The Regenboog (Rainbow) was a fluteship outfitted by the Zeeland chamber of the WIC (Dutch West India Company). It was sent to Brazil around 1630 and served as a slave ship.

On July 4, 1637, it delivered 350 enslaved people—who had been seized as spoils of war—to Recife. They had been captured by the yacht Eendracht from a Portuguese barque, the Nossa Senhora da Natividade.¹

The Rainbow arrived on April 23, 1643. It had departed from Luanda on March 28, 1643, with 544 captives on board, 122 of whom died during the voyage.²

Atlas mutual Heritage

Final voyage
The Reainbow departed for Angola on its final voyage in January 1648. Due to storms and headwinds, the ship made it no further than the Flemish coast:

"Bound for Angola. Wrecked off the Flemish coast; 50 soldiers on board."
This was reported in a dispatch dated 18 January 1648.

*) Luanda was captured from the Portuguese in 1641 by Admiral Houtebeen Jol. Between 1641 and 1648, the Dutch managed the slave trade there. During that period, 14,000 enslaved people were transported from Luanda. After 1648, the WIC no longer sailed to Angola.

• Nationaal archief
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• slavevoyages.org
  voyage 11334
• Nationaal archief
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