XV. (1623) Voyage of the Ship Leyden Commanded by Skipper Klaas Hermansz(Oon) from the Netherlands to Java.--Further Discovery of the West-Coast of Australia

Journal kept on board the ship Leyden from the Texel to Batavia, 1623.

Laus Deo. This 9th day of July, A.D. 1623 in the ship Leyden...

On the 15th do. Latitude 27° 15'; during the last twenty-four hours we sailed 16 miles East by North and East-north-east...At noon we saw a large dead fish floating near our ship, with a great many birds perched on its carcase.

On the 16th do. Latitude 26° 27'; sailed 16 miles in 24 hours North by east...

On the 17th do. Latitude 27° 23'; from last night sailed 16 miles East-south-east...

On the 18th do. Latitude 27° 25'; sailed 24 miles East-south-east, East by South and East-north-east, on the whole keeping an eastward course...

On the 19th do. Latitude 27' 20'. sailed due east 20 Miles in 24 hours...

On the 20th do. Latitude 27° 20' sailed 20 miles these 24 hours North-east, East-north-east and East, with a light breeze, fair weather, and a West-south-west wind; course held east.

On the 21st do. in the morning we sighted Eendrachtsland in Latitude 27° at about 6 miles' distance South-west by west; we sounded off it in 61 fathom fine gravel bottom, the land showing outwardly like Robben Island in the Taffel Bay; at noon in Latitude 26° 43' we shaped our course to northward, and afterwards drifted in a calm.

On the 22nd do. Latitude 26` 36, sailed and drifted about 4 miles, at about 8 miles' distance North~north-west from the land. We sighted everywhere a hilly coast with large bays, with low-lying land in between, the whole covered with dunes; we drifted in a calm, our course being North-west by West.

On the 23rd do. Latitude 26° 3'; during the last twenty-four hours we mostly drifted in a calm at about 3 or 4 miles' distance from the coast; here we sighted a large inlet, looking like a river or bay. We sounded in 80 fathom, good sandy bottom; in the afternoon there was a light breeze from the South-south-west, our course being North-west by West. In the evening we saw the farthest extremity of the land north by east at six miles' distance from us.

On the 26th do. Latitude 25° 48', we did our best to keep off the land, which extended North-north-west and East-south-east. The land looked like the west-coast of England with many reddish rocks; out at sea there were plenty of cliffs and sunken rocks; at noon the wind went round to South-west afterwards to the south; we held our course North-west by North. In the evening the endmost land lay North by east of us at about 7 miles' distance.

On the 27th do. WILLEMTGEN JANSZ., wedded wife Of WILLEM JANSZ. of Amsterdam, midshipman, was delivered of a son, who got the name of SEEBAER VAN NIEMELANT. At noon Latitude 24° 15', sailed northward both in a calm and with variable winds, generally on a North-by-west course...[*] miles, our course being north, and the wind south with a fine breeze.

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On the 29th do. Latitude 20° 56'.

On the 30th do. Latitude 18° 56'; the wind being east, we could not get higher than north. We saw a good deal of rock-weed floating about, and plenty of fish near the ship...

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