Schiedam Prize Wreck
Website under constuction
The Wreck and the Ruins
Two forgotten Histories
One Extraordinary Connection
Reconstruction of the scene a few weeks after hard grounding of the Schiedam
Introduction
This site records the interconnected sequence of events—documented in contemporary sources—that culminated in the wreck of a Dutch flyboat on the coast of Cornwall in 1684. Four items are of particular significance:
1. In April 1683, a Dutch flyboat, the Groette Scherdam van Hoorn, of approximately 400 tonnes departed from Hoorn on a commercial voyage to the Mediterranean.
2. In August 1683, a large fleet was dispatched from Portsmouth to Tangier, then an English possession on the North African littoral.
3. The James Galley, one of the many vessels in Tangier and part of Admiral Herbert’s Mediterranean squadron, whose principal mandate was the suppression of piracy in the western Mediterranean.
4. The Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, long notorious for its dangers to shipping, with many vessels driven ashore by Atlantic gales.
Considered together, these elements frame the circumstances of the Dutch vessel’s loss. The research further reveals how this seemingly isolated shipwreck connects to the larger geopolitical upheaval of the period—specifically the destruction and abandonment of Tangier by the English Crown. The episode illuminates the intersection of maritime commerce, strategy, and the precarious realities of seafaring in the age of sail.
Tangier
Few cities have a more varied history. Already established as a Phoenician trading post by the middle of the 1st millennium BC, Tangier subsequently came under Carthaginian and then Roman control, before being captured by the Portuguese in 1471. In 1662, it was transferred to the English Crown as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to Charles II.
The acquisition of Tangier by Charles II, marked the beginning of a massive financial drain on the country. The safety of shipping was a major priority, and to provide a secure harbour it was decided to construct a huge Mole, extending some 1,500 feet into the sea. This was possibly the largest construction project undertaken anywhere in the world at that time, eventually involving the quarrying, transport and placement of some 160,000 tons of stone. The cost was enormous, amounting in modern terms to well over £1 billion.
Tangier before construction of the great Mole
Construction began in 1662, and after a year or two the work of laying foundations at the most seaward end of the Mole, in water up to 18 feet deep, became increasingly difficult. In 1664, Sir John Lawson specifically asked the Royal Society to examine a new “diving instrument” devised by Ralph Greatorex, with the possibility that it might help “lay the foundation of the mole at Tangier.”
Greatorex was an instrument maker who had been experimenting with underwater breathing apparatus since the early 1650s. By 1664, he had developed a workable diving device, which was tested before members of the Royal Society. He subsequently went to Tangier himself in 1665. Later accounts describe his apparatus as a diving bell, and experiments demonstrated that a diver could descend to considerable depths and work underwater.
Diving apparatus was essential and used on the Mole to position the great blocks for its foundation, but the surviving evidence does not reveal whether it was Greatorex's gear.
Inevitably, there were breaches on the Atlantic side, and it is recorded that a few blocks up to 100 tons were positioned at critical points in the breaches. How these were handled is not recorded, but it is doubtful if any crane or lifting device at the time could handle such a mass.
Large cranes were built at either Portsmouth or London and transported to Tangier. Work by hundreds of men was continuous for around 20 years and finished just as it was decided to abandon Tangier.
Tangier after completion of the great Mole
Yet maintaining the city proved costly, with constant Moroccan attacks and growing English suspicion that Tangier was becoming a centre of Catholic influence. In 1683, the English decided to abandon the settlement.
A large attack by Moors in 1680, repelled but with serious losses.
In late June 1683, the decision was finally made to abandon Tangier. By early July, Charles II had sent Lord Dartmouth detailed instructions for an expedition to evacuate the town and completely destroy both the city and the Mole. The intention was to ensure that Tangier could never again be used as a base by the Moors or any other potential enemy.
The inhabitants were to be evacuated and transported to their respective native countries, while valuations of their property were to be made so that compensation could be considered at a later date. The officers and soldiers of the garrison were likewise to be returned to England, although arrangements for their repatriation were to be issued separately.
The task facing Dartmouth was therefore far more than a simple military evacuation. Tangier had to be stripped of its population and military forces, its buildings and property accounted for, and the substantial harbour works and Mole systematically destroyed before the English finally withdrew.
The fleet finally assembled comprised 21 vessels, including Dartmouth’s Grafton, flagship of 70 guns.
Lord Dartmouth’s Fleet.
Dartmouth's expedition consisted of nine Royal Navy warships, ranging from the 70-gun Grafton down through the smaller rates, accompanied by twelve merchant vessels. They left Spthead 19th. August and after an uneventful voyage arrived at Tangier 14th. September. Together they carried the men, stores, provisions and equipment necessary to evacuate the garrison and dismantle the town and Mole.
Principal characters
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth -
Admiral, Captain General and on arrival to supercede Percy Kirke as Governor of Tangier.
Accompanying George Legge:-
Samuel Pepys, acting as sole counsellor to Dartmouth and charged with assessing claims for compensation for European inhabitants of Tangier.
Bishop Thomas Ken, Dartmouth’s chaplain, concerned with religious matters.
Sir Henry Sheeres, English military engineer, and
Martin Beckman, Swedish, to be chief engineer, overseeing the demolition.