Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman ([ˈɑbəl ˈjɑnsoːn ˈtɑsmɑn] Lutjegast, province of Groningen, 1603-Batavia, October 10, 1659) was a Dutch sailor, explorer, and merchant, famous for his voyages between 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, known by its initials VOC).
His was the first known European expedition to reach Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand, sighting the Fiji Islands in 1643. Tasman, his pilot, Visscher, and his purser, Gilsemans, charted significant parts of the coastlines of Australia, New Zealand, and several of the Pacific islands. His job was to investigate the territory known as "New Holland", today Australia, of which the Dutch had discovered the western coast and he had to determine if the area belonged to Terra Australis.
The VOC hoped that Tasman could locate a new and unexplored continent for trading purposes, or at least find a strait through New Guinea that would lead them to the Pacific. Tasman did not achieve any of these objectives, although, geographically, his expeditions have been among the most fruitful in history.
Biography
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Not much is known about Tasman's early years. He was born in Lutjegast and received a sufficient education that allowed him to express his ideas clearly in writing and become an expert navigator. He married Claesgie Meyndrix, with whom he had a daughter. After his wife died, he married Joanna Tiercx again, in January 1632. Soon after, as a sailor, he sailed to the East Indies, where he was chief mate in February and skipper in May 1634. In that year, in a minor exploration, he was nearly killed after an unwary landing, in which several of his companions were massacred by Ceram's people. After spending some time in maritime warfare and contraband operations, he returned to Holland in 1637.
He sailed for the Indies again in 1638 as captain of a cog, taking his wife with him. At first he was employed in the army and on trading voyages, but in 1639 he was appointed second-in-command, under Quast, of a small fleet of two ships in the service of the Dutch East India Company, which sailed in June to search for islands believed to lie east of Japan. He returned in November from this unsuccessful search and offered to repeat the search, but was sent on further trading voyages to Japan and Cambodia.
First Voyage across the Pacific (1642-43)
In 1642 Tasman was commissioned to lead an expedition to discover the "Unknown South and East Lands," believed to be in the South Pacific but unseen by Europeans. Tasman left the port of Batavia (now Jakarta) on August 14, with two small ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen [The Sea Rooster]. Strange as it may seem today, the Tasman first sailed west to present-day Mauritius (then a Dutch possession). The reason for this was that his ships were sailing ships and the best route from one place to another was not always the direct route, but the direction of the wind mattered more. Tasman had some knowledge of the prevailing winds and so he chose the island of Mauritius, where he arrived on September 5, after a fast voyage of just 22 days. An entry in Tasman's journal shows how the best navigators in those days erred in regard to longitude: "by our reckoning we were still about 200 miles east of Mauritius when we saw her." The ships arrived battered by the crossing and had to be repaired, remaining in Mauritius for two months. With the water inlets grouted (caulked), the rigging strengthened, and new spare masts loaded, they restocked with water, firewood, and supplies, including wild game. The Governor of Mauritius provided them with reports and charts relating to the Solomon Islands and vocabularies of the languages of the islands of New Guinea. The ships were ready to sail on October 4, but due to contrary winds, they were unable to leave the port of Fort Fredrik Hendrik until October 8.
From there they followed a southerly course, with variable winds up to latitude 31° or 32ºS, when they entered the zone of westerly winds. They sailed between the then unknown islands of Saint Paul and Amsterdam and the Kerguelen Islands, and reached latitude 43ºS, where they saw floating algae that were indications of land. A council of the ships was convened and it was resolved to keep a man constantly on the lookout for the mast, and to offer as a reward three reales of eight and a cup of brandy to whoever first saw land. On October 29, three weeks after sailing, they reached 46° S latitude and encountered strong winds and fog, thinking that it was too dangerous to keep heading south for fear of running aground. The course was therefore changed to the southeast. On November 6, at four weeks, they reached their highest latitude, 49°4'S, with many land indications keeping them anxious.
The senior pilot conferred with Tasman and they carefully examined the future course of the voyage. He proposed that they should fall to 44°S until they had passed the 150° meridian, judging that if they did not find the southern continent, they would be in the open sea. They should then drop to 40°S and sail east to longitude 220° (approximately 160° W by present reckoning), which he judged would take them well to the east of the Solomon Islands and allow them to reach the islands with southerly voyage. east—as indeed they would have, since they would be about 15° east of the true position of the Solomon Islands.
This resolution was communicated to the Zeehaen by enclosing the document in a driftwood box by a long line down the stern. The councils of the two ships gave their approval and the course was altered accordingly. On November 18 they passed the length of Nuyts Land (the Great Australian Bight), the furthest known stretch of land discovered to the South (the Dutch already knew at least part of the west coast of the continent, but the shape of the south coast was unknown to them). They encountered strong westerly winds, and little by little they fell to latitude 42°25'S, when on November 24, after more than 9,000 km of travel, they saw land.
Tasmania
Though they had missed the Australian mainland in their course, they sighted the west coast of Tasmania, north of Macquarie Harbour. They named it Van Diemen's Land, after Anthony van Diemen, then Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (the island was later renamed by British colonists). Proceeding south, it skirted the southern tip of Tasmania and headed northeast. Tasman then tried to work his two ships in Adventure Bay, on the south east coast of South Bruny Island, where he was blown out to sea by a storm, naming the area Storm Bay. (Storm Bay). Two days later, Tasman anchored north of Cape Frederick Hendrick, just north of the Forestier Peninsula. Tasman landed in Blackman's Bay—in the larger bay of Marion Bay. The next day he made an attempt to land in North Bay; However, because the sea was too rough, the carpenter had to swim between the waves and planted the Dutch flag in the North Bay. Tasman claimed formal possession of the land on December 3, 1642.
New Zealand
After reconnoitring and scouting the area, Tasman intended to proceed north, but as the wind was unfavorable he headed east. Nine days later, on December 13, he sighted land again on the northwest coast of the South Island of New Zealand, becoming the first Europeans to do so. Tasman gave it the name "Staten Landt", assuming it was connected to an island (to the Isla de los Estados, Staten Island) at the southern tip of South America. He then sailed north along the coast of the South Island and then east. One of his ships was attacked by Maori at Waka, and four of his men were killed. Tasman named the place "Murderers Bay" (now known as Golden Bay) and sailed north, but mistook the Cook Strait - which separated it from the North Island - for an inlet (naming it Bight Zeehaen's).. Tasman was convinced that New Zealand was a single land part of the Terra Australis.
Two of the names he bestowed on New Zealand on that voyage still live on: Cape Maria Van Diemen and Three Kings Islands (Cape Pieter Boreels is now known as Cape Egmont).
The return trip
On the way back to Batavia, Tasman reached the Tonga archipelago on January 20, 1643. As Tasman's ships passed through the Fiji islands, they nearly sank on dangerous reefs in the north-eastern part of the group fiji. He charted the eastern tip of Vanua Levu and Cikobia before heading back out to sea. He eventually turned northwest to New Guinea, arriving in Batavia on June 15, 1643, after an absence of ten months, during which he had lost ten men to disease, in addition to the four men killed by the Maoris.. His journal concludes thus: "Praise God and I give thanks for a safe journey! Amen".
Second Voyage across the Pacific (1644)
Tasman led a new expedition in 1644, for which he had been ordered to find out if there was a passage in the South Sea between Carpentaria and De Witt Land. In command of a fleet of three ships (Limmen, Zeemeeuw and the small Braek, only 14 men), with 111 sailors and provisions for eight months, he left Batavia on December 30, 1644. Rather than heed orders to first follow the southwest coast of New Guinea eastward, perhaps because of the winds, they headed across the strait to Eendragt Land; and from there Tasman sailed northward and made careful charts, with soundings, of the western and northern coasts of Australia, including the Gulf of Carpentaria. He also made valuable observations about the land and its people. He went through the Torres Strait, between New Guinea and Australia, but even though he was in his mouth, he couldn't find him. Perhaps he was dissuaded from further examination by the multitude of islands and reefs blocking the route, further unaware that the Spanish Torres had already navigated its waters in 1606. Failing to find the strait, he returned along the coast of New Guinea west to Batavia, where he arrived in August 1644.
He was rewarded on his return in August 1644 by confirmation in the rank of commander, with a substantial increase in his remuneration, which was extended, with retroactive effect, to the beginning of his voyage in 1642. However, van Diemen, in his report of the expedition to the Council (23 December 1644), expressed his disappointment and discontent that the expedition had not discovered a strait between New Guinea and the "Known South Land", but only a large bay or gulf, and that they had done nothing but sail along the coasts, having gained no knowledge of the country and its products, alleging as their reason that they were not strong enough to venture ashore and meet the the Savages. This was very disappointing, as the discoveries were of little use unless the country was explored at the same time.
Nevertheless, he says, that Tasman in his two voyages had circumnavigated the then 'Unknown South Land', which he calculates had an extension of 8,000 miles of coastline, and that it was highly unlikely that in a country so large, with such variety of climates, I would not have found something of great importance and benefit for the company. For more than a century, until the era of James Cook, Tasmania and New Zealand were never visited again by Europeans (Australia was visited, but mostly by accident), and it was for this reason that the importance of their discoveries was slow to be appreciated. from a geographical point of view.
Last years
Tasman was appointed to the Batavia Council of Justice. In the middle of 1647 he was sent on a mission to the King of Siam and was given priority over all the Dutch in the kingdom. After that mission, he was given command of a fleet of eight ships, with 900 soldiers and 250 sailors, which sailed in May 1648 to the Philippines with the aim of intercepting the Spanish galleon carrying silver from Mexico. The news of January 30 of that year, that the Peace of Westphalia had been signed, had not penetrated Southeast Asia, and the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was thus trying to deal a great blow to the Spanish. They also had a second task, which was to help the King of Siam in the war against his enemies. They failed to capture the Spanish galleon, which they pursued but it managed to escape, ending up sunk off the Philippine coast and being looted. In addition, the king of Siam modified his plans and no longer needed the help of the ships. In January 1649 they returned to Batavia.
His conduct on this expedition was not satisfactory, and on his return he was tried for having treated, while drunk, inhumanely one of his sailors; as a result, he was removed from office. He was formally reinstated in January 1651, but not long after he retired from the service and became a merchant in Batavia.
Abel Tasman died wealthy in 1659 in Batavia (now Jakarta), leaving his wife Jannetje and daughter Claesgen, from his first marriage (who had married first Philip Heylman and later Jacob Bremer). In 1661 the widow was authorized to marry Jan Meyndert Springer.
Acknowledgments
As with many explorers, the Tasman name has been honored in many ways.
- Two species of marsupials:
- Tasmanian devil.
- Tasmanian tiger.
- A plant genus:
- Tasmannia.
- Geographical accidents:
- The Australian island of Tasmania (rebated in its honor, before the land of Van Diemen), including features such as:
- the peninsula of Tasmania.
- Tasmania Bridge.
- Tasmania Highway.
- Abel Tasman passenger shuttle.
- the sea of Tasmania.
- In New Zealand:
- the Tasman Glacier
- Lake Tasmania
- the river Tasman
- Mount Tasman
- Abel Tasman National Park
- Tasman Bay
- the region of Tasman
- Abel Tasman Drive, Takaka
- the Tasmania Capaz Memorial in Takaka.
- The Able Tasmans, an Indian band from Auckland, New Zealand.
In 1985 he was honored with a postage stamp featuring his portrait issued by Australia Post.
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