Leeuwin ("Lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

ess", also spelt "Leeuwine" in some VOC documents) was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 galleon

Galleon

A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...

 that discovered and mapped some of the southwest corner of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in March 1622. In this way it became only the seventh European ship to sight the continent.

Unfortunately the Leeuwins logbook

Logbook

A logbook was originally a book for recording readings from the chip log, and is used to determine the distance a ship traveled within a certain amount of time...

 has been lost, so very little is known of the voyage. For example it is not known who captained the ship. However, Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

 (VOC) letters indicate that the voyage from Texel

Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...

 to Batavia took more than a year, whereas other vessels had made the same voyage in less than four months; this suggests that poor navigation may have been responsible for the discovery. The same is suggested by the 1644 instructions to Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...

, which states that

The land discovered by the Leeuwin is recorded in Hessel Gerritsz

Hessel Gerritsz

Hessel Gerritsz was a Dutch engraver, cartographer and publisher. Despite strong competition, he is considered by some “unquestionably the chief Dutch cartographer of the 17th century”...

' 1627 Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht

Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht

Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht is a 1627 map by Hessel Gerritsz. One of the earliest maps of Australia, it shows what little was then known of the west coast, based on a number of voyages beginning with the 1616 voyage of Dirk Hartog...

 (Chart of the Land of Eendracht). This map includes a section of coastline labelled t Landt van de Leeuwin beseylt A° 1622 in Maert ("Land made by the ship Leeuwin in March 1622"), which is thought to represent the coast between present-day Hamelin Bay

Hamelin Bay, Western Australia

Hamelin Bay is a bay and a locality on the south west coast of Western Australia between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. It is named after French explorer Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin who sailed through the area in about 1801...

 and Point D'Entrecasteaux. Portions of this coastline are labelled Duynich landt boven met boomen ende boseage ("Dunes with trees and underwood at top"), Laegh ghelijck verdroncken landt ("Low land seemingly submerged") and Laegh duynich landt ("Low land with dunes").

Australian reference to the ship

The south-west corner of Australia was subsequently referred to by the Dutch as t Landt van de Leeuwin ("The Land of the Leeuwin") for a time, subsequently shortened to "Leeuwin's Land" by the English. This name Leeuwin still survives in the name of Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian Continent, in the state of Western Australia.A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further to the south. The nearest settlement, north of the cape, is Augusta. South-east of Cape Leeuwin, the coast...

, the most south-westerly point of the Australian mainland, so named by Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...

 in December 1801.

The sail training ship STS Leeuwin II

STS Leeuwin II

The STS Leeuwin II is a tall ship based in Fremantle, Western Australia.The Leeuwin is a three-masted barquentine. It was built to a design by local naval architect Len Randell by Australian Shipbuilding Industries Pty Ltd and launched on 2 August 1986...

 is named in honour of the Leeuwin, although the II refers not to the original Leeuwin but to a yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 that was already entered in Australia's ship's register under the name.

Later voyages

In 1654, the Leeuwin was part a six ship fleet which departed Batavia for the Netherlands. The fleet consisted of VOC ships the Phenix, Orangie, Salamander, Leeuwin, Coningh Davidt and Avontsterre ("Avonster"). The convoy departed the Sunda Strait

Sunda Strait

The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean...

 on 24 January 1654 and passed the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

 on 27 March and anchored at St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean on 18 March. The Leeuwin arrived in the Netherlands (probably at Texel

Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...

) on 30 August 1654. She departed there for the return voyage to Batavia on 10 December 1654.

Ongoing conflicts during the Dutch-Portuguese War

Dutch-Portuguese War

The Dutch–Portuguese War was an armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, against the Portuguese Empire. Beginning in 1602, the conflict primarily involved the Dutch companies invading Portuguese colonies in the Americas,...

 in 1656 saw the Leeuwin called into a blockade of the strategic port of Bantam

Bantam (city)

Bantam in Banten province near the western end of Java was a strategically important site and formerly a major trading city, with a secure harbor on the Sunda Strait through which all ocean-going traffic passed, at the mouth of Banten River that provided a navigable passage for light craft into...

 at the western end of Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 during July. In August, the blockading fleet was moved to the west coast of India for another blockade of the Portuguese held port of Goa

Goa Velha

Goa Velha is a census town in North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. It should not be confused with the World Heritage Site Velha Goa . St. Andrew's church is its parish church...

. The Leeuwin at this time was under the command of Jan Lucasz and had a crew of 86. She was used to cart stone ballast to other ships in the blockade.

In July 1658 she was used to ferry 500 people, including women and children from Galle

Galle

Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....

 in Ceylon (Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

) to Batavia. During 1659 the Leeuwin was involved in the trade of areca nuts

Areca

Areca is a genus of about 50 species of single-stemmed palms in the family Arecaceae, found in humid tropical forests from Malaysia to the Solomon Islands. The generic name Areca is derived from a name used locally on the Malabar Coast of India....

 from Galle to the Coromandel Coast

Coromandel Coast

The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian Subcontinent between Cape Comorin and False Divi Point...

 and Malacca

Malacca

Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...

.