Several newspapers and websites announced that the wreck of the Dutch East Company ship Voetboog was found off the Brazilian coast. The Hungarian salvage company Octopus, leaded by Attila Szalóky claimed to have found the wreck of a Dutch merchant ship near the Brazilian coast. Probably it was the 3-master Voetboog. This ship sunk in May 1700 with a crew counting 109 men and loaded with a valuable cargo from Brazil towards the Netherlands. Due to a heavy storm she lost contact with the rest of the ships and ship wrecked with none survivors. Her captain was Adriaan de Ruiter. The ship is nowadays covered with mud but her cargo consisting of species, silk, gems, tea and porcelain was well preserved. The salvagers used freight letters from Dutch archives to get knowledge about her cargo. They claimed also the existence of 18.000 golden ducats on board. The total value of the cargo was nowadays 670 million euro. Dutch naval experts have doubts with this discovery. According to Benno van Tilburg, head of the Maritime Archaeology of the Government Branch for Cultural Heritage claimed Octopus already in the past without success that she found the Voetboog. According to professor Femme Gaastra, specialized in the Dutch East India Company history ducats were strike in Europe and sent over to Asia to buy stores and were not taking back to Europe. If it is the wreck of The Voetboog, negotiations will be necessary, while the Netherlands are owner of the ship.
The Voetboog was a fluyt, built at the Dutch East India Company yard at Amsterdam in 1687. Her dimensions were 130’8 x 32’5½”x 14’1” and a cargo capacity of 595 ton.
