Maarten Gerritszoon Vries

[1] He is best remembered for his 1643 expedition to the north-western Pacific Ocean to discover the coast of Tartaria, on account of Anthony van Diemen, the governor in Batavia.

The two ships, the Castricum under De Vries and the Breskens under Hendrick Cornelisz Schaep left Batavia, the capital of Dutch Java, in February 1643.

The next day, July 29, ten members of the crew, including the captain were invited by the women to come to a farm where they would receive fresh vegetables and fish.

The crew had to wait nine months for the next ship to Taiwan while the Breskens had left Honshu already at the end of July (without a captain) searching for the gold and silver Islands.

Sometime in late 1647, Maarten Gerritsz Vries died on board from disease after leading an unsuccessful attempt to invade the Philippines.

Cape of Aniva, Cape of Patience, Staten Island ( Isola di Stati ), and Strait of de Vries all seen on this Italian map from 1682. As the map shows, de Vries did not have a chance to discover either La Pérouse Strait or the Strait of Tartary , the mapmakers thus making Hokkaido and Sakhalin part of the mainland.
Tokugawa Iemitsu
Early 18 c. French map depicting the Vries Strait and the Strait of Tartary .