The Koning Willem de Tweede had just completed a journey from Hong Kong to South Australia, when a storm struck and caused it to wreck off the coast of Long Beach.
Australian National Maritime MuseumAn illustration of the lost Dutch merchant ship Koning Willem de Tweede.
A team of researchers has seemingly located the wreck of the Koning Willem de Tweede, a Dutch merchant ship that was lost off the Australian coast in 1857.
According to a new press release from the Australian National Maritime Museum, the Koning Willem de Tweede Shipwreck Project launched in 2022 with the end goal of locating and surveying the wreckage. Now, three years later, it seems the effort has paid off.
The Wreck Of The ‘Koning Willem De Tweede’
The Koning Willem de Tweede was built in 1840 at Kinderdijk, South Holland. It was an 800-ton, fully-rigged vessel constructed primarily of oak. Originally christened the Erfprinses van Oranje (“Crown Princess of Orange”), it was later renamed to honor King William II of the Netherlands.
The ship was designed for both passenger and cargo transport, a common practice for merchant vessels of the era.
In June 1857, the ship departed from Hong Kong under the command of Captain Hindrik Remmelt Giezen carrying around 400 Chinese migrants bound for the Victoria gold fields in Australia.
State Library of VictoriaA Chinese miner at the Victoria goldfields in 1867.
For the crew of the Koning Willem de Tweede, their job was done once they had dropped off their passengers, but the ship remained anchored in Guichen Bay near the town of Robe due to rough weather. Then, on June 30, 1857, a violent storm struck the area, and the ship’s anchor was lost.
The storm also ripped away the ship’s windlass — a device used to raise and lower anchors — prompting Captain Giezen to try and beach the ship in order to save it. Instead, the vessel ran aground on Long Beach and started to break apart under the waves.
Tragically, of the 25 crew members, 16 perished while attempting to reach shore in a small boat that capsized in the surf. Giezen managed to survive by clinging to a cask and was eventually pulled to safety by rescuers.
The bodies of the drowned soldiers were buried in the dunes nearby.
Yet, despite the captain’s survival, the exact location of the wreckage of the Koning Willem de Tweede remained a mystery for more than a century. That is, until now, if archaeologists are correct.
The Rediscovery Of The 19th-Century Shipwreck
Australian National Maritime MuseumResearcher Mark Polzer scanning the seabed with a metal detector during the search for the shipwreck.
In 2022, the Koning Willem de Tweede Shipwreck Project commenced, with the aim of searching for, locating, and archaeologically surveying the wreckage. It was a joint effort between the Australian Maritime Museum, the Silentworld Foundation, South Australia’s Department for Environment and Water, and Flinders University.
At the beginning of the project, the team identified a magnetic anomaly consistent with the ship’s dimensions, roughly 460 feet long and 140 feet wide. However, due to poor weather and low visibility in the water, divers weren’t able to see anything until nearly three years later, in March 2025.
At that time, divers discovered iron components of the windlass protruding from the seafloor along with a well-preserved timber plank, suggesting that more of the hull might be intact under the sand.
“We looked at things like the depth of the ship… and we’ve looked at the water depth it’s sitting in, and that all seems to line up really well,” James Hunter of the Australian National Maritime Museum told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Australian National Maritime MuseumComponents of the iron windlass that was ripped from the ship.
Importantly, no other large magnetic signatures were located anywhere nearby. Researchers also identified fragments of 19th-century Chinese earthenware ceramics on an adjacent beach in March 2023, further supporting that this is indeed the location where the Koning Willem de Tweede wrecked.
“The team is confident the shipwreck is that of Koning Willem de Tweede based on its location,” the museum press release reads, “which corresponds to historic accounts of the vessel’s loss, and is the only known historic shipwreck event to have occurred on that stretch of Long Beach.”
“All these things… make us pretty confident we’ve got it, but it would be great if we found a bell with the name on it,” Hunter said.
The wreck site, located around 1,300 feet offshore, is now a protected area. Divers are permitted to visit, though they have been advised not to disturb the vessel. Future expeditions aim to monitor the ship’s condition and potentially recover more artifacts from the wreckage.
“We may get down there and find more of the wreck uncovered,” Hunter added, “or alternatively, we could see a whole bunch of sand again because it’s buried itself.”
After reading about the discovery of this Dutch shipwreck, learn about nine other famous shipwrecks throughout history. Or, read about the infamous mutiny on the HMS Wager.
