before, were heavily wounded. We inspected the wreck, in which we found a man, who was jammed between two big beams. After we freed him from this perilous position, he lived for another three hours after which he gave up his ghost.

We were sad in our minds, because in less than 15 minutes a beautiful ship like this had changed into a wreck, while of the 64 crew members only 36 survived the disaster. Then we searched the beach to see if any corpses had been washed ashore. We found skipper Reijnier Egberse from Amsterdam at around 10 or 12 fathoms (A fathom is 1,698 meters, so about 18 meters) from the waterline, with his one arm under his head. We buried him immediately, as well as the seven sailors we found dead hither and thither.

This story about the shipwreck of the SPERWER was copied from the beautiful website by Mr. Henny Savenije, on which he has published his study of the first contacts between Korea and the Western World (by the the Dutch) in the early 17th Century. See http://www.henny-savenije.demon.nl/index2.htm

ANCIENT DOCUMENT FOUND REVEALING LOCATION OF HAMEL'S ARRIVAL

A record was discovered about the arrival of the 'Hamel' people, who, in the Chosun period, during the reign of King Hyojong, went back to their country The Netherlands, reporting for the first time about Korea to the western world.

On the 8th (May 1999) a document was found in academic circles, written by Lee Ik Tae, who was in service with the governor of Cheju in the period 1694 - 1696. It says: "In the fourth year of King Hyojong, 1653, 7th month 24th day, 64 people were found, among them Hendrik Yamse. 26 people died and 2 were ill. Only 36 people lived.

In this document, the place where the boat was wrecked is described as "Dae Ya su yon byon" This is interpreted as possibly being in the area nowadays known as North Cheju district, Hankyong county, Kosan village, Hanjangdong community. Because among the local inhabitants, this place is also known as "Daemul" and as "Kunmul", both meaning "big water" and that suits the above description.

This all proves that the arrival place is not in South Cheju district, Andok county, at a place called "dragon's head" near the Sanbang mountain. Untill now people guessed this was the arrival place, from "Hamel's journal", written by Hamel. But the ancient record upsets this theory completely.

The head administrator of the Kosan middle school, mr. Ko Dong-hee, has done research of the local history for a long time and he points out that both on the map "Cheju-do Sam Chong" and on the "Dung Ko map", south of Kosan the name (in Chinese) "Dae Ya Su Po" exists. He believes that the ancient record now gives adequate support for the new findings.

Bibliography and Sources:

Bruijn, J.R., Gaastra, F.S., Schöffer, I. Dutch-Asiatic Shipping In The 17th and 18th Centuries (3 Vols). The Hague, 1979, 1987

Hove, H.J. van. Hollanders in Korea. Utrecht, 1989