Jean Etienne Gonzal and Ludowijk Van Asschens (1756)
The little-known expeditions of Jean Etienne Gonzal and Lavienne Lodewijk van Asschens in 1756 followed, in part and more or less, the tracks of Jansz, Carstensz and Torres.
While their activities are of little interest as far as surveying the coastline is concerned, the duo made more frequent contact with the local people than any of their predecessors.
Their voyages reflected a low-key revival of Dutch interest in New Holland's north coast following a 1751 report from Daniel van den Burgh, the commander of the Dutch fort on Timor, suggesting that commercial quantities of tortoiseshell might be found to the south of the island of Roti.
After a storm drove him south, one of van den Burgh's Chinese traders had reached a low shore where he had friendly encounters with the local people before returning home.
Gonzal and van Asschens departed from Batavia on 8 February 1756 and reached Banda on 26 March.
After a freak storm blew Gonzal's Rijder out to sea, van Asschens' Buijs made it into port.
The ships continued separately, looking to make a rendezvous without achieving one.
Van Asschens sailed south along the same stretch of coast explored by Jansz one hundred and fifty years earlier. At the same time, Gonzal followed the coast further south and made several landings.
Gonzal's contacts with the local people were initially friendly. They soured when he kidnapped two men to take back to Batavia. The rest of his voyage was uneventful, and he failed to discover anything of note.
