Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh (baptized 28 November 1640 – after 7 August 1702[1]) was a Dutch sea captain who explored the central west coast of New Holland (Australia) in the late 17th century, where he landed in what is now Perth on the Swan River.

The purpose of the mission was to look for survivors of the Ridderschap van Holland: this effort proved fruitless, but de Vlamingh charted parts of the continent's western coast.

[6] De Vlamingh joined the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1688, and made his first voyage to Batavia in the same year.

Following a second voyage, in 1694, he was asked, on request of Nicolaes Witsen, to mount an expedition to search for the Ridderschap van Holland, a VOC capital ship that was lost with 325 passengers and crew on its way to Batavia in 1694.

In 1696, de Vlamingh commanded the rescue mission to Australia's west coast to look for survivors of the Ridderschap van Holland that had gone missing two years earlier, and had admiral Sir James Couper on board.

The expedition departed Texel 'strictly incognito' on 3 May 1696[8] and, because of the Nine Years' War with France, sailed around the coast of Scotland to Tristan da Cunha.

[13][14] De Vlamingh, with his son and Collaert, commanded a return fleet from the Indies on 3 or 11 February 1698,[15] which arrived in his hometown, Amsterdam, on 16 August.

On an earlier retourship, de Vlamingh had sent Witsen a box with seashells, fruits and vegetation from New Holland (Australia), as well as eleven drawings that Victor Victorsz had made on the expedition.