The Aagtekerke started her first, and last, voyage on May 27 1725 from the Roads of Rammekens in Zeeland (you can view the first page of her muster roll here).

After 221 days the Aagtekerke arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on January 3rd 1726, which was a considerable longer sailing time than usual. Since the departure from Zeeland, 20 crew members had died, amongst whom were four soldiers. Five more crew members died at the Cape, amongst whom were two soldiers. Twelve crew members did not return on board. Before departure, the Aagtekerke probably loaded a cargo of ivory. She also carried 200.000 guilders worth of silver bars and gold.

Demise of the Aagterkerke near Australia?

The Aagtekerke left the Cape of Good Hope for Batavia (Jakarta) on January 27th, 1726, but the ship never arrived there.

The ship the Zeewijk was lost in 1727. The survivors managed to stay alive for months on some of the islands of the Houtman Abrolhos and later reached Batavia. They recounted that they also thought to have seen remains of another VOC ship and thought of the Aagtekerke or the Fortuin amongst others:

 '(…) alwaar gevonden zijn niet alleen sommige gegraven putten, maar ook enige tekenen van een Nederlands schip vermoedelijk jegens het voornoemde riff meede verbrijseld, twelcke had kunnen geweest zijn de Fortuijn of Aagtekerk waar van de menschen door gebrek soude konnen gestorven ofte op zee vergaan sijn in hunne herwaards komste gelijk dat ook tedenken is van Zeewijks boot (…)'. [Nationaal Archief 1.04.02: inv. 2082]

Summary: "where we did not only find some wells, but also signs of a Dutch ship that was probably smashed on the same reef, which could have been the Fortuin or the Aagtekerke..."

Muzeeum/Wikimedia Commons

Tonnage: 850 tons (425 last).

Also see: Zeewijk

Location suspected but uncertain.

Since may 2019 the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) is co-operating with the Western Australian Maritime Museum in a project to survey the location of the Zeewijk and to try and find the wreck of the Aagtekerke. This should be at the islands of the Pelsart Group.

• Dutch-Asiatic Shipping.
  Details of voyage 2622.1 from Rammekens.
• M. Manders (2019).
  De Aagtekerke spoorloos verdwenen.
  RCE tijdschrift, nummer 04 2019, Amersfoort.
• Western Australian Museum.
  Aagtekerk.
• NL-HaNA_1.04.02_11967_0465 soldaten monsterrol.
• monsterrol.
• Jan P. van de Voort.
  Udenhout en de VOC: Cornelis Couwenberg (1688-1726) met de Aagtekerke naar de Oost, 1724-1726.
• CIE-Centre for International Heritage Activities.
  ventory and analyses of archival sources in the Dutch East India Company (VOC) archives in the Netherlands in order to contribute to possible locations and identification of VOC shipwrecks off the Western Australian Coast.