Coastline profiles of Ternate and Halmahera

The Gelderland, Wachter and Duyfken of the Moluccan fleet of the Fifth Expedition arrived at Ternate on 17 February 1602. The Dutch were welcomed and found their countrymen that had been left behind during the Second Expedition in good conditions. Unfortunately for the expedition under Wolfert Harmensz., the harvests on Ternate had been meagre and there was little trade to be had. On 7 March the ships again departed from Ternate to sail to the Banda archipelago.

Joris Joostensz. Laerle, artist on board of the Gelderland, is seen as the most likely author of these coastline profiles of Ternate with its large volcano (top) and a land identified as Schyella (bottom) in the journal of the Gelderland. Schyella is probably derived from the Spanish and Portuguese names for Halmahera. The texts at the top say “northwest by west” “The island with the high mountain of Ternada”. The bottom text says “From a to A is the land of Schyella.