Ladmiral surmonte s’en allant au fond a nostre veúe

Description

hand-coloured copper engraving. EXTREMELY RARE

A dramatic view from van Noort’s book “Description du penible voyage fait entour de l’universe ou globe terrestre…” First (?) French edition of this classic exploration narrative published in Amsterdam by Cornille Claessz [Cornelis Claesz (1551-1609)]. This is the story of the fourth ship (and the first Dutch one) to circumnavigate the world (1598-1601), after Magellan, Drake, and Cavendish. It is the translation of the original “Beschryvinghe vande voyagie om den geheelen werelt cloot”, published in 1602. In November and December 1600, Oliver van Noort (1568-1611) occupied the area around Corregidor Island. His ships ‘Mauritius’ and ‘Eendracht’ were engaged in pirate activities on the commercial traffic sailing to and from Manila. The Spanish dispatched a party to engage van Noort at Corregidor, which resulted in a battle fought on December 14, 1600. Plate shows the sinking Spanish flagship of Antonio de Morga, the ‘San Diego” and its drowning crew off Manila Bay near Fortune Island; it was retrieved only 1992-1995 as nobody suspected the battle area to extend this far South of Manila Bay.