Name Aagtekerke Complement 200 Length 44 m Displacement 254,000 kg | Namesake Village of Aagtekerke Launched 1724 Weight 284.5 tons Builder Chamber of Zeeland | |
Owner Dutch East India Company Fate Lost without trace in 1726 | ||
The Aagtekerke ( [ˈaːxtəˌkɛrkə]) was a ship of the Dutch East India Company built in 1724. It was lost without trace during its maiden voyage in 1725–26, when it sailed from Cape of Good Hope in the Dutch Cape Colony to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.
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Description
The Aagtekerke was built in 1724 by the Chamber of Zeeland of the Dutch East India Company, on their wharf in Middelburg. It was named after the nearby village of Aagtekerke. The ship was 145 feet (44 m) long and had a load capacity of 850 tons. It had crew of 200 men and 36 guns.
Maiden voyage
On 27 May 1725, the ship sailed out from Fort Rammekens (near Ritthem) under the command of Jan Witboon. The ship first sailed to Cape of Good Hope in the Dutch Cape Colony, where it arrived on 3 January 1726, possibly to load ivory.
On 27 January 1726, the ship left for Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, but was lost without trace. At the time, the ship was carrying silver coins and precious metals with a total value of 200,000 guilders .
There is some evidence from the crew of the wrecked ship Zeewyk that Aagtekerke may have been wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands, because they found some remains of a Dutch vessel that had been wrecked before them.