Marooned: The Wreck of the Vergulde Draeck and the Abandonment and Escape from the Southland of Abraham Leeman in 1658 by James A Henderson

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Foxing to foredges, title, imprint and foreword pages. Previous owner has signed inside page. Small mark on front blank page. Slight skew to spine. Dust jacket has creasing at edges and spine. Dust jacket is now enclosed in a protective cover. Body text and binding are still very good.

The Vergulde Draeck sailed from the Netherlands bound for Batavia. The ship foundered in 1656 at Ledge Point, near the mouth of Moore River, leaving 68 survivors stranded. In 1658, two ships were sent to attempt a rescue. Aboard one of the ships, the Waeckende Boey, was officer-navigator Abraham Leeman van Santwits.

This book is a chronicle of the intrepid Leeman, one of the more astonishing heroes of the ocean. Translations of Leeman's diary and other documents reveal his abandonment, with 13 other men, by their captain.

Leeman's desperate journey to Java, in an overloaded open boat, battling reefs, swells and gales, was an odyssey of leadership and courage. (book flap)