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The only report of people killed by a

meteorite – new evidence
Frans E. Wickman
Published online: 06 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Frans E. Wickman (1993) The only report of people killed by a meteorite
– new evidence, Geologiska Föreningen i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 115:4, 297-298, DOI:
10.1080/11035899309453916

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/11035899309453916

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 The only report of people killed by a meteorite - new evidence
PRANS E. WICKhIAN

\Virhman,F.E., 1993 1201:Theonlyreportofpeoplekilledbyameteorite-ne~ve~idence.Geolo,qi~~u

Fkwingens iSrockholnz F5rhnndliri.qur.Vol. 115, Pt.4. pp. 297-298. Stockholm. ISSN 0016-786X.
In 1819 Chladni reported that, around the year 1650, ttvo people \\ere killed by 3 meteorite while on
board 3 ship. This statementoriginates from a book by a Swede, Olof Eriksson Willman, and the event
occurredin 1M8onthcoceandu~ngavoya~coftheshipilfaluccofromHoIlandtoJaua.Willman was
not an eye-witness. but his report is based on reports from hfaluccu’screw. No other statement of the
accident seems to exist. Clrladiii,rilereorire. killeclpcople, Ilollaird. Java.
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 14:35 09 October 2014

Frarir E. Ii’icXnicitc, Rriiis1ir1,qaii2OA. S-224 77Liiird,Stvedeti.hlairiiscripr received? Jitlj 1993. Revised

atid accepted 4 Ocrober 1993.

Recently, Buchwald (1992) published a book about
meteorites and, while reading it, I found my family
nanie mentioned more than three centuries ago. N a b
rally I became interested, but the name turned out to be
one of those rare misprints. However, my interest in the
person who wrote about t\vo seamen killed by a mete-
orite, taken together with agreat porrion of luck, essen-
tially solved the problem of an obscure statement by
Chladni (1819, p. 228):
“Zwisclieri 1647 iitidl6.W is1 eitie Krigel vorr 8Pfrrrid,
cilso ~vahrscliei~iliciieine Eisetinmsse, aigeiri ScliiJ
in1 offerreit hlecrc gefalleti, tmd hat zwej hfcrrscireri
getijdtct, arif eiirer Hcise riach Japari ririd zirriick,
hesclirichcri sou Olof Erichsoti 1Vilttiariri, ini Dicriste
der Iiolliirrd.OstiridischeCottipagriie,iri Bcckrtiarirr‘s
Literatiir der dlrererr Reiseschreibrrrigeri,11. 22, S.
272, rrrrd in deri Arrrioles cles voyages, pirbKs p .
hlalte-Brirrr,Nr. 36.”
Translated from the single German sentence into ordi-
nary English, it runs approximately as follows:
“Betwceri 1647 arid 1654 a ball of 8 poirrids, i.e.
probably of iron, fell OII a ship oti opcri was. Two
pcople were killedori a retrrrri soyage to Japarr. This
eserit was describedbj Olof Erichsorr \Vilniariri, who
was eriiplojecl by h e Dirrch East Iridia Coniparij...”.
At the end of the sentence Chladni’s sources are
reported, but they are all secondary.
There is no doubt that the original source is a Swedish
book by \Villman (1667). which seems never to have
been translated into other languages. This may be the
reason for the many errors that occur in Chladni’s
version. The book was honoured by a new edition
recently (Willman 1992),in which it is stated (p. 22):
“UtiOctobri,Norentbri. Decenibri konmioitskillign
skepp eJer i j r h Ilnllarid. blatid vilka eri skeppare pi
skepprt hlalacca benitrude rried hela skeppsfolket,
art i dct de seglade irti vilda Iiaset iir err ittaprrndig
kiila konirricri iri irtiskeppct, skiarides nd ba‘tsnraririll
clijds i allas isjri.”
This can be translated as follows:
“Irr October,Noserirber,ciri[iDecetiiberse,.eralships
arrivedfrorir Ilollariri,arriorig wlrich w s a shipraster
together wirli his whole crew of tire ship Malacca.
They reported rhar, it.liilc rliej sailed 011 tire riolerrt
sea, air eight-poirridhallfell irito tire ship, killirig hi’o
hoarswirics irrjiill siew of allprcscrit.”
The following conclusions can be drawn from this new
inforniation:
(1) The original Swedish source from 1667 has now
been found.
(2) The name of the author is Olof Eriksson Willman,
riof Olof Eriehson Wilniann.
(3) The event occurred on the ship hlalacca, sailing
from llolland to Batavia (now Djakarta) on Java, and
riot on avoyage to Japan, because it happened more than
one year later (1651-52).
(4) No definite locality for the accident is mentioned.
but from the description it must have occurred at sea, on
the Atlantic or the Indian Oceans.
( 5 ) Assuming the sailing was normal, the accident
happened in 16-48. However, in the era of sailing ships
and during such a long voyage, no schedule could be
followed.
(6) IVilIman was not an eye-witness; he only reported
what others had said about an event that filled their
minds.
In Willman (1992) there is a short biography of the
author. He was the son of a country vicar and was born
probably in the middle of the 1620’s. He studied at the
University of Uppsala and was especially useful in the
East Indies, where university education was rare.
 298 Fruits E . IVickiiiait
Willman seems also to have had an inclination for
exotic places. He got to know a Dutch sea captain in
1647 and together they went to Amsterdam. Soon
thereafter Willman was recruitcd as midshipsman on
the ship DEOlifnnt, belonging to the Dutch East India
Company. Hearrived in Batavia in August 16418,and in
1651-52 he participated in a diplomatic mission to
Nagasaki in Japan. Willman left Batavia in January
1653 and was back in Stockholm in July 1654.
The most interesting question is whether or not
Willman is reliable; in my opinion he is.Those who are
responsible for the new edition of his book share my
views; thus, a special note occurs among the annota-
tions referring to the ball, and Willman’s report is
Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 14:35 09 October 2014
regarded as thrustworthy.
Since the body of infoxmation concerning the Dutch
East India Company is in the National Archives of the
Hague, it is possible to verify much of the infomiation
given by Willman. The accident must have been re-
ported in the log-book of the ship Afuluccu from 1618.
Unfortunately the relevant book has been lost, as have
most of the log-books from before the year 1700.
Finally, I hoped that the accident would have been
mentioned in the daily list of ships arriving to Batavia
and published by De IIully (1903). However, events
GFF 115 (1993)
recorded in this source usually refer to local ships. It is
true that the arrival of the ship Muluccu on the 4th
December 1648 is mentioned, but the only other infor-
mation isareference toaletterfrom theCape(i.e.Cape
Town).
In conclusion, the evidence shows that Willman is
reliable, and that his report of the accident seems to be
the only one that exists today.
ArlnonlrdSer~re/rrs.- This paper uould nor h n e been \\Tilten
uithout the help of Prof. J e r k Dlomqvist. Lund. Sueden. Prof.
David G. Gee. Lund. Sweden. Dr. Wilhelm Oddberg. Stockholm,
Sueden. Prof. Simon Slings. Amsterdam. The A’erherlmds. and Dr.
Nils Benit Svensson. Uppsaln. Sweden.
References
Buch\snld, V.F.. 1992: Alefeorifrer.Gyldmndd, Copenhagen. (In
Dmish.)
Chhdni. E.F.F., 1819 Ubcr Fertcr-Alefeorcirnd ibcr die nrir den-
selhcn hrrabpfallenen Musserr. Vienna. (In Gcrnim.)
Ix.tlully, I. (ed.). 1903:Dash-ResisrtrSehoudcnirrr CasreelBafaria
van1 passcrcnde ddcr rcr plarrse als ovcr grhrel Ncdcrlandrs-
IndiuioAnno1647-1618. hhrtinus A ’ i j h d T h e Hague. (In Dutch.)
Willman. 0..1667: En lnrt Bcslrij/nin%qUpp; Trerrnc Rcsnr oclr
Pere~qrirrafinner.sanipr Konringarijler Japan. Johnn Kankel.
Wisingsborg. (In Suedish.)
Willnim. 0.1992: En hart besfriwirrg pJ eri resa rill Osfi/rdieiioch
Japan. T. Fischer ti Co.. Sroclholm. (In Snedish.)