He arrived in the Cape Colony in 1688 in the service of the Dutch East India Company, and joined Isaq Schrijver's expedition from 4 January to 10 April of 1689.
This was a Portuguese vessel with 150 crew, commanded by Don Emmanual Da Silva, en route from Goa to Portugal and bearing diplomatic gifts from Narai, King of Siam to Pedro, King of Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England.
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In February 1684, Schrijver, then a sergeant in the Dutch East India Company and stationed at the Cape, headed a reconnaissance expedition into Namaqualand.
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The Duivenhoks River at Heidelberg was named by Schrijver, and "Schrijvershoek" near Langebaan lagoon was named after him.
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The mission lasted more than three months and reached as far east as the present-day town of Aberdeen, returning on 10 April 1689 with about a thousand head of cattle from trading with a Xhosa-Khoi tribe and quite amazingly having suffered no loss of life.