Jan Carstenszoon (more commonly, Jan Carstensz) was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to lead an expedition to the southern coast of New Guinea and beyond, to follow up the reports of land sighted in the 1606 voyages of Willem Janszoon in the Duyfken.
Sailing from Ambon with two ships, the Pera and Arnhem (captained by Willem Joosten Van Colster) Carstensz followed the south coast of New Guinea, then headed south to Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
January
21 Expedition sets sail from Ambon.
23 Expedition arrived in Banda around midnight and spent the day unloading cargo.
26 Expedition departs from Banda, having loaded water and firewood and also managed to get hold of an experienced carpenter, stonemason and barber (as the Aernem did not yet have one), for which three boatsmen were left behind.
February
8 Sailing along the coast of New Guinea ... the plenary council having been convened, it was determined and fixed by formal resolution to continue our present course along the coast, and if we should come upon any capes, bights, or roads, to come to anchor there for one or two days at the utmost for a landing, in which we shall run ashore in good order with two well-manned and armed pinnaces, to endeavour to come to parley with
the inhabitants and generally inspect the state of affairs there; in leaving we shall, if at all practicable, seize one or two blacks to take along with us.
10 ...the pinnace of the Pera ... was sent ashore well-manned and armed, ... but the heavy rolling of the sea made it impossible to effect a landing. We accordingly made a man swim ashore through the surf, who deposited a few small pieces of iron on the beach, where he had observed numerous human footprints