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Updated: June 4, 2025
In consequence of the seizure of the Unity, captain Schouten and Jaques Le Maire, with others of their people, embarked at Bantam in the Amsterdam and Zealand on the 14th December, 1616, on which they set sail for Holland.
Great pains were taken to prepare a chart of St. George's Channel, after which Duperrey paid a visit to the islands previously surveyed by Schouten to the north-east of New Guinea. Three days the 26th, 27th, and 28th were devoted to a survey of them.
The only observation they had time to make during this short visit, was the overthrow of the numerous huge stone statues described, measured, and drawn, by Cook and La Pérouse. On the 16th April, the Russian captain arrived at the Dog Island of Schouten, which he called Doubtful Island, to mark the difference in his estimate of its position and that attributed to it by earlier navigators.
The cause was not known until the ship was afterwards laid on shore, when a large horn, of a substance resembling ivory, was found sticking into her bottom, it having pierced through three stout planks. The Line was crossed on the 25th of October, after which Captain Schouten informed the ships' companies of the object of the voyage.
That all parties might be satisfied, it was agreed that William Cornelison Schouten, in consideration of his age and experience, should command the larger ship, with the entire direction of the navigation during the voyage; and that Jaques le Maire, the eldest son of Isaac, should be supercargo.
Captain Schouten sent a boat, however, to look for a safe place to anchor; but the officer in command of her, on his return, reported that the island was inaccessible, though he brought off a large quantity of lobsters, crabs, and a few fish, having also seen many sea-wolves.
This much is certain, that Lemaire bore one half of the expense of the expedition, while Schouten, by the aid of several merchants whose names have been handed down to us, and who filled the chief offices in the town of Hoorn, provided the other half. They fitted out the Concorde, a vessel of 360 tons, and a yacht, carrying together a crew of sixty-five men, and twenty-nine cannon.
To this new-found passage or straits, leading from the Atlantic into the Pacific, they gave the name of the Straits of Le Maire, though that honour ought justly to have been given to Schouten, by whose excellent conduct these straits were discovered.
Schouten was to have command of the expedition, and to sail in the larger ship, and Jacques Le Maire, the eldest son of Isaac, was to be supercargo.
It was therefore an object of great importance to discover, if practicable, any passage to India, which would enable the Dutch, without incurring the penalties of the law, to reach India. This idea was first suggested by La Maire, a merchant of Amsterdam, and William Schouten, a merchant of Horn.
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