Historedia
AfricaEvent

Meermin Slave Mutiny

When
1766
Where
north-western coast of Madagascar; aboard the Meermin in the Indian Ocean; off Struisbaai, South Africa
Episodes
3

In 1766 captive Malagasy people seized the Dutch East India Company slave ship Meermin, which had been carrying them from Madagascar toward the Cape Colony. The uprising killed half the crew and nearly thirty Malagasy, and ended when the mutineers let the ship drift aground off Struisbaai in March 1766.

Episodes

  1. 20 January 1766 · north-western coast of MadagascarDeparture from Madagascar

    Meermin sailed from north-western Madagascar on 20 January 1766 carrying about 140 Malagasy destined for slavery in the Cape Colony.

  2. 18 February 1766 · aboard the Meermin in the Indian OceanMutiny Outbreak

    On 18 February 1766, after weapons were brought on deck for cleaning, the Malagasy captives seized the Meermin.

  3. March 1766 · off Struisbaai, South AfricaGrounding off Struisbaai

    In March 1766 the mutineers deliberately let the Meermin drift aground off Struisbaai, where she broke up.

Background and detail

Background. Meermin was a hoeker of the Dutch East India Company, laid down in 1759 in a company shipyard in Amsterdam and fitted out as a slave ship before her 1761 maiden voyage. She was built for the VOC's African trade, in which the company transported 63,000 slaves to its Cape Colony between 1658 and 1799.

Voyage and Captives. From December 1765 Meermin worked the Madagascar coastline collecting Malagasy men, women, and children for use as company slaves in the Cape Colony, under Captain Gerrit Muller and a crew of 56. Carrying about 140 Malagasy, she sailed from Madagascar's north-western coast on 20 January 1766.

Outbreak of the Mutiny. On 18 February 1766 the ship's supercargo ordered assegais and swords brought on deck for the Malagasy to clean, an order that preceded the captives' seizure of the vessel. The mutiny ultimately cost the lives of half the crew and almost 30 Malagasy.

Wrecking. The mutineers deliberately allowed Meermin to drift aground off Struisbaai, now in South Africa, in March 1766, and the ship broke up where she stranded, ending her career.

People involved

Sources

  1. Meermin Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.