The 'Zuytdorp', one of the great ships of the Dutch East India Company,
disappeared without trace after leaving Cape Town in 1712, en route to Batavia
(Jakarta). The ship was carrying a rich cargo, including some 250,000 guilders
in silver coins. Two hundred and forty-two years later, young geologist Phillip
Playford stood at the top of precipitous cliffs on a remote part of the Western
Australian coast, looking down on wooden wreckage lying scattered below.
He had been drawn to this desolate sport by the graphic tales of an elderly
stockman: tales of old Dutch coins, a figurehead, and other relics that had been
found there many years before. Playford later proved that the wreckage and
relics came from the long-lost 'Zuytdorp', which had crashed into these
forbidding cliffs during the winter of 1712.
Phillip Playford brings to life the adventurous story of this vessel - its
voyages and its disappearance, discovery and identification of the wreck,
looting of the treasure, courageous underwater archaeological investigations,
and evidence that survivors managed to struggle ashore, but never returned to
civilisation. He also explores possible answers to the intriguing mysteries that
still remain. What happened to the survivors? Did they join the Aborigines to
become some of Australia's first European 'settlers'? And who looted the
treasure of the 'Zuytdorp', it's fabled 'carpet of silver'?
Contents:
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Prologue: My Introduction to the 'Zuytdorp'
1. The Golden Age: The Dutch East India Company
- The Rise and Fall of the Company
- The Route to the Indies
- The Land of the Eendracht
- Dutch Shipwrecks and Explorers
2. A Ship of Death: The 'Zuytdorp'
- The Ship
- The 1702-06 and 177-10 Voyages
- The Final Voyage of 1711-12
3. Coins, Cannon and a Ghostly Woman: The Wreck
- Identification of the Wreck
- The Wrecksite
- Aboriginal Knowledge of the Wreck
- Modern Discovery of the Wreck
- Tom Pepper
4. The Glint of Silver: Early Expeditions
- The 'Sunday Times' Expedition, 1941
- The 'Daily News' Expedition, 1954
- The 'Daily News' Expedition, 1958
- Tom Brady, Max Cramer and Others
- Alan Robinson
5. Archaeologists, Arsonists and Looters: Activities Since 1971
- Early Work by the WA Museum
- The Abalone Divers
- Archaeological Work 1976-80
- Burning of the WA Museum Caravan
- The Part-time Watchkeeper
- Looting of the 'Zuytdorp' Treaure
- Five Years of Indecision 1981-85
- Archaeological Research Since 1986
6. None Ever Returned: The Fate of the Survivors
- Circumstances of the Wreck
- How Many Survived?
- Death Near the Wrecksite
- Escape by Boat?
- Union with Aborigines?
Epilogue: My Last Visit
Appendix: Marooning of the 'Batavia' Mutineers
Notes
Index
Review:
'Playford writes with disarming enthusiasm ... his prose is beguiling in its
simplicity and clarity. The depth of detailed research Playford has done to
equate imaginative possibilities with what actually happpened is unfailingly
impressive. He portrays his belief in what it worth recording with enviable
persuasiveness and in a readable manner. 'Carpet of Silver' is simply a
well-written and absorbing story ...' - Christopher Bantick,
Australian Book Review
