“We will have a true Dutch 16th century experience,” said the Australian National Maritime Museum’s Mirjam Hilgeman in an email to those of us scheduled to sail on the Duyfken. Wet weather was predicted for our Sydney Harbour cruise on the full-size replica of a 400-year-old ship that is authentic right down to its rig and its minimal shelter from the elements.
In a way, Mirjam was right, as the irritating rain was a reminder of just how stoic those 16th and 17th century sailors were. Yet we were lucky to have an engine, something the crew of the original Dutch ship had to manage without. And despite the rain, the water in the harbour was calm, whereas those early sailors braved often perilous conditions to explore the far reaches of the globe.
With Dutch heritage on my paternal side, the Maritime Museum’s ‘Sail on Duyfken’ experience is not only an opportunity to view the harbour from a beautiful-looking tall ship, but also an opportunity to reflect on my links to The Netherlands, its remarkable seafaring history, and (for better or worse) its colonial empire.
The original Duyfken (whose Dutch name means ‘little dove’) was the first recorded European ship to visit Australia, 164 years before Captain James Cook sailed the Endeavour up the east coast. Duyfken Captain Willem Janszoon is credited with the first authenticated European landing on Australian soil. A map he produced after surveying Cape York Peninsula in 1606 hangs today in the National Library in Vienna.
The replica ship, launched in Fremantle in 1999, was built by the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation in conjunction with the Maritime Museum of Western Australia. It joined the Australian National Maritime Museum fleet in 2020, doing Friday and Saturday afternoon sails on Sydney Harbour from March to June each year. For the rest of the year, it goes into maintenance mode. There’s much to be done on a ship built from oak timber with hemp rigging and hand-sewn flax sails.
It’s unknown precisely when the original Duyfken was built in The Netherlands but it is thought to have been around 1595. What is known is that in 1601 it sailed to Java, where it was bought two years later by the powerful Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) or Dutch East India Company, which became the world’s largest trade and shipping company in the 17th and 18th centuries, profiting hugely from the spice trade.
Despite the ship’s shallow draft, small size (80 feet long with three masts and six working sails) and steered with what now appears to be a very primitive whip staff, the Duyfken was fast, sturdy and manoeuvrable. Whereas the original ship had a crew of 20, our replica experience was manned by captain Callum, shipkeeper Mirjam, bosun Andrew and seven enthusiastic volunteers.
Mirjam hails from the Dutch town of Groningen and has been working on the Duyfken along with Andrew since 2009. The ‘little dove’, she says, “stole my heart, and Andrew’s too”. They run the ship like a well-oiled team, directing the volunteers and encouraging guests to help raise and lower the sails.
“You have to work as a team,” says the unflappable Mirjam as we’re told to walk our hands up the line so that one hand is on the line at any given time. And then as the yards go up, “say ‘heave!’ and all pull at the same time” she says, “so by magic that yard no longer weighs 500 kg, it only weighs 250”.
Once the sails are unfurled and we’re cruising gently on the harbour, we’re each presented with a box of snacks and a choice of beer, soft drink or Hunter Valley wine. Afterwards, there’s an opportunity to go down into the hold, where the crew slept on hammocks in a dark, claustrophobic space. Bricks on the floor provided ballast for the original ship, and so too is this replica lined with antique Dutch bricks.
What an experience it is to come face to face with 400-year-old technology in this time-machine vessel. Like the original Duyfken, the replica was built plank-first, ie. without a frame determining the shape of the hull. The timbers used for the frame, some more than 10 centimetres thick, were bent to shape over open fires, an ancient technique that required incredible skill.
One of the highlights of the cruise is watching Andrew fire the replica ship’s 466kg bronze gun. Built by a Dutch shipwright, it was modelled on guns lifted off the wreck of the Wasa in Sweden, weapons that had also been built by a Dutch ship builder. Although the original Duyfken was lightly armed and largely free of skirmishes, it was involved in a crucial battle at Bantam, Java, in 1602 when five Dutch ships drove away a fleet of 30 Portuguese ships and galleys, thus ending a century of Portuguese monopoly in the spice trade.
Because it’s so wet on the day of our sail, Andrew is making no guarantees about how the gunpowder will go. Gunpowder doesn’t like moisture but he’ll give it a go. Hanging over the side of the ship – wearing a life jacket I hasten to add – he loads 50 grams of gunpowder using a ramrod stick to poke the gunpowder into the gun in much the same way it would have been done 400 years ago.
Checking that the range is clear — 20 metres is needed – he takes a long stick with a flame at one end, lifts the cap on the touch hole, and pokes the flame in so that it makes contact with the gunpowder. In a fraction of a section, it lets off a bang which startles us all, even though we knew it was coming.
There’s a great camaraderie as we sail under the Harbour Bridge and are overtaken by another tall ship, the graceful Southern Swan. Mirjam encourages us to call out a loud ‘hip hip hooray’, with passengers on the other vessel reciprocating with a similar greeting. How wonderful that the gun is now used only for fun and the faster ship is a friendly one.
Although the route varies according to the conditions of the day, our three-hour cruise has taken us from the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, past Barangaroo to Birchgrove, and then back in the other direction, under the Harbour Bridge past Circular Quay, the Opera House, Fort Denison and other landmarks.
Despite the bleak weather, it’s been a marvellous way to spend an afternoon on one of the world’s finest harbours. It is living history and we’ve loved every minute of it.
Deep Sea Challenger
Before boarding the Duyfken, we had some time to kill so we took the opportunity to see the Maritime Museum exhibition, Ultimate Depth: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea.
The exhibition highlights the cutting-edge technologies which unveil the secrets of the deep, and there’s no denying its main drawcard is the Deep Sea Challenger which James Cameron piloted in an expedition in 2012 to the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean.
Many visitors are surprised to learn that the submersible was designed and built in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt. It was co-engineered by Sydney cave diver, Ron Allum. It is the first time the vessel has been back in Sydney since Cameron’s expedition.
Other objects in the exhibition include an extremely rare example of a black smoker hydrothermal vent, one of only a handful in the world. More information here.
Australian National Maritime Museum
2 Murray Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
www.sea.museum
With thanks to the Australian National Maritime Museum for hosting us for this very special experience. The lead photo and the photo of the whip staff were supplied by the museum and used with permission.
In its series, Defining Moments, the National Museum of Australia has an excellent article about Willem Janszoon being the first European to map parts of the Australian coast. You can read the article here.
In his book Through Darkest Seas, Graeme Cocks tells the story of how the replica Duyfken came to be built, documenting the highs and lows and the cast of personalities who shared the Duyfken dream. The hard cover book was published in 2023.
Another book that might be of interest is To Build A Ship: The VOC Replica Duyfken, by Robert Garvey, available on Amazon and ABE.
