Dirck Gerritz Pomp

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Dirck Gerritz Pomp (also Dirck Gerritsz, Dirk Gerritz, Dirck China, Dirck Gerritzsoon, Dirck Gerritzsoon Pomp) (* 1544 in Enkhuizen ; † 1608 ) was a Dutch seafarer .

At the age of eleven, Pomp moved with relatives to Lisbon , where he learned Portuguese and completed an apprenticeship as a trader. In 1568 he became a merchant in Goa , Portuguese India . He visited Japan and China on board Portuguese merchant ships in the 1580s . 1590 he returned to Enkhuizen, where he met with January Huygen van Linschoten befriended, who made his pomp knowledge Use and pieces of it in his book Itinerario: ofte Voyage schipvaert van Jan. Huyghen van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugaels India, 1579-1592 published . Gerritsz Bay , a bay on Anvers Island in Antarctica , has been named after him since 2017 .

Failed East India expedition 1598/1599

In 1598 Pomp returned to the sea, this time under the Dutch flag under the command of Jacob Mahu . The aim of the expedition was to get to the East Indian spices by crossing the Strait of Magellan and by opening this new trade route to bypass Spanish competition. Alternatively, Japanese silver or Chinese silk was sought . In the Netherlands, Pomp had raved about the large stocks of both products in China and Japan. William Adams , who later became the first Englishman to travel to Japan, was also on board . After Mahu died before reaching the Strait of Magellan, Pomp took over command of the Blijde Boodschap from Captain Sebald de Weert , who in turn took over the ship Mahus.

The Blijde Boodschap was drifting southwards, a mountainous coast is said to have been identified at 64 ° S. If this news is true, Pomp would be the actual discoverer of the South Shetland Islands in 1599 and thus also the first European to have seen a land mass belonging to the Antarctic continent . However, the information is controversial.

The Blijde Boodschap never reached East India. When supplies were running out, Pomp headed for the port of Valparaíso in mid-November 1599 , where he was captured by the Spanish . He was only released five years later as part of a prisoner exchange with the Netherlands. He spent the last years of his life in the service of the Dutch East India Company .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Pomp, Dirck Gerritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch navigator
DATE OF BIRTH 1544
PLACE OF BIRTH Enkhuizen
DATE OF DEATH 1608