Aboard his flagship, the Heemskerck, Captain Abel Tasman (pictured) was feeling every one of his thirty-nine years as his vessel ploughed eastwards through heavy seas in the Southern Ocean and yet another squall left him soaked to the skin.
It was December 13, 1642. Nine days had passed – nine long days and sleepless nights – since the Heemskerck and her smaller companion ship the Zeehaen, an armed hauler vessel, departed an island he’d named Van Diemen’s Land. The Dutch master mariner had no way of knowing the ocean he now sailed would one day be known as the Tasman Sea.
Tasman stood on the Heemskerck’s quarterdeck, riding the rolling motion with the ease of a man who had spent all his working life at sea, and praying he’d sight land soon. He thought he glimpsed land directly ahead.
A cry went up from the ship’s crow’s nest, confirming he hadn’t imagined it. “Turn to port!” the captain shouted to his bosun. He had just sighted waves crashing onto a rocky shoreline, a scary sight even for an experienced seaman.
“Ja, Kapitein!” the bosun responded before relaying Tasman’s orders to his subordinates.
The Heemskerck responded slowly in the heavy seas and several tense minutes passed before she was safely sailing north and parallel to the coast. At the same time, the squall eased, and the clouds and mist lifted to reveal a rugged, forbidding coastline. Dark, green, bush-covered hills rose steeply beyond the rocky shore, and beyond them fleeting glimpses of majestic alps could be seen through breaks in the cloud. There was summer snow on some of the higher peaks.
Tasman was immediately struck by the majesty of the new land he’d discovered. It seemed prehistoric, but beautiful at the same time.
It was some moments before it dawned on Tasman that he had achieved his expedition’s main goal: he’d discovered the Great Southern Continent, or so he believed, for he was convinced the shoreline he was now looking at was that continent’s western edge. The realisation almost brought him to tears, and thoughts of great reserves of gold and other treasures flashed through his mind. He wondered whether the land was inhabited. First impressions were that this was virginal land, uninhabited and unoccupied. If he was right that would mean Holland would have unobstructed and unrivalled access to its resources.
Looking at the coastline beyond the starboard rail, he murmured, “I name this new land Nieuw Zeeland.”
Tasman would soon learn – to his cost – that the land he’d discovered was occupied by warlike peoples who called themselves Maoris. However, he would go to his deathbed mistakenly believing the new land was the Great Southern Continent. It would be well into the following century before his countrymen learned Nieuw Zeeland was an island nation roughly the size of England.
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The paperback and Kindle ebook versions of ‘New Zealand: A Novel’ will be published on Amazon before Christmas; the hardcover and audiobook versions will follow in the New Year.
Watch this space!
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Morcan Books & Films 