sailing South-Africa to Japan

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Sure, as long as you want to do a long passage in the Roaring 40s out of Cape Town. Not for the feint of heart or inexperienced. Not sure you mentioned where you are starting from, but certainly the Cape to WA should not be the first passage.
I doubt this is the way the Dutch did it. They used the changing monsoons to cross the N Indian Ocean

About what year(s) are you talking?

After 1611 and the sailing route planned by Hendrik Brouwer?

Or before 1611?

VOC sailing directions still insisted on a refined version of Brouwer's route up to and after 1654, nicht wahr?

From the Mariner's Mirror 49 of 1963:

[zivojan]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Sure, as long as you want to do a long passage in the Roaring 40s out of Cape Town. Not for the feint of heart or inexperienced. Not sure you mentioned where you are starting from, but certainly the Cape to WA should not be the first passage.
I doubt this is the way the Dutch did it. They used the changing monsoons to cross the N Indian Ocean

I start from the Netherlands next year. So the original plan was going to Portugal and Spain, then ST Helena and then Cape Town. I read some more on the Southern route to Australia. The Dutch sailed this route later as mentioend by Alan Mighty. They went to West-Australia and then up north. Some went to long going west and shipwrecked of the coast there.

But it might be to stormy and windy. I have a good boat, but still. I am still planning but i plan to leave by May next year, heading to Portugal and Spain first.

[zivojan]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

About what year(s) are you talking?

After 1611 and the sailing route planned by Hendrik Brouwer?

Or before 1611?

VOC sailing directions still insisted on a refined version of Brouwer's route up to and after 1654, nicht wahr?

From the Mariner's Mirror 49 of 1963:

Thanks for this post and image. Vey interesting.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by zivojan

Thanks for this post and image. Vey interesting.

You should be able to find the VOC sailing directions of 30 September 1654 in a reprinted document, published in 1672, in the library of Scheepvaart Museum, Amsterdam.

Look for:

Instructie en ordre mitsgaders eygenschap der winden in't vaerwater tusschen Nederland en Java. Den Tweeden druk. Delft, 1672.

The sailing directions of 1654 allowed ship's captain some flexibility in course. The sailing directions of 1746 allowed less flexibility. The sailing directions were revised for the last time in 1784.

The 1746 and 1784 sailing directions are also in Scheepvaart Museum.

The Mariner's Mirror 49 was reprinted in: C R Boxer, Dutch Merchants and Mariners in Asia, 1602-1795. London: Variorum Reprints, 1988.

Boxer is my source.

He does not include any of the original charts.

In addition to reprinting the Mariner's Mirror article, Boxer includes:

* the introduction to a facsimile edition of Isaac Commelin's "Begin ende Voortgangh"
* The siege of Fort Zeelandia and the capture of Formosa from the Dutch, 1661-1662
* The Third Dutch War in the East (1672-1674)
* Notes on early European military influence in Japan, 1543-1853
* Rin Shihei and his picture of a Dutch East-India ship, 1782
* Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1672-1674
and three other chapters.

Boxer compiled several collections of reprints for Variorum Reprints, including on Portuguese merchants and maritime enterprise in Asia.

If you know how to use a search engine, you'll likely find Boxer on the internet along with:
The Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators, by Hendrik Willem Van Loon
The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom, 1795-1813, by Hendrik Willem Van Loon
The Dutch overseas empire 1600-1800, by Pieter C Emmer & Jos J L Gommans
Dutch East India Company Shipbuilding, by Wendy Duivenvoorde & Jeremy Green

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by zivojan

But it might be to stormy and windy. I have a good boat, but still. I am still planning but i plan to leave by May next year, heading to Portugal and Spain first.

The Mariner's Mirror 49, reprinted in Boxer, has details of the usual VOC voyage plan:

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

The Mariner's Mirror 49, reprinted in Boxer, has details of the usual VOC voyage plan

And of the detour in case perfidious Albion were unfriendly:

[boatman61]

I guess it all boils down to your priorities..
Are they to follow the original routes used by the Dutch in the expansion of their Empire or..
Visit all the places they settled or had trading outposts in..
If the former I would research the early Portuguese sea routes as Portuguese navigators were much prized by Northern Europe's Navies and their routes to Africa and points East were the ones taken by those who followed later.
If the latter, sail South then West and plan your routes accordingly.

[zivojan]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I guess it all boils down to your priorities..
Are they to follow the original routes used by the Dutch in the expansion of their Empire or..
Visit all the places they settled or had trading outposts in..
If the former I would research the early Portuguese sea routes as Portuguese navigators were much prized by Northern Europe's Navies and their routes to Africa and points East were the ones taken by those who followed later.
If the latter, sail South then West and plan your routes accordingly.

You right and I think I am going with the west route. I am going from the Netherlands to Cape Town by Canary Island and St Helena. Then to West-Australia. Then along the coast to see Dirk Hartog Island and other places to Indonesia. Then back by Malacca and Sri Lanka to Mauritius and then back to Cape Town. If i have time left i go too Brazil and see Recife where the Dutch were involved to and then the Caribic. Then back by the Azores to the Netherlands.

I skip Japan and Taiwan for now. To much since I don't want to leave my country for years and years. I want to try it in a 12 month trip or maybe a few months longer.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions and input. I shall be leaving around may next year.

Jan

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by zivojan

You right and I think I am going with the west route. I am going from the Netherlands to Cape Town by Canary Island and St Helena. Then to West-Australia. Then along the coast to see Dirk Hartog Island and other places to Indonesia. Then back by Malacca and Sri Lanka to Mauritius and then back to Cape Town. If i have time left i go too Brazil and see Recife where the Dutch were involved to and then the Caribic. Then back by the Azores to the Netherlands.

I skip Japan and Taiwan for now. To much since I don't want to leave my country for years and years. I want to try it in a 12 month trip or maybe a few months longer.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions and input. I shall be leaving around may next year.

Jan

Enjoy your adventure...

[AiniA]

Either check out the relevant pilot charts or Ocean Passages of the World (Cornell) to see when the recommended seasons are for various passages. Haven't checked it out but sort of doubt that it will all fall neatly into one year. You certainly want to be in South Africa, the first time, in summer but with your route it won't be summer when you get back there.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by zivojan

You right and I think I am going with the west route. I am going from the Netherlands to Cape Town by Canary Island and St Helena. Then to West-Australia. Then along the coast to see Dirk Hartog Island and other places to Indonesia. Then back by Malacca and Sri Lanka to Mauritius and then back to Cape Town. If i have time left i go too Brazil and see Recife where the Dutch were involved to and then the Caribic. Then back by the Azores to the Netherlands.

I skip Japan and Taiwan for now. To much since I don't want to leave my country for years and years. I want to try it in a 12 month trip or maybe a few months longer.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions and input. I shall be leaving around may next year.

Jan

Jan
That is something like a 25,000 mile trip. A little ambitious for a year trip. Think of it as 6 months on passage, the rest of the time fixing your boat. Dropping Japan was moving in the right directions.

[zivojan]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Jan
That is something like a 25,000 mile trip. A little ambitious for a year trip. Think of it as 6 months on passage, the rest of the time fixing your boat. Dropping Japan was moving in the right directions.

I think you are right. I have experience sailing in the Netherlands and places like the North sea and Mediterranean, but no more then 1 week at a time.

So you can tell i don't have much experience planning a year round trip, possible even longer.

This planning to do the VOC route is more difficult then i thought

[ivanlotter]

Another coastline the Dutch built Forts were Ghana. Takoradi has a yacht club. Unsure how to sail along the Gold coast.