In the early 1600s the Dutch East India Company (VOC) held powerful monopoly rights over Dutch trade routes and commerce to Asia. Merchant Isaac Le Maire, a former VOC investor who had fallen out with the company, helped organize a rival venture meant to find a new route to the Pacific that would avoid VOC-controlled passages. This commercial conflict set the immediate motive for the Schouten–Le Maire circumnavigation.
Willem Cornelisz Schouten and Jacob Le Maire sailed from Texel with two ships, Eendracht and Hoorn. Their mission was to find a new Atlantic-to-Pacific passage south of the Strait of Magellan and then continue to the East Indies. The voyage combined exploration aims with an attempt to bypass VOC commercial restrictions.
After crossing the Atlantic, the expedition spent weeks at Puerto Deseado in Patagonia for repairs and preparation before pushing farther south. This stop was crucial because sailing conditions worsened dramatically closer to Tierra del Fuego. The delay also increased disease and supply risks later in the voyage.
During the Patagonia stop, the smaller ship Hoorn was accidentally destroyed by fire. The crew and remaining supplies were transferred to Eendracht, and the expedition continued with a single vessel. This loss raised the stakes by reducing cargo capacity and safety margins for the southern passage.
Sailing south of Tierra del Fuego, the Dutch identified and navigated the sea channel between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). The passage later became known as the Le Maire Strait. Finding this strait was a key step toward proving there was a route beyond VOC-claimed corridors.
The expedition rounded the southern cape of South America and named it Cape Horn (Kaap Hoorn), after the Dutch city of Hoorn and the lost ship. This showed that ships could reach the Pacific by going south of the Strait of Magellan. The route would become famous for severe storms and strong currents, but it changed global navigation options.
After entering the Pacific, the expedition sailed north and west and made contact with several island groups, including what they called the Hoorn Islands (today Futuna and Alofi). These encounters provided new European charts and descriptions of parts of the central Pacific. The long crossing also intensified health problems, including scurvy.
Continuing west, Schouten’s crew sailed along sections of New Guinea and nearby islands, producing charts later used by other Dutch navigators. This leg helped link the Cape Horn breakthrough to practical routes toward the Spice Islands. It also expanded Dutch geographic knowledge in the western Pacific.
The expedition arrived at Ternate in the spice-rich Moluccas, an area central to VOC power. Reaching the region proved the Cape Horn route could connect to Southeast Asian trade networks. However, operating in VOC-controlled waters increased the risk of arrest and confiscation.
When the expedition reached Batavia (VOC headquarters in Asia), officials rejected claims that the voyage had stayed outside VOC monopoly routes. The Eendracht and its cargo were impounded, and Schouten and Le Maire were detained and sent back toward the Netherlands. This confrontation turned a navigational achievement into a major legal and political dispute.
Jacob Le Maire died at sea while being transported back toward Europe after the Batavia seizure. His death shaped later disputes about credit for discoveries and control of journals and charts. It also ended his direct role in defending the expedition’s actions and claims.
Willem Schouten reached the Netherlands, completing a full circumnavigation that had begun in June 1615. The return confirmed that the Cape Horn route could be integrated into a global voyage, even under hostile VOC enforcement. It also set the stage for printed accounts that spread the expedition’s geographic knowledge widely in Europe.
Schouten’s voyage narrative was published in Amsterdam and quickly translated into other languages. Printed accounts helped standardize European knowledge of the new route and the places encountered in the Pacific. Publication also influenced public perceptions of who deserved credit for discoveries made on the joint expedition.
Jacob Le Maire’s own narrative of the expedition, known through later publication as Spieghel der Australische Navigatie, was published in Amsterdam. With both leaders’ accounts available in print, the voyage’s main outcomes—Le Maire Strait, Cape Horn passage, and the completed circumnavigation—became firmly embedded in European geographic literature. The expedition’s legacy endured even though it failed to break the VOC’s trade system in practice.
Willem Schouten & Jacob Le Maire — Cape Horn passage and circumnavigation (1615–1617)