On October 4, 1655, the VOC shipwreck Vergulde Draeck set out on its second voyage to the East Indies. On board were 193 crew members and a valuable cargo of eight chests filled with silver coins and trade goods. The first half of the journey, up to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), went smoothly. However, disaster struck on April 28, 1656, off the west coast of Australia.

The crew had planned a direct crossing of the Indian Ocean toward the Indies but had veered too far east. The ship ran aground on a reef off the west coast of Australia and sank. Around 118 crew members did not survive the disaster. The 75 survivors managed to reach the shore in a small boat.

The captain decided to send seven crew members in a small vessel to Batavia to seek help. After a 41-day journey, they arrived safely. Several rescue missions were launched soon after, but 11 rescuers also went missing. None of the shipwreck survivors were ever found.

In the 20th century, traces of the VOC shipwreck the Vergulde Draeck were discovered. In 1963, spearfishers recovered large quantities of the silver coins that had been on board. To this day, the fate of the shipwreck survivors and the missing rescue team remains unknown. It is still one of Australia’s greatest maritime mysteries.

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