Do you know about the role played by the Duyfken Shipyard (now the Albany Boatshed) in the construction of Duyfken and the extraordinary expedition of the replica 400-year-old sailing ship 25 years ago? You can hear the story when the author of a new book “Through Darkest Seas”, Graeme Cocks, speaks in the Albany Boatshed on the 22nd July 2024 at 5.30 pm.
Tickets ($5) are available from the City of Albany and at the door. Refreshments included in the ticket price. Proceeds will be shared by the Maritime Heritage Association and the Albany Maritime Foundation. This is a BYO event.
The book, Through Darkest Seas, is a story of great highs and extreme lows.
West Australian author Graeme Cocks said that the project began with a short letter to a local Fremantle newspaper in December 1993. The writer suggested that as the replica of James Cook’s ship Endeavour had been lost to Fremantle, another ship called Duyfken (the Little Dove in Dutch) should be built to replace her. The letter generated a huge groundswell of community interest. A community group was established and then a charitable foundation formed to build the ship. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander who is now King of The Netherlands, came to Fremantle to lay the keel.
The ship was launched in 1999. Duyfken (Little Dove), arrived at the Pennefather River in Cape York, Queensland in August 2000 and her Master, Peter Manthorpe, asked for permission from the Traditional Owners for his crew to come ashore. The simple but moving gesture was seen as acknowledging a past historical wrong that European explorers did not ask for permission to set foot on Australian soil.
The book also documents the original voyage of exploration of Captain Willem Jansz and Duyfken in 1606. Jansz sailed the ship Duyfken from Banda in Indonesia to the Pennefather River in Queensland. The visit marked the first time that Australia appeared on a map and the first time recorded in history that Aboriginal Australians met people from the outside world. And the ship sailed to Indonesia during the civil war in 2000 and then across four oceans on one of the longest reenactment voyages ever undertaken in a European Age of Discovery replica ship. After a year-long voyage, the ship arrived in The Netherlands in 2002.
“Through Darkest Seas” is a story of great ocean adventures and the realisation that the history of Australia and Indonesia was not quite as simple as we were taught at school,” said author Graeme Cocks. The book follows the story of the fund-raising and construction of the replica, setbacks and triumphs. In 2000, Duyfken and her modern crew sailed to Indonesia during the Timor Crisis and the exploding civil war in the outlying islands of the archipelago.
The author offers a behind-the-scenes insight into the perseverance required to bring the project to fruition and the crazy idea of sailing the ship to Indonesia during a civil war and then across four oceans from Sydney to Europe.
Author Graeme Cocks had a 20 year association with the Duyfken Project. He was a founding member of the Duyfken 1606 Replica Foundation in 1994 and Project Director of the Foundation for four years from 1999. He also served as Chair of the Foundation for a number of years.
“Through Darkest Seas” will be on sale at the launch. The book is 546 pages with 60 black and white photographs. Details at www.duyfkenbook.com
Photo credit: Robert Garvey, Duyfken Shed, Fremantle 1997