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MEDIA RELEASE 3 April 2001
AUSTRALIAN REPLICA SHIP TO TAKE ON LONGEST RE-ENACTMENT
VOYAGE EVER
The Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation today
announced that the go-ahead has been obtained from The Netherlands
for the Australian-built replica ship Duyfken (the Little
Dove) to sail the longest re-enactment voyage ever contemplated
in an "Age of Discovery" replica ship. This tiny (24 metre
long) vessel will begin her adventurous voyage will begin
the voyage from the Australian National Maritime Museum
in Sydney on Saturday 5 May, sailing north to Queensland
and then Jakarta in Indonesia, across the Indian Ocean and
into the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The crew's destination
will be the island of Texel, near Amsterdam in The Netherlands:
more than 18,200 nautical miles and 12 months away.
The VOC 2002 Duyfken Voyage will mark the
400th anniversary of the establishment of the world's first
multinational trading company, the United East India Company
(VOC) which pioneered the Dutch spice trade. It has been
more than 300 years since a Dutch "jacht" has sailed the
spice route which brought cargoes of untold wealth back
from East Asia to the markets of Europe. The wealth from
spices helped create the Dutch "Golden Age" and resulted
in a flowering of culture. Artists such as Rembrandt made
an impact on European art and Dutch scientists made many
new discoveries.
The voyage has been funded by the VOC
2002 Steering Committee in The Netherlands to sail the historic
spice route from Jakarta to Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Cape Town,
St Helena, Ascension Island, the Azores and on to The Netherlands.
The Committee is responsible for coordinating the events
in The Netherlands to mark the 400th anniversary. Duyfken
will become the ambassador ship for the celebrations, and
then return to Fremantle, Western Australia in late 2002/2003
to be placed on permanent exhibition. Duyfken is the only
fully-seagoing Dutch "Age of Discovery" vessel sailing in
the world pre-dating Captain Cook's ship Endeavour by almost
170 years.
The voyage is a joint venture of the Fremantle-based
Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation and the Dutch-based Stichting
Duyfken VOC 2002 Nederland, chaired by Mr Benno van Tilburg.
"After 400 years the Duyfken is coming home next year and
she will be playing a major role in the celebrations of
2002. The Duyfken will be visiting every Dutch city with
a VOC past like Amsterdam, Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Texel, Rotterdam,
Delft and Zeeland," said Duyfken VOC 2002 Nederland chairman
Benno van Tilburg.
"The Duyfken VOC 2002 Voyage will be the
longest re-enactment voyage in a faithful replica of an
Age of Discovery ship ever undertaken anywhere," said Duyfken
project director Graeme Cocks. Mr Cocks said the voyage
was an exceptional opportunity which may never be repeated.
"Duyfken is in excellent condition, little
more than one year old and she has been thoroughly trialled
after 8,500 nautical miles of sailing through Australian
and Indonesian waters on the Chevron 2000 Duyfken Expedition.
"The voyage route has been meticulously
evaluated to enable the Duyfken Foundation to be confident
that the ship can meet a deadline to arrive in The Netherlands
on 30 April 2002, Queen Beatrix's birthday." The VOC 2002
Voyage will fullfil a long held ambition of the Duyfken
1606 Replica Foundation for Duyfken to visit her "spiritual"
home in The Netherlands.
He said that the re-enactment of a spice
trading voyage in an accurate replica of a Dutch VOC ship
is an opportunity which may never be repeated in our lifetimes.
The crew from Sydney will comprise 16 Australian and Dutch
adventurers, with more Dutch seafarers joining in Jakarta.
Conditions on board will be tough, with some legs as long
as 55 days. Crew facilities on board are extremely basic.
For example, the ship does not have freezers, and only a
small galley. Duyfken is currently on exhibition at the
National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney. She will
spend some time in dry dock next week, but will be back
on exhibition at the Museum continuously from Good Friday
13 April until 4 May. Visitors to the museum over the Easter
holiday break will see the crew preparing the little ship
for her mammoth voyage. Duyfken is a full seagoing replica
of the first recorded ship to visit Australia - the Dutch
trading ship Duyfken or "Little Dove" which sailed from
Banda to the Pennefather River in Queensland in 1606. Updates
of the ship's progress are posted on the Captain's Log at
the Duyfken website, www.duyfken.com
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