Cape Good Hope 1652-1702

67 Johann Wilhelm Vogel

(See also item 40.) On September 24, 1687 he was given his discharge, and left Sillida the next month, reaching Batavia on October 30. From there he sailed on ‘November 21’ (Valentyn I December 1: note the apparent use of Old Style* dating) in ‘Wahlstrom’, the Vice-Admiral* of the return-fleet (Waalstrom), with ‘Wohlfahrt’ (Lands Welvaren) as Admiral, Sion, Goudestein, ‘Sahland’ (Zalland), Eenhorn, Brill (for Cape only). Storm in the Sunda Strait dispersed the fleet.

On the morning of the 16th [March] we sighted the Cabo des Agoulles about 10 miles away, and that night heavy squalls and storm-winds again scattered the fleet, so that now only the Admiral* and Sahland were with us.... On the morning of the 18th only Sahland was with us, the Admiral having lost touch with us that night, and towards noon we were off Cabo fals, and then also sighted the Table Mountain at the Cabo de buon Esperanza about 6 miles away, North-East by North from us. That evening the wind fell to a dead calm.

On the 19th at daylight it rose again gently, but all day the weather was very dark and misty, so that we could not see 10 yards ahead and were therefore compelled to fire cannons and muskets every half-hour, as a signal to the Sahland not to come too near to us, lest we might collide; and she also made the same signals. In the afternoon the air cleared somewhat, and about one o'clock the mist lifted and there was a dead calm; and indeed God thus disposed it to our good fortune, since we found ourselves with our ship close below the Lion Hill, and indeed so near it that the shore was only a stone's-throw distant. Had it remained so dark, and had the mist not withdrawn a little, we should at that very moment have run onto the shore, which here is nothing but rocks and falls very steeply into the sea, and thus, instead of sailing into the Table Bay after a few hours as we hoped, we should have perished and everything would have been lost. Since now we were in such great danger the helm was at once put hard over, to turn the ship away from the land; and then some sailors must man the shallop* [‘Ruder-chialoup’], make this fast to the stem of the ship, and by their continual and strong rowing tow the

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ship away, or as the mariners say ‘bucksieren’ her. Also at that time God sent us a very gentle breeze, which was greatly to our advantage, so that with God's help we got a little way from the shore and made for the open sea, so as not to run aground on the Lion's Tail (the point of the Lion Hill), nor be damaged by the rocks which there stretch a considerable distance to seaward. We now sighted our Admiral* to the North of us; and then the mist fell again very heavily and it became as dark and gloomy as before. For this reason we anchored in 50 fathoms towards evening, not far from the Lion's Tail, since the light breeze fell away and it was dead calm. Also, since from where we were anchored it was not far from the Table Mountain, and not more than three hours* from the Fortress of Good Hope at Cabo buon Esperanza, that evening about 10 our Vice-Admiral went ashore in the shallop.

On the morning of the 20th of March [dr 30/3: note again the apparent Old Style*] we raised anchor, and with Sahland sailed to the roads of the Table Bay, anchoring close below the Castle ‘The Good Hope’. Our Admiral was lying close below the Robben Island, but in the afternoon came to anchor in the Bay not far from us. I heartily thanked God the Most High, that by His gracious shelter and help He had brought us this far and had not only turned away from us all evil in our journey, but had now saved us from this evident danger; and therewith I also called on His Divine Power to give us further prosperity and good fortune in the journey still lying before us, so that the same may be accomplished in accordance with our desires.

On the 22nd I went ashore, meeting there a miner, by the name of Thomas Creutzig, who told me that he was working as Foreman at the mine a few hours* inland, and also asked me to be so good as to visit it. I had no desire to this, but at last let myself be persuaded, since he assured me that it was not a great distance to walk; and we arranged the journey for the following day, the place being called the Steinberg. That afternoon [dr 1/4] the ships Sion, Einhorn and Brill anchored close to us in the Table Bay or harbour, which ships had been in the fleet with us but had become separated near land not long before.

Early in the morning of the 24th I set out, with the Mine-Foreman and miners who had come from the Indies with me, and began the journey to the aforesaid mine of the Cape, whither the Foreman Creutzig also accompanied us, to show us the way. But it was not so close by as he had pretended, since before reaching it we had marched from early morning to dark night, over wide heaths, sandy fields, and high sand-dunes.

On the 25th I examined the mine, finding beside the shaft a considerable quantity of ore obtained from this, which was asserted to be copper ore but was in fact nothing but a coarse iron-glance mixed with copper dust. It was not possible to visit the shaft, since it had fallen in, and also the crossbeams and shores, together with most of the ladders in it were broken and crushed together. By the side of the shaft I saw some remains of a smelting-furnace, in which the Mine-Overseer Gabriel Möller (who had been there for a time, but who later came to the West coast of Sumatra, as mentioned above) had smelted the ore, but obtained nothing but cobalt-ore. After I had examined this I went down the

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hill, where I was shown a tunnel which according to the said Mine-Foreman had been driven for about 7 fathoms into sandstone. About 3 fathoms from its mouth there was a cleft, from which some ferruginous mineral had been got, but the same had soon petered out and there was no more of it: also in front of that place not the least sign of a lode could be traced. I should have liked to inspect the shaft, but for the aforesaid reasons this was not possible, and I must content myself with what I had seen.

I took a few hand-samples with me, and returned to the hut which had been built by the miners working there; and passed the night there, since the daylight was nearly past and it was therefore impossible to reach the Cabo buon Esperanza; but at sunrise on the next day I took the route to the said Cabo buon Esperanza with my companions, arriving there about 8. On the way we met with a large flock of cranes in those fields, but could not come within gunshot of them, since they were far too much on the alert, and saw us in time and took to flight.

All Vogel's dates are confused and should be checked with the DR. According to him on March 30 and 31 arrived from Coromandel, Bengal and Ceylon the return-ships Curtigene, Ritterschaft, Bantam, Silberstein and the flute* Hobre, to join his fleet; also one French (L'Oiseau) and one English (Princess Mary) frigate*. April 3 (DR 11/4) arrived the outward-bound ships Java, Zusammenschlag, Honslardick, ‘with news of a general peace at home, except that the Empire and the Venetians were still at war with the Turks’. On arrival the Admiral* in Java struck his flag* (since he was only an Upper-Merchant whereas Jacob Couper in Wohlfahrt was a Commandeur). April 7 (DR 17/4) two French ships arrived from Siam with Envoys from the King there to the King of France, as also those previously sent from France to Siam, now returning home [sic: Le Dromadaire, Les Jeux].

Here I must mention, that all foreign ships which enter the Table Bay or roads of the Cabo buon Esperanza and anchor there, must pay to the East-India Company a certain sum of money for their anchorage*, or better said, for the permission to anchor, and must pay this in to the office at the Cabo: namely for each anchor 500 Dutch guilders or 200 dollars. No one receives any discount from this, even if he were at anchor only half a day; but on the other hand they need pay no more than this sum for each anchor, even if they lie there for several weeks, and they have the right to provide their ships with the necessary fresh water and firewood, and to cut this in the woods and take it aboard, without payment.

April 9 (DR 19/4) the French frigate of March 30, 31 sailed homeward, and the flute Langwick arrived from Holland. April 10 (DR 20/4) the English frigate sailed for home. April 11 two more French frigates (Le Gaillard, La Loire) arrived from Siam. April 12 Guldenstein arrived, which had been damaged in the Sunda Strait and repaired in Batavia. April 13 (DR 23/4) another French frigate (Les Jeux) sailed, and the flute Spierdyck arrived from Holland. April 15 (DR 25/4) Osterland arrived, having sailed from Holland ‘a little

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more than 3 months ago, reporting a general peace except between the Empire and the Turks’.

On the sixteenth, since the weather was fine, I wished to climb the Table Mountain, with the Mine-Foreman Remer and Mons. Meister, who was with us in our ship, having served as gardener in the Indies. We therefore set out at dawn, and for more than an hour and a half walked over a flat plain, through low bush and heath, which little by little rose gently to the foot of the Table Mountain. There we found a valley which divides the Table Mountain from the Devils Hill [Saddle], and thought that this would be the most convenient way by which to reach the top of the Table Mountain, since the further we could see into it the higher it became, rising with the two hills. We therefore went always upwards in it; but found in it nothing worthy of mention, except for various lovely bulbs and flowering plants, some of which Mons. Meister dug up and took along. We were already calculating how long we would wish to remain on the top of the mountain, when our ideas were entirely wrecked in an instant, so to speak, since such a thick and wet mist fell on us that we could not see ten paces ahead; and what was worse, our hands and feet were frozen by the cold and wet. Thus we were compelled to make our way back, and therefore clambered down the valley and hill again by the same way we had come, and arrived at the Cabo buon Esperanza again at about 3 p.m. It was surprising that on our way back, the further we came down the hill, the less mist and cold we found, and at the Cabo buon Esperanza it was quite fair and fine weather until the evening when the mist came down, but not so wet and cold.

On the 18th I went aboard again with the Mine-Foreman and the miners. In the afternoon we weighed our anchors (since, as is customary, each ship lay to two anchors*) and made ready to sail. That morning the yacht* Sillida entered the Bay and anchored [dr 26/4], coming from Holland and to go on to the Indies with the other Dutch outward-bound ships.

On the 19th we were all ready to sail, the wind being North-West, and our Admiral* hoisted the white flag* to call a [Broad] Council*, for which reason all the Captains of the return-ships went aboard the Admiral, remaining there until towards noon. Also there arrived the flute* Osthausen from Holland [dr 28/4] and anchored, to go onwards to the Indies with the ships bound thither which lay in the roads, having arrived while we were there. At noon the wind changed to the South-East, and in the afternoon all the returnships weighed anchor, and let themselves be driven by the said South-East wind close to the mouth of the harbour, where again we anchored.

On April 20 [dr 30/4] about 8 in the morning our Admiral hoisted the blue flag*, which was the signal to sail: first set sail the Admiral* (the ship Landes-Wohlfahren), then ourselves with the ship Wahl-Strom, then the Rear-Admiral, the ship Sion, followed by the other return-ships, namely Courtigene, Silberstein, Bantam, Guldenstein, Saaland, Ritterschafft, Einhorn and Hobre, each in the order laid down, and each in order as she followed bidding farewell to the land and the ships remaining in the roads, and

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being thanked with many guns both from the land and the said ships. Towards midday we got out of the harbour and sailed past the Robben Island....

Sargasso, ‘a sort of sea-grass, which bears little leaves and berries on a long stalk’. Northabout*: this in times of peace because of ‘much transshipment [in the Channel] of all sorts of private wares, as also contraband goods [into shore-boats]’. Cruisers* met near ‘Fayerhill’. August 12 to Vlie, released from oath. To East-India House at Amsterdam, to claim chests and baggage after their examination. October 19 home to Gotha.