Recherche archéologique franco-néerlandaise du navire négrier Leusden perdu en 1738 à l'entrée du fleuve Maroni. Guyane française, 31 octobre – 19 novembre 2021
Formal Report Expedition 2021 Slaveship De Leusden
Report of the French-Dutch maritime archaeological survey of the slave ship the Leusden (1738) in the entrance of the Maroni river, French Guiana 31 October – 19 November 2021
2022 - Documentary AT5: "The drama of Amsterdam slave schip Leusden"
At the end of 2022, maritime archaeologists Jerzy Gawronski (CTO Amsterdam) and Michel L'Hours (French archaeological service DRASSM) went on an expedition to find the slave ship Leusden. Previous expeditions via Suriname and French Guiana had shown that the ship has probably stranded near the mouth of the Marowijne river off the coast of the current village Awala-Yalimapo in French Guiana.
The Amsterdam news station AT5 made made a documentary about the search for- and the history of the ship. The drama of the Leusden radically sketches the violent context in which the slave trade took place.
2022 - Trailer AT5: "The drama of the Amsterdams slaven ship Leusden"
At end of 2022, Maritime archaeologists Jerzy Gawronski (CTO Amsterdam) and Michel L'Hours (French archaeological service DRASSM) went on an expedition to find the slave ship Leusden. Previous expeditions via Suriname and French Guiana had shown that the ship has probably stranded near the mouth of the Marowijne river off the coast of the current village Awala-Yalimapo in French Guiana. The drama of the Leusden radically sketches the violent context in which the slave trade took place.
AT5 has made a documentary about the search for and history of slave ship Leusden. Please find the trailer below.
2022 - Interview AT5 with historian Leo Balai about his PhD-research on slave ship Leusden
This interview was done in the context of the AT5-documentary 'The drama of the Amsterdams slave ship Leusden'. Balai wrote his PhD-thesis about the history of the ship and the drama that unfolded on the 1st of january 1738. You can find about his research in the collection about the Leusden Expedition on openresearch.
2022 - Interview AT5 with archeologist Jerzy Gawronski about the search for slave ship Leusden
This interview is made in the context of the AT5-documentary "The drama of the Amsterdam slave ship Leusden".
At the end of 2022, maritime archaeologists Jerzy Gawronski (CTO Amsterdam) and Michel L'Hours (French archaeological service DRASSM) went on an expedition to find the slave ship Leusden. Previous expeditions via Suriname and French Guiana had shown that the ship has probably stranded near the mouth of the Marowijne river off the coast of the current village Awala-Yalimapo in French Guiana. In this interview, Gawronski speaks about the importance and the course of the expedition.
French newspaper Le Monde about the Leusden: "Search for ghost ship"
This article in Le monde is written by Laetitia Fernandez. She has written the script for a major film production about the South American and Caribbean slavery history. This script also includes the search for the slave ship the Leusden. The film production is made by Kreyol Images, a French/Caribbean film company (Paris/Martinique). Kreyol Images made a report on the search operation for the Leusden by the French/Dutch archeology team in November 2021. The article by Laetitia Fernandez was published in Le Monde on January 4, 2022. Le Monde is a major French newspaper with a lot of authority.
According to schedule, a three-week search operation for the slave ship Leusden in the mouth of the Marowijne Rivier was carried out in November 2021. Part of the search area was investigated with a drone, an acoustic camera was used to search for ship remains on the seabed and divers also carried out inspections in a few places. The search was made more difficult because the water in the river mouth was very muddy and there was no visibility at alle underwater. Working days were also lost due to bad weather conditions at sea. Due to a lack of time, the maritime archaeological expedition came to end without locating the remains of the wreck of the Leusden. Nevertheless, the on-site investigation has resulted in new information about the condition of the seabed and the historical situation that allows an even more accurate map of the shipwreck area. Maritime archaeologists Jerzy Gawronski and Michel L'Hour will report on their expedition and around the end of January the AT5 documentary will be shown about Leo Balai's research and the search for the slave ship the Leusden.
Below you fill find pictures of the search operation at sea for the slave ship Leusden.
Daily departure with the workboat from St.Laurent de Maroni, with equipment on the quay
The search area 5 km from the coast at the mouth of the Marowijne river
A magnetometer exploration was carried out from the ship with a drone to detect iron residues on the seabed
Images with the acoustic camera (echo images) of the seabed, on which different channels (stripes) can be seen
Magnetometer exploration by boat
Onboard diving equipment and divers inspecting the seabed
Rain storm approaching at sea in the mouth of the Marowijne river
2021 - Trouw: Search for the slave ship that became a mass grave
The shipwreck of the WIC ship Leusden is often described as 'the largest shipping disaster in Dutch slavery history'. But it would be better to speak of the 'greatest massacre in the history of the transatlantic slave trade', says historian Leo Balai. He was the first to discover this case in the archives, and was awarded his doctorate for it in 2011.
Read the entire article from the Trouw about the search for the Leusden below.
Source: Brassem, E. 2021. Zoeken naar het slavenschip dat massagraf werd. Trouw.
Thursday evening, on November 4th, Nieuwsuur broadcasted a 9-minute item on the archeological expedition to find the slave ship The Leusden. This short documentary portrays the collaboration between historian Leo Balai and maritime archeologist Jerzy Gawronski (University of Amsterdam and CTO at the Municipality of Amsterdam) and Michel L’Hour (French Archeological Service DRASSM).
This project plan entails a French-Dutch maritime archaeological survey of the 18th- century Amsterdam slave ship the Leusden (1738) off the coast of les Hattes (Awala-Yalimopo, French Guiana) east of the entrance of the Maroni river (from 17 October to 8 November 2021).
The operation is a joint project of the France’s underwater archaeology research department (Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous- Marines: DRASSM) and the Chief Technology Office of the City of Amsterdam. The survey is a follow-up of an earlier joined maritime archaeological research by the same team in 16-30 September 2019.
The aim of the 2021 project is to find indications to localise the wreck site of the Leusden. The operation will consist of two parts. Firstly, to execute a magnetometer survey by means of a drone to cover a large area where the wreck can be situated. The search area is based on an analysis of historical data of the wrecking combined with (contemporary) sea charts and the outcome of earlier magnetometer surveys in 2013 and 2019 in the north part of the area. Secondly, to verify anomalies located in 2013 and 2019 and possible new anomalies of the mag drone by means of a physical diving inspection of the seabed.
Next to the scientific goal the operation will also include an on-site documentary production by the Amsterdam television company AT5 on the history and search for the Leusden. The film operation is planned for the first week of November. During that period also historian Leo Balai, who discovered and studied the tragedy of the Leusden by archival and historical research, will join the team. Plans to include film recordings for a film documentary by the Paris-based production company Kreyolimages are under development.
Source: Gawronski, J., & L'Hour, M. 2021. Project Plan Localisation of the Leusden 2021. Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines (DRASSM), Marseille. Chief Technology Office, City of Amsterdam
In September 2019, a maritime archaeological expedition was conducted to the wreck of the 18th-century Amsterdam slave ship The Leusden, off the coast of French Guiana at the mouth of the Marowijne River. The expedition was a joint project of the French (underwater) archaeological State department (Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines: DRASSM) and the archaeological department of the Municipality of Amsterdam (Monuments and Archaeology). The aim of the study was to find clues in the seabed for the localization of The Leusden.
Source: Gawronski, J. 2020. Zoektocht naar de Leusden 2019. Gemeente Amsterdam.
2013 – The exhibition ‘De Zwarte Bladzijde’ with a video on The Leusden in Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam
From June 27th, 2013, till September 2014, the Scheepvaartmuseum exhibited ‘De Zwarte Bladzijde’ (The Black Pages). This exhibition was based on research done by Dr. Leo Balai, on the disaster with the slave ship The Leusden. The ship was wrecked in 1738 on the Marowijne River in Suriname and cost the lives of 664 Africans. The exhibition presented the slave trade as an underexposed part of Dutch maritime history.
Parts of the exhibition were also shown in Paramaribo, Suriname. The exhibition in the museum was the final piece of the commemorative year '150 years of the abolition of slavery', which was organized by the Dutch embassy in Suriname. The exhibition was visited by almost a quarter of a million people.
The Leusden
In the meeting of the executive board ('de Heeren Tien') of the West India Company (WIC) on 25 October 1718, it was decided to build the ship Leusden. Cornelis Bors van Waveren acted on behalf of the WIC as a client for the construction of The Leusden. He was an administrator of the city of Amsterdam and also lord of Leusden, an estate near Amersfoort. This is how the ship probably got the name The Leusden; directors would often name new WIC ships after their own estates and country estates.
Transatlantic Triangular Trade
In its nineteen years of existence, The Leusden has made a total of ten voyages from West Africa to America, as a part of the transatlantic triangular trade. In total, The Leusden transported 6,564 enslaved Africans, almost a quarter of whom did not survive the crossing. This was partly caused by the appalling conditions on board. Especially the outbreak of infectious diseases was fatal among the prisoners who were transported closely packed.
The shipwreck
The tenth voyage of the slave ship Leusden ended in disaster on January 1st, 1738. The ship leaked in the mouth of the Marowijne River. Fearing an uprising, the crew locked the prisoners in the hold and hammered the hatches shut. The Leusden capsized and made water, 664 prisoners drowned without a chance. The crew managed to get off the ship safely. They took a chest of gold and sixteen prisoners. In the WIC archives, this accident was dismissed as an industrial accident. In reality, it was the largest shipping disaster in Dutch maritime history. The shipwreck of The Leusden has never been found. Scientist Dr. Leo Balai, who wrote his dissertation on the shipwreck of The Leusden, suspects that it is still in the mouth of the Marowijne.
Dr. Leo Balai wrote an article about the shipping disaster of the Leusden, which is included in the publication ‘Slaven en Schepen’. You can read the article here (Dutch).
In search of the events of 1738
In the museum the visitor himself went in search of the events of 1738, the year in which the slave ship Leusden made its last voyage. Gradually, the visitor learned about the economic background of the slave trade and experienced what life was like on board of a slave ship. During his search, the visitor became acquainted with various people on board The Leusden.
On January 1, 1738, the slave ship Leusden of the West India Company (WIC) sank off the mouth river of the Marowijne River in Suriname. Of the 716 prisoners embarked in Africa, only 16 survived the disaster. Although it is undoubtedly the greatest tragedy in Dutch shipping history, this disaster is virtually unknown.
The Leusden was one of the last WIC ships to transport slaves and the only one used exclusively for this purpose. On each voyage, the ship transported an average of 660 slaves chained and closely packed to the Caribbean. Once at sea, slave ships were sailing prisons, where a cruel regime reigned. In particular because diseases had free rein in the unhealthy atmosphere of the ship's holds, many slaves did not survive the crossing. From her first voyage in 1720 until her sinking in 1738, the Leusden carried out a total of 10 slave trips, with only 73% of the slaves reaching the other side alive. Very little research has been done to date on the specific ships that made the transatlantic slave trade possible. Perhaps the moral indignation or shame about the phenomenon of slavery has always stood in the way of objective research. Leo Balai, however, discovered several unknown sources, which tell about the actual ins and outs on board of the slave ships.
Source: Balai, L. W. 2011. Het slavenschip Leusden: over de slaventochten en de ondergang van de Leusden, de leefomstandigheden aan boord van slavenschepen en het einde van het slavenhandelsmonopolie van de WIC, 1720-1738. Walburg Pers.
Other document: Engelse version of the thesis 'Slave Ship Leusden'.
1738 - Declaration of the crew on the sinking of The Leusden
Below you will find the translation of the statement of the crew about the sinking of The Leusden. You will also find photos of the original statement (Dutch).
The city of Amsterdam was involved in the slave trade and slavery from the end of the sixteenth century until the nineteenth century.
As the main seat of the West India Company (WIC) and co-owner of the Suriname Society, Amsterdam was directly involved in the transatlantic slave trade. In addition, countless Amsterdammers were directly or indirectly involved in slavery and slave trade in East and West.
In this collection we dive deeper into the history of Amsterdam's slavery, in particular the disaster of the slave ship Leusden in 1738. Below you will find the original thesis on which the expedition is based. You can also find the AT5 broadcasts on slavery and a collection with links for more information on slavery and the postcolonial history of Amsterdam.