VOC Wrecks

Wrecks of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, chartered 1602), whose ships ran between the Netherlands and Asia. The retourschip Batavia wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos off Western Australia in 1629, its loss followed by a notorious mutiny and massacre; the hull and stone portico are conserved at the WA Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle. Other VOC losses include Vergulde Draeck (1656) and Zeewijk (1727). Western Australian and Dutch heritage law governs these sites, many designated and protected.