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“Huc Franciscus Dra. Appulit”
Insulae Indiae Orientalis Praecipuae,
in Quibus Moluccae Celeberrimae Sunt.
[Amsterdam,
Jodocus Hondius,
1609, or later].
Engraved map, French text on verso, with contemporary hand-colour in full.
17577
Hondius's map of Southeast Asia is one of thirty-seven new maps engraved for the 'Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas Sive Cosmographicae' in 1606, here from the French language edition published from 1609. It is one of few maps of the period to show any trace of Francis Drake's voyage through Southeast Asia. "Huc Franciscus Dra. Appulit" appears beneath the sketched outline of the southern coast of Java, indicating a possible landing site during his circumnavigation of the globe in 1577-80. Although the exact point at which Drake first made landfall in Asia is disputed, it is very likely that the island of Palau in Micronesia was the place. "From Micronesia he continued west to Mindanao, then sailed southeast in search of the Spiceries. He picked up two native fishermen in canoes in the sea somewhere northeast of Sulawesi, who guided him to the Moluccas. Leaving the Moluccas filled with spices and the precious spoils of earlier plunder in South America, Drake attempted to navigate the tricky waters leading to the clearer seas to the south, but ran aground on a steep reef off Sulawesi. Three tons of cloves, among other valuables, were dumped overboard to lesson their weight, but nothing seemed to help them from what appeared to be inescapable disaster until the strong winds reversed, freeing them from the reef " (Suarez page 193, fig 112).
J
J
Koeman II, Me 19; Suarez, Early Mapping of Southeast Asia, page 193.
