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Shipwreck treasure from the Treasure Ship Vliegenthart, sunk February 3, 1735 with all the 1729 dated Utrecht ducats aboard. Salvaged at the end of the 20th century.
On May 5, 1730, the Vliegenthart (Flying Heart) was launched as the newest addition to the impressive fleet of the Dutch East India Company. Like other ships in the fleet, the Vliegenthart was designed for the long and dangerous journey to the other side of the world. She was able to handle the extremely rough seas as she rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and the full set of sails allowed her to catch the favorable trade winds across the Indian Ocean. Due to the threat of attack, the Vliegenthart was heavily armed with 42 guns.
After being refitted over the winter months, the Vliegenthart left the Netherlands once again for the East Indies on February 3, 1735. On board were 167 seamen, 83 soldiers, and six passengers plus a small treasure hoard of gold and silver coins that would be used to trade for silk, spices, and precious gems in the East Indies. With a strong gale blowing as they left shore, first the Anna Catharina and then the Vliegenthart were driven onto a sandbar and severely damaged. The Vliegenthart slipped off the sandbar, but it already had gaping holes and quickly sank in 10 fathoms (60 feet) of water. All men on board were lost.
The Dutch East India Company immediately organized a salvage operation to recover the lost treasure from the Vliegenthart but only a few guns, some bottles of wine, and four silver coins were found. Visibility was only a few inches in the murky depths. In addition, the waters were too hazardous and the shifting sands too dangerous to risk continued salvage attempts, so the wreck was abandoned for almost 250 years.
In 1977, researchers discovered the secret map made by the Dutch East India Company that pinpointed the location of the wreck. For three years, divers battled near disasters in the treacherous seas but the following year, they finally discovered the wreck of the Vliegenthart. A team of expert divers and archaeologists spent over a decade carefully bringing the ships treasure of gold and silver coins to the surface.
The gold coins were stored in three chests, two of which remained completely intact through the years. They were the official trade coins to be used in the East Indies and were recorded in the ship's log.
The gold coins were the legendary Dutch Ducats. These coins were struck to help the Dutch East India Company establish trade markets in the East Indies and soon became one of the worlds most respected trade coins. Featuring a knight in armor on one side surrounded by the motto 'Through harmony small things increase' and an inscription on the other side which reads 'Gold money of the United Provinces of the Netherlands and their imperial law', the design remained unchanged from ruler to ruler. Some of the gold Ducats aboard the Vliegenthart were machine-made coins of the era, manufactured from hand-cut planchets on a screw press. Others, made by the ancient method of hand-hammering (like this one) have somewhat less detail in the stroke and are more erratic in shape as is typical of a hand made coin.All gold Ducats recovered from the Vliegenthart are dated 1729. They never entered circulation, and because gold does not corrode, they appear almost exactly the same as the day they were struck even after 250 years in sea water. Most gold Ducats and Silver Riders that arrived in the East Indies were eventually melted for their precious metal, and the few that escaped melting bear the tell-tale marks of having been in circulation for many years. The coins from the Vliegenthart, on the other hand, are rarely-seen coins that never circulated.