The Nieuwe Haarlem: How a Shipwreck Launched a Colony
The Shipwreck That Shaped South Africa: The Nieuwe Haarlem, the Remonstrantie, and the Founding of colonial Cape Town
A foundational pivot in the modern history of the southern tip of Africa unfolded shortly after 5:00 PM on Sunday, March 25, 1647. The Dutch merchant vessel Nieuwe Haarlem, owned by the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), was traveling in a convoy with the Olifant and the Schiedam from Batavia to the Netherlands when it was caught and violently driven aground by a severe storm.
The ship ran aground on the eastern shoreline of Table Bay, in a coastal zone situated near the southeast side of Robben Island.
All 120 crew members managed to survive the immediate stranding. Fifty-eight men were taken aboard the surviving vessels of the convoy to continue their journey to Europe, while a group of 62 crew members was left behind on the shore to guard and salvage the ship’s highly valuable cargo of eastern spices, pepper, textiles, indigo, and Chinese porcelain. Under the leadership of junior merchant officer Leendert Jansz, who was placed in command, and Matthijs Proot—another junior merchant drawn from a different vessel in the fleet—the salvagers constructed a makeshift earthen and timber stronghold named Zandenburgh for shelter and defense, embarking on the arduous task of transporting the cargo from the wreck to the shore.
During their involuntary, year-long stay at Table Bay, the salvagers established regular contact with the indigenous Khoisan (Khoi and San) peoples. Moving beyond early caution, the two groups engaged in bartering and soon forged a friendly rapport, regularly visiting one another's encampments and dwellings. Through these interactions, the Dutch sailors learned basic indigenous vocabulary and developed a mutual cultural familiarity. Ultimately, 61 of the 62 salvagers survived the year-long ordeal (one man passed away due to illness) and were successfully rescued when a returning VOC fleet arrived in March 1648.
Jan van Riebeeck’s Arrival and the Remonstrantie
Concurrently, on December 23, 1647, a merchant named Jan van Riebeeck—who was returning to the Netherlands under a cloud of official misconduct and corporate censure—secured passage out of Batavia aboard the cargo ship Coningh van Polen. His ship traveled as part of a larger 12-ship return fleet. Five of these vessels, including the one carrying Van Riebeeck, belonged to the Amsterdam Chamber and carried explicit corporate instructions to stop at Table Bay to retrieve the marooned crew and salvaged cargo of the Nieuwe Haarlem.
On March 10, 1648, Jan van Riebeeck’s ship anchored in Table Bay, where he met Leendert Jansz and was tasked with supervising the laborious physical transfer of the salvaged Nieuwe Haarlem goods onto the newly arrived ships. During this brief stopover from March 10 to April 2, 1648, Van Riebeeck surveyed the natural geography and strategic potential of the Cape of Good Hope. The fleet departed the Cape on April 3, 1648, and following a two-week logistics stop at the island of St. Helena, reached Amsterdam on August 7, 1648. Shortly thereafter, on October 23, 1648, Van Riebeeck formally resigned from the VOC after his official administrative appeal against charges of private self-enrichment and illicit trade in Batavia was definitively rejected by corporate officials.
A Corporate Vision for the Cape
Months after returning home, on July 26, 1649, Leendert Jansz and Matthijs Proot (identified as Nicolaas Proot in alternative archival variants) formally submitted a comprehensive feasibility report titled the Remonstrantie to the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC. This document argued that the environmental conditions at the Cape of Good Hope were highly favorable for the establishment of a permanent refreshment and resupply station to service the company's fleets. The Amsterdam directors received the proposal favorably, forwarding copies to the Zeeland Chamber and the remaining regional chambers, all of which quickly approved the project.
On August 20, 1650, amidst a backdrop of political instability and impending civil conflict within the Netherlands, the Directorate of the VOC formally ratified the Cape project. They directed the Haagse Besoigne—the centralized secretarial and administrative wing of the company—to draft and distribute formal regulatory recommendations. The Amsterdam and Zeeland chambers were ordered to begin recruiting initial settlers, and the governorship was officially offered to Matthijs Proot.
When Proot declined the assignment, Jan van Riebeeck, eager to repair his fractured professional reputation, applied for the vacancy. His core motivation was to ingratiate himself with the company Directorate to secure a lucrative reappointment to India or Asia after his contract expired—a career ambition that underscored the massive wealth-generating potential available to merchants operating in Batavia.
Upon being handed a copy of Jansz and Proot’s Remonstrantie for analysis, Van Riebeeck shrewdly appended his own commentary, highlighting various commercial, money-making schemes to offset the operational costs of building the refreshment station. This coastal outpost would eventually be known as the "Tavern of the Seas" and later, Cape Town. Jan van Riebeeck was officially appointed as Commander of the expedition in December 1651.
The Expedition and Initial Muster
An hour after sunset on December 24, 1651, Van Riebeeck set sail from the island of Texel in the Wadden Sea aboard his flagship, the Drommedaris, accompanied by a larger fleet of merchant vessels. Two smaller companion ships, the Reijger and the Goede Hoope, completed his immediate colonization fleet. A total of 197 individuals embarked on the three vessels, a contingent that included 15 women and children alongside 182 men. Because the original official muster rolls of Van Riebeeck’s fleet were subsequently misplaced or lost to history, individual details regarding the pioneer settlers must be reconstructed from personal journals and the official colonial Daghregister (Day Registers).
According to annotations within Van Riebeeck’s personal diaries and day logs, the non-military and non-salaried passengers aboard the fleet included:
The Commander’s Household: Van Riebeeck’s wife, Maria de la Queillerie, their infant son Lambertus, and his two maternal nieces, Elsje (Lisjbeth) and Sebastiana van Opdorp.
The Master Gardener: Hendrik Hendricx Boom, who traveled alongside his wife and their six children to establish the agricultural infrastructure.
Medical and Spiritual Staff: The chief ship surgeon, who traveled with his wife and two children, and the appointed sieckentrooster (sick comforter/lay preacher) accompanied by his wife.
Navigational and Administrative Officers: Jan Hooghsaet and Symon Pietersz Turver, the skippers commanding the Reijger and Goede Hoope respectively; David de Coninck, selected as Van Riebeeck’s designated successor in the event of his untimely death; Adam Hulster, the expedition's bookkeeper; Aernt van Ieveren, the designated third-in-command; and Pieter van den Helm, who served as Van Riebeeck's private secretary.
Losses en Route: The fleet carpenter, Tymon Jansz, who passed away at sea during the voyage.
At 3:30 PM on Friday, April 5, 1652, the first mate aboard the Drommedaris sighted the distinct, rising silhouette of Table Mountain on the horizon. The following morning at 1:00 AM, the Drommedaris reached the lower coast, and by 4:00 AM on April 6, 1652, the three vessels lay anchored safely near the shore, initiating the permanent European colonization of the region.
Sources
Böeseken, Anna J. Jan van Riebeeck en sy Gesin. Cape Town: Tafelberg-Uitgewers, 1974. (Provides exhaustive biographical, familial, and administrative details regarding the passengers on the Drommedaris fleet and Van Riebeeck's career transitions).
Werz, Bruno E. J. S. Searching for the Haarlem (1647): A Ship That Made History. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 2009. (The authoritative maritime and archaeological study documenting the grounding of the Nieuwe Haarlem, the construction of Zandenburgh, and interactions with the Khoisanie).
- G M Theal - History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi)
- AUTHOR : LARA SEAWARD
The Commander’s Household: Van Riebeeck’s wife, Maria de la Queillerie, their infant son Lambertus, and his two maternal nieces, Elsje (Lisjbeth) and Sebastiana van Opdorp.
The Master Gardener: Hendrik Hendricx Boom, who traveled alongside his wife and their six children to establish the agricultural infrastructure.
Medical and Spiritual Staff: The chief ship surgeon, who traveled with his wife and two children, and the appointed sieckentrooster (sick comforter/lay preacher) accompanied by his wife.
Navigational and Administrative Officers: Jan Hooghsaet and Symon Pietersz Turver, the skippers commanding the Reijger and Goede Hoope respectively; David de Coninck, selected as Van Riebeeck’s designated successor in the event of his untimely death; Adam Hulster, the expedition's bookkeeper; Aernt van Ieveren, the designated third-in-command; and Pieter van den Helm, who served as Van Riebeeck's private secretary.
Losses en Route: The fleet carpenter, Tymon Jansz, who passed away at sea during the voyage.
Böeseken, Anna J. Jan van Riebeeck en sy Gesin. Cape Town: Tafelberg-Uitgewers, 1974. (Provides exhaustive biographical, familial, and administrative details regarding the passengers on the Drommedaris fleet and Van Riebeeck's career transitions).
Werz, Bruno E. J. S. Searching for the Haarlem (1647): A Ship That Made History. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 2009. (The authoritative maritime and archaeological study documenting the grounding of the Nieuwe Haarlem, the construction of Zandenburgh, and interactions with the Khoisanie).