Tobacco tin
In 1727 the Dutch East Indies ship Zeewijk ran aground at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands causing the surviving crew to scramble to a nearby island where they fought to save the ship’s treasure chests and other cargo. Those men still stranded on the wreckage sent kegs of tobacco to those who’d made it ashore in the hope of convincing them to stage a rescue. Of those who did survive, a group of 12 set sail to Batavia on a longboat to seek help but were lost to the wind and waves. While the remaining sailors awaited rescue, they found two boys guilty of sodomy and sentenced them to death by marooning them on separate islands, in view of each other. The remaining survivors built a boat from the wreckage and embarked on a one-month journey to Batavia on the makeshift craft. Six men died on the way. Eventually 82 of the 208 initial crew reached safety in Batavia. Fast-forward through the years and guano miners began discovering artefacts from the Zeewijk wreck in the 1880s and 1890s. But it wasn’t until 1968 that the main wreck site was discovered. Among the many items recovered was this intricately designed tobacco tin. It makes you ponder who its owner may have been and what became of them on that ill-fated voyage?
