Sebald or Sebald de Weert (May 2, 1567 – May 30 or June 1603) was a Flemish captain and vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (known in Dutch as Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC). He is most widely remembered for accurately plotting the Falkland Islands in 1600.
Sebald de Weert was born in Antwerp, the sixth of 17 children of Johannes Sweerts de Weert (b. 1538) and Clara Wonderer (1541–1595). The family left Antwerp for Cologne in January 1569, to escape the tyranny and persecution. In 1575, the family moved to Amsterdam. Between 1579 and 1584, they were back in Antwerp, and by 1586, they lived in Middelburg. Sebald was originally employed as a ship's navigator with the Dutch East India Company (VOC), and over the years worked his way up to vice admiral with the VOC. He signed his name "Sebalt", but had the official Latinized name "Sebaldus".
Expedition to the East Indies via the Straits of Magellan
Around 1598, several exploratory expeditions left Rotterdam for eastern discovery traveling in many different routes. On June 27, 1598, a voyage of five ships with 494 men under the command of Jacques Mahu and financed by Dutchman Pieter van den Hagen and the Flemish Johan van der Veken, two wealthy retailers, and equipped by Magelhaanse Compagnie, left Goeree (Holland), bound for the Moluccas, in the Dutch East Indies. They headed Southwest toward the Straits of Magellan in South America, intending to navigate the straits then turn Northwest toward Asia.
The ships with their (initial) captains were: Hoop (Hope), captained by Jacques Mahu, leader of the expedition; Liefde (Love), captained by Simon de Cordes, second-in-command; Geloof (Belief), captained by Gerrit van Beuningen; Trouwe (Faith), captained by Jurriaan van Boekhout; and finally Blijde Boodschap (Good Tiding or The Gospel), captained by Sebald de Weert. The Blijde Boodschap was better known as Vliegend Hart (Flying heart) prior to this particular voyage. Liefde had been previous known as Erasmus and still had a figurehead of the philosopher.
After leaving European waters the ships spent from April 2 to September 29 at the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. Many of the crew of the Hoop caught fever there, with some of the men dying, among them Admiral Jacques Mahu. He died on September 23, 1598, leaving the expedition without its leader. Simón de Cordes replaced Mahu's command with Gerrit van Beuningen becoming vice-admiral. As such Van Beuningen was moved to the flagship which led to Sebald de Weert moving to relieve van Beuningen of command of the Geloof. Due to an outbreak of scurvy, the vessels made a short diversion from December 16, 1598, to January 2, 1599, to take on supplies in Annobón an African trading island south of São Tomé Island. The flotilla finally crossed the Atlantic in January 1599 and reached the Straits of Magellan on April 7, 1599. Much to their dismay they found they were unable to sail for more than another four months due to strong adverse winds. The fleet wintered in the Fortesene Bay until August 23 and until August 28 in Ridres Bay. During this time around 120 more of the crew died due to the harsh weather and hostile Patagonian natives, even though the ships still had enough provisions at this time.
On September 3, 1599, the Pacific was finally reached. The ships ran into more trouble as they were caught in a torrential storm with three of the vessels getting lost from the Geloof and Trouwe, who never lost sight of one another during the storm and both wound up being swept back into the Straits of Magellan. When the Geloof finally lost sight of the Trouwe, Captain De Weert found himself with a restless crew threatening to force a return home to the Netherlands. The Trouwe eventually found shelter from the weather at the Chilean island Chiloe, where several of the crew including the group's new commander, Simón de Cordes, were eventually killed by natives. Those who survived never returned to Europe.
Both the Hoop and the Liefde also met hostile natives, who were most likely mistaken for Spaniards. The natives killed both ships' captains and a large number of crew members. After the ships found one another they decided to head in the direction of Japan rather than the Moluccas. The Hoop was later lost in a vicious storm but the Liefde, commanded by a new captain, Jacob Quaeckernaeck, with a decimated crew, eventually managed to reach Usuki in the province of Bungo on Kyushu Island by April 19, 1600. The men were so physically weakened by the trip that only six of the remaining 24 survivors were able to even walk.
The Geloof turns back to the Netherlands
Unlike his colleagues on the Liefde, Sebald de Weert's ship never made it to Asia. He encountered the Dutch seafarer Olivier van Noort, who on his ship Mauritius, would later become famous as the first Dutchman and only the fourth sea captain to circumnavigate the world. Van Noort would also be famous from the same journey as being the man who sank the Spanish galleon San Diego in Manila Bay.
Van Noort was still on the first leg of his historic voyage and was also to be on a northwestern track so Sebald de Weert attempted to join forces with the two Van Noort vessels. But de Weert's ship could not keep up due to his crew being physically too weak and van Noort's ships being too fast. Nevertheless, both Van Noort and De Weert were eventually blown back eastward into the straits again where the two captains met for a second time. Having left Rotterdam with four ships Van Noort now had just lost two ships to terrible Straits of Magellan storms yet Van Noort was determined to press on across the Pacific. De Weert on the other hand hoped to strengthen his crew's physical condition prior to making another attempt at the Pacific. As such De Weert planned to sail his ship to the eastern part of the straits to hunt penguins in the "Penguin Islands". His plans did not come to fruition as strong winds blew the ship back east again. De Weert then decided to take his men back home to the Netherlands.
On his way back, he sighted and tried to make landfall on the Falkland Islands (see below) in January 1600. The ship passed the equator in March 1600 and visited the Azores on June 6. Upon finally reaching the Netherlands (Goeree) on July 13, 1600, only 36 of the Geloof's original 105 crew members were still alive.
De Weert's original command, the Blijde Boodschap, had been so short on supplies that, in November 1599, they were forced to sail into the Spanish port of Valparaíso in Chile. The Spanish being in the 80-year war with the Dutch, the ship was immediately confiscated and the crew imprisoned for a long period of time. In fact, the captain, Dirck Gerritz Pomp, who had once worked for the Portuguese in Japan and China voyages, was held as long as 1604 when he had finally been released to return home due to a Dutch-Spanish prison exchange.
Sebald de Weert made at least one other important sea voyage, which would be his last. The Dutch made their first contact with Ceylon in June 1602, in the same year that the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) had been established in March. On May 31, Admiral Joris van Spilbergen arrived with three ships after a 12-month voyage. He visited the King of Kandy, Vimaladharmasuriya I in Kandy. The four-month visit was cordial and successful. The timing was right: the Portuguese colonialists had relegated the king to a virtual rebel leader in the inlands. They discussed the possibility that in exchange for Dutch military assistance to expel the Portuguese from the coastal areas, the Dutch would be able to trade cinnamon and pepper from the island. Reflecting the cordiality of the visit, Vimaladharmasuriya started to learn the Dutch language, saying that ‘Kandy is now Flanders’, while Spilbergen left two skilled musicians behind in the King's service.
De Weert arrived on 28 November 1602, two months after Spilbergen's departure, to follow through on implementing Spilbergen's negotiations. He had official Dutch backing with an offer to help Vimaladharmasuriya's forces. Like Spilbergen he landed at Batticaloa and was escorted on elephants to the city of Kandy. During this visit, it was decided that the Kandy troops and Dutch forces would launch a joint offensive on the Portuguese. On January 14, 1603, accompanied by a Kandy ambassador, De Weert traveled on to Atjeh and returned to Ceylon in April with six ships.