28°54′30″S 113°49′0″E / 28.90833°S 113.81667°E / -28.90833; 113.81667 The Zeewijk (or Zeewyk) was an 18th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, commonly abbreviated to VOC) that was shipwrecked at the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia, on 9 June 1727. The survivors built a second ship, the Sloepie, enabling 82 out of the initial crew of 208 to reach their initial destination of Batavia on 30 April 1728. Since the 19th century many objects have been found near the wreck site, which are now in the Western Australian Museum. The shipwreck itself was found in 1968 by divers.

The Zeewijk was built in 1725 with a tonnage of 140 lasten, that is 275.8 tonnes (271.4 long tons; 304.0 short tons), and dimensions 145 feet (44 m) long by 36 feet (11 m) wide. It carried 36 iron and bronze guns, and 6 swivel guns. A new ship of the Zeeland Chamber of the VOC, her maiden voyage was from Vlissingen (Netherlands) to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia) departing in November 1726. Upon departure 208 seamen and soldiers were aboard, as well as a cargo of general building supplies and 315,836 guilders in 10 chests. Jan Steyns from Middelburg was the skipper, in his first command, replacing Jan Bogaard who was too sick to sail.

The VOC required ships to utilise the Brouwer Route to cross from the Cape to Batavia, enjoying the prevailing westerlies by travelling eastwards until turning north. Turning north too late from a miscalculation in the longitude risked being wrecked on the coast or reefs of Australia. However, wishing to call into Western Australia, skipper Jan Steyns ignored VOC directorate and protests from his steersman and headed east-northeast.

In darkness at 7:30 p.m. on 9 June 1727 the ship crashed heavily into Half Moon Reef on the western edge of the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos island group, 60 km (37 mi) west of the future site of Geraldton. The impact dislodged the rudder and snapped off the mainmast, but the ship did not break up immediately. The lookout spotted breakers half an hour before the impact but dismissed them as moonlight reflecting off the sea.

Heavy sea conditions saw at least 10 men drown at the first attempt to launch a boat. After one week a long boat was launched. Later, most of the remaining crew was ferried on the long boat to what would be later known as Gun Island; a flat, rocky, 800 by 350 m (2,620 by 1,150 ft) limestone island located 4 km (2.5 mi) off the reef. From Gun and surrounding islands, the critical commodity of fresh water was available, as well as vegetables, birds and seals that were combined with the ship's goods to sustain the survivors.

While the Zeewijk did not break up immediately and goods, including the treasure chests, were transferred to Gun Island, it was obvious to the crew that the ship could never be floated from its position locked into the reef. A rescue group of 11 of the fittest survivors and First Mate Pieter Langeweg set off for Batavia in the longboat on 10 July, but were never heard of again.

On 1 December 1727 three of the ship's company reported to the captain that they had found two of the ship's boys, Adriaan Spoor from Sint-Maartensdijk and Pieter Engelse from Ghent, "engaged in the gruesome play of Sodom and Gomorrah" together the previous afternoon.

After an unsuccessful attempt was made to elicit a confession from the two by putting burning fuses between their fingers, the captain and his council found the boys guilty of having committed sodomy together. They were sentenced to death and marooned, each boy on a separate island, on 2 December.