The Hollandia: a VOC vessel

The Hollandia was an East India Company merchant ship that sank in 1743 in the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea, off the coast of Cornwall. The wreck was discovered in 1971 by Rex Cowan, a London treasure hunter. He and his team of divers discovered approximately 35,000 silver coins out of the 129,700 florins recorded on board.

The Hollandia was built in 1742 by the VOC, the Dutch East India Company. Intended primarily for maritime traffic, it was equipped with 32 cannons to defend itself against pirates and enemy maritime powers.

Its maiden trip began on June 3, 1743. On that day, it left the port of Texel with a convoy bound for Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. On June 13, the Dutch ship lost its way in the fog and headed for the Scilly Islands. It hit rocks a few kilometers from the island of Annet. The crew fired several cannons to alert the locals, but to no avail. All the passengers died and the cargo sank to a depth of thirty meters.