The Oosterland was built in 1685 for the Chamber of Zeeland at the VOC ship yard in Middelburg. She undertook her maiden voyage on 25 November 1685 from Wielingen (Chamber of Zeeland) stopping at Santiago (Cabo Verde) from 12 March 1686 till 23 March 1686 and then at the Cape of Good Hope from 17 May 1686 till 8 June 1686 and arrived at Batavia on 31 July 1686.
The ship was a Dutch "Mirror Return Ship" (Dutch; Flemish: Spiegelretourschip) built as an East Indiaman for transport between the Dutch Republic and the settlements and strongholds of the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies. Under the captainship of Karel de Marville the ship departed on 29 January 1688 from Wielingen and carried Huguenot refugee families to the Cape of Good Hope where she arrived on 25 April 1688 4 people died on this voyage.[4]
The ship undertook 4 voyages during her service with 3 of those used to carry expensive Asiatic products such as textiles, indigo, tropical woods, nuts, baskets and special porcelain.
These voyages took place:[5]
| 1 | 25 Nov. 1685 | Wielingen | 31 Jul. 1686 | Batavia | Karel de Marville | 17 May 1686 - 08 Jun. 1686 |
| 13 Dec. 1686 | Batavia | Aug. 1687 | Wielingen | 20 Mar. 1687 - 20 Apr. 1687 | ||
| 2 | 29 Jan. 1688 | Wielingen | 19 Jul. 1688 | Batavia | 25 Apr. 1688 - 15 May 1688 | |
| 25 Dec. 1688 | Batavia | 9 Aug. 1689 | Wielingen | Aamoud Scheiteruit | 17 Mar. 1689 - 17 Apr. 1689 | |
| 3 | 8 Feb. 1691 | Wielingen | 28 Nov. 1691 | Batavia | 17 Jun. 1691 - 20 Jul. 1691 | |
| 28 Feb. 1693 | Ceylon | 4 Oct. 1693 | Rammekens | 20 May 1693 - 12 Jun. 1693 | ||
| 4 | 16 Jul. 1694 | Zeeland | 11 Jun. 1695 | Batavia | Pieter van Ede | 31 Dec. 1694 - 03 Mar. 1695 |
| 7 Feb. 1697 | Ceylon | Wrecked | 24 May 1697 | |||
In the spring of 1694, the Oosterland left the Netherlands with 342 people on board and reached Batavia on 11 June 1695 with over 100 people dying on this voyage. In February 1697 she left Ceylon under the captainship of Pieter van Ede in convoy with 4 other ships including the Kallendijk and the Waddingsveen after trading for over a year around Asia, stopping at Table Bay due to her crew being ill because of poor drinking water. On 23 May 1697 a strong north-westerly gale arose and sea conditions worsened, the anchor of the Kallendijk snapped in the morning and slammed into the Oosterland damaging the bowsprit and breaking the mainmast, the Waddingsveen may have been a part of the collision. Both ships dropped more anchors to attempt to rescue both vessels, the Kallendijk was fortunately brought under control. The following day the Oosterland went adrift after her cables snapped and she hit the shallows near Salt River Mouth and foundered together with the Waddingsveen.[6]
According to one report out of 200 people 185 people died when the Oosterland foundered, however according to another report out of 300 people onboard only 2 survived.
In 1988 amateur divers Graham Raynor, Michael Barchard and Christopher Byrnes discovered two ship wrecks at the mouth of the Salt River a few hundred metres from the entrance to Milnerton Lagoon only 6m down, they contacted Maritime Archaeologist Bruno Werz.[7] In the early 1990s in combination with the University of Cape Town excavation started, the Oosterland excavation is South Africa's first proper maritime archaeology project, the Oosterland and Waddingsveen were identified as the wrecks from their cannons. Excavation was hindered by strong winds, currents, cold water and low visibility, during the excavation many artifacts including personal effects, cannons, coils of rope, textiles, cinnamon, wood and diamonds were recovered.
The wreck site is protected in the South African National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999 and may not be disturbed without the permission of SAHRIS(South African Heritage Resources)
Outside of carrying Asiatic cargo the Oosterland also gave passage to various Huguenot refugee families to the Cape.
On the ship's second voyage to the East, it arrived in Table Bay in July 1688. Among the passengers were the ancestors of famous South Africans such as Frederik Willem de Klerk, Coenraad de Buys, Morné du Plessis, Charlize Theron and Daniel Theron.
The families who traveled on the Oosterland:
The high school in Secunda, South Africa, Hoërskool Oosterland has this ship as its namesake.