Coastal profiles in North Maluku

Sailing to Ternate from Ambon, the Amsterdam and Utrecht, part of the Tweede Schipvaart (Second Expedition) to the East Indies, reached north Maluku in Mid-May 1599, arriving before Ternate on the 22nd of that month. En route, Heyndrick Dirrecksen Jolinck, helmsman of the Amsterdam, drew these coastline profiles of the various islands in his journal.

On the top left, the island of Mandioli, off the coast of Bacan, as seen at about 4-5 miles distance in north by east direction.This profile is followed by one of Bacan itself, as seen from about 7 miles distance in roughly northeast direction. This is followed by a profile of what Jolinck calls ‘Caletto’, possibly Latalata, to the northeast of Bacan. At the bottom of the left page, then, a coastline profile of Makian and Moti, (called ‘Motier’ here), as seen in northeast direction at about 10 miles distance.

On the right page, we see two coastal profiles of Ternate and Tidore, the second one also including the smaller island of Hiri, directly to the north of Ternate. These are followed by a profile of Moti and Makian from their location, i.e. looking back in a southeastern direction.

Finally, at the bottom of the page, the coastline of Halmahera, the large but sparsely populated island to the east. here called by its Spanish and Portuguese name of the time, 'Geilolo', as seen in a roughly northeast direction.