Second and rare edition of an account of two fatal voyages with two ships. The first voyage was made with the French East Indiaman Le Prince and was commanded by Captain Morin. On 19 February 1752 this ship left the port of Lorient, sailing for Pondicherry. However initially the voyage went well, on 26 April 1752 there was a fire in Le Prince. It spread fast and it also reached the gunpowder magazine. Therefore the ship exploded, as the engraving shows, and only 10 persons survived.
The second account concerns the seizure of the Dutch ship Rustenwerk, an East Indiaman of 650-ton. On 28 June 1752 this ship was taken by the pirate Frans Fransz after mooring of Ternate. He and his companions killed 12 people on board, which is depicted in the engraving. The survivors of this violent seizure by Frans Fransz reached Batavia and they sailed to Holland. Although the VOC succeeded in retaking the ship, Frans Fransz. Already escaped with the valuable cargo. A more historical addition to this report is the list it includes of 210 VOC ships lost in the period 1688-1752 through disasters, mutiny and piracy. These two ships are cruel examples of how East Indiamen could be defeated by fate. After this first edition, Mourik also published a second, also undated edition with the same plates.
Spine slightly discoloured, otherwise in very good condition. Landwehr & V.d. Krogt 437; STCN (1 copy); Tiele, Bibl. 1238; Worldcat (7 or 9 copies).