Abel Tasman (1644-45)
While Dutch mariner and merchant Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 – 1659) is best known for his first voyage, when he became the first known European explorer to reach Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), New Zealand, Tonga, and the Fiji Islands, there was a second, lesser-known voyage.
In 1644-45, he took the yachts Limmen and Zeemeeuw and the galiot Bracq on a circuit around Australia's northern coastline.
The two voyages represent opposite sides of the same coin: an attempt by Van Diemen and his council to establish whether there was a route into the South Pacific.
If there was, it might serve two purposes.
It might give Dutch ships access to Peru and Chile without making the difficult passage around Cape Horn.
At the same time, the passage might deliver access to the supposed continent (Terra Australis Incognita) in the Pacific's southern latitudes.
Tasman's first voyage established that it was possible to enter the South Pacific around the bottom of Australia. However, that route was too long to deliver practical access to the desired destinations.
Still, Tasman's instructions for the voyage pointed him towards a second possibility.
Was the Gulf of Carpentaria the opening of a passage to the Pacific?
If so, Tasman might encounter its eastern outlet and return to Batavia that way.
Although Tasman's voyage encountered New Zealand, which might be Terra Australis Incognita's west coast, he had missed the shortcut home.
Van Diemen and his council were not impressed. They recorded their reservations concerning Tasman's lack of thoroughness in a letter to the VOC's board of directors in December 1643. Despite their reservations, they sent Tasman out again.
Unfortunately, Tasman's Journal has not survived, and we only know the most rudimentary details of the voyage.
Still, the voyage did provide a complete outline of Australia's northern coast from the still-unknown (to the Dutch) Torres Strait to Western Australia's Northwest Cape.
