Extremely rare fifth edition, the second illustrated with woodcuts, of a popular account of the story of the East Indiaman Ter Schelling, which was wrecked off the coast of Bengal. The author, a member of the crew, kept a journal of his experiences, and the 18 woodcuts illustrate the crew's adventures both at sea and on land. The ship left Batavia with 85 men and about 28 canons under captain Jacob Jansz. Stroom on 3 September 1661 and came within sight of Bengal on 8 October. They wrecked on a sandbank off shore, however, and had to make rafts to travel further, 32 of them managing to reach an uninhabited island. Van der Heyden describes the crew's desperate hunger, when they were tempted even to eat a worm-filled human corpse. They survived on turtles, snakes, iguana and occasionally rotten buffalo meat. By chance they reached mainland Bengal in the middle of the region's greatest war (1660-1662), so once ashore they were conscripted into the enormous Mogul army to fight against the kingdom of Assam, said to be cannibals. The gruesome massacre of captives by the Nabob is described and illustrated. Following the story of the voyage are descriptions of the kingdoms of Arrakan, Martaban, Tanassery, Bengala and Patan along the coast of the Bay of Bengal from modern Bangladesh to Burma.
Though all editions are rare, those with woodcut illustrations aimed at a lower market seems to be the rarest.
Slightly browned throughout, a minor dampstain in the inner margin of the foot of the title-page and a tiny dampstain in the lower outer corner throughout. A good copy of a very rare edition of a gripping true-life adventure story. Landwehr & V.d. Krogt, VOC 422 note; STCN (1 copy); Tiele, Bibl. note; WorldCat (2 copies, incl. 1 the same).