The anchor of the Dutch East Indiaman ship, the 'Amsterdam'. In January 1749, the 'Amsterdam' left the island of Texel for its first voyage to Batavia, modern Jakarta in Indonesia. After two weeks on the North Sea, the ship was caught in a storm in the English Channel. During this violent storm the ship’s rudder broke off and Captain Willem Klump in the end decided to put the ship on the beach near Bulverhythe, East Sussex, in an attempt to save the 333 people, cargo and the ship. After beaching the ship, it started to sink away into the soft mud, but not before the crew and the most precious items of the ship’s cargo – 28 chests of silver – had been brought to safety. The wreck of the ship can still be seen at low tide buried in the sand.