The Aagtekerke was built for use by the Zeeland chamber of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), but was lost on her maiden voyage to Asia. She ran aground and sank near Plymouth, England, in December 1721. The Dutch National archives hold a report on the loss in an archive connected to VOC archives, which indicates that there was a cargo of silver on board that was brought ashore by the crew during the loss. A part of it was stolen by the crew (Radermacher archive, 1.10.69, 247).

Yard: VOC yard in Middelburg.

Tonnage: 800 tons (400 last).

Muzeeum/Wikimedia Commons

A painting of a different Dutch East Indiaman of the Zeeland Chamber: The Slot ter Hoge on the Roads of Rammekens, Jan Voermans, ca. 1780.

In 2010 a wrecksite was discovered by four commercial divers - Howard Jones, Ray Ives, Chris Bird and Mike Pellet, who after two years of work concluded this to be the final resting place of the Aagtekerke. There was no consent for their work on the wreck site and their claim that this is the Aagtekerke has not been confirmed. Jones self-published a book on the process: Blind Faith.

Howard Jones with a cannon on the wreck site. Western Morning News, 31 October 2012.

• DAS 2477.1.
• NL-HaNA_1.10.69_247_0011.
• Historic England Research Records.