Draft:Cape storm (1737)

In May 1737 there was a storm in South Africa. When the storm went over the Table Bay on 21 May, nine boats of the Dutch East India Company sank with 207 deaths.

Background
The Table Bay was at the time a Dutch Cape Colony of the Dutch East India Company. Cape of Good Hope was a regular stop for all ships sailing from the Dutch Republic to Asia or ships returning from Asia to the Dutch Republic.

Shipwrecks
Most of the sources about the storm states that eight ships were lost due to the storm. The ships Iepenrode, Goudriaan, Flora, De Buis and Duinbeek were destroyed. The ships Westerwijk, Rodenrijs and Victoria stranded. The Papenburg, was the only ship of the fleet that was 'miraculously' preserved. At least one more ship sank being the Victoria

De Buys
De Buys also written as Buis, Buys, Buisje and Buysje was a 130 foot long fluyt. It was built in 1727 in Enkhuizen for the Chamber of Enkhuizen. The ship had a loading capacity of 300 last (600 tons) and had 120-175 crew members.

She departed on 22 June 1728 for her first voyage to Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Dutch East Indies from Texel under command of Dirk Dol.

Aftermath
The Dutch East India Company started an investigation after the disaster, wether the Saldanha Bay located 100km to the north from the Table Bay would be a better bay for their VOC ships. This ultimately didn't happen.