36 



was to be immediately undertaken by two ships and a smaller 

 vessel under the same commanders as before, viz. — Commander 

 Tasman and Pilot-Major Frans Visscher; Gilsemans was again 

 to be merchant or supercargo. 



On 13th January, 1644, by resolution of the Governor- 

 General in Council, the ships Lhnmen and Zeemeeuw (ISea 

 Gull), with the little tender Brack (Seller) carrying only 14 

 men, were commissioned for the work. They carried a com- 

 plement of 111 hands, and were provisioned for 8 months. 

 On 29th January the instructions for the voyage were drawn up 

 and signed. They were printed in England by Mr. Major in 

 1.859.* They contain a most interesting and valuable sum- 

 mary of former Dutch voyages and discoveries in the South 

 Land. The vessels were to coast along the south and west 

 coasts of New Guinea to the furthest discovery in 17° S. hit. 

 (i.e., in the Gulf of Carpentaria) and endeavour to find a 

 strait or passage into the South Sea. If a strait was found, 

 which might be known by the south-east swell running through 

 it, they were to sail through it and thence as far to the south- 

 east as the new Van Diemen's Land. From thence they were 

 to make the islands of St. Peter and St. Francis, and run 

 along the coast of the Known Southland to De Wit Land, in 

 22° S. lat., when the Known Southland would be circum- 

 navigated and be found to be the largest island in the globe. 

 But if, as was to be presumed, New Guinea was joined to 

 the South Land, forming one continent, then they were to run 

 along the coast to 28° S. to the Land of Eendragt and Hout- 

 man's Abrolhos, and thence return to Batavia. 



The ships sailed from Batavia next day, (30th December, 

 1644). The journals of the voyage are lost, and we have only 

 the briefest notices of the expedition. t But Tasman's chart 

 shows the route of the ships. For some reason or other, 

 probably on account of the wind, Tasman and Visscher did 

 not follow the instructions exactly. Instead of sailing first to 

 New Guinea they made a straight course to the Land of 

 Eendragt. From thence Tasman coasted northwards, and 

 carefully charted, with soundings, the west and north coasts of 

 Australia, including the Gulf of Carpentaria. He actually 

 got into the mouth of Torres Strait, but did not discover the 

 passage. Probably he was deterred from further examination 

 by the multitude of islands and reefs that block the way, and 

 was, moreover, ignorant of the fact that the Spaniard Torres 



* Early voyages to Terra Australia. — Hakluyt Society, 1859. 



t N. Witsen : " Noord en Oost Tartarye," translated by R. H. Major, in 

 " Early Voyages to Terra Australia," pp. 91-98. The journal has been 

 sought for in vain both in Holland and at Batavia, especially by Messrs, 

 Van der Chijs and Norman in 1802, 



