Accidents
ccidents Some of the ships never returned. They often went down with all hands.
Sometimes people on board could get away in lifeboats, but there was never
enough room for everybody. Rich and important people went first. It used to
be the custom that the captain was the last person to leave the ship, but
it was usually too late for him and he went down with his own ship Fortunately,
most ships reached their destination and less than 4% of all voyages ended
in shipwreck. Most sailors who perished didn't die in a shipwreck, but as
a result of the hardships suffered on board.
The Amsterdam
On January 8, 1749 the Amsterdam sailed from Texel and came to an unfortunate end. There was a severe storm and after three days it had to make anchorage off the English coast. As a last resource, the ship was placed on the beach. The bad weather had made the beach very muddy and the ship sank into the sand and was lost. All passengers survived and 2220 years later (1969) the ship was looted by treasure hunters using excavators and thereby seriously damaging the ship in some places. Excavations were started in 1984 and in 1985 the building of a replica of The Amsterdam was started and the ship has been exhibited in Amsterdam since 1990.
Wrek of 'The Amsterdam'
The Batavia
This ship sank in Australia in 1629. The accident happened during the night. The shipmaster saw something white on the water and thought it was the reflection of the moon. When the ship suddenly crashed to a halt the crew panicked and saw that the ship had hit a reef. 300 People got away in two lifeboats. 40 People went down with the ship. The survivors mainly owed their luck to the fact that there were a number of small islands they could go ashore. 350 years later a replica was built which can be seen at Lelystad, The Netherlands.
