Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser, after several trips to Brazil, participates as a first mate on the Hollandia and the chief navigator of the "Eerste Schipvaart” commanded by de Houtman; he has been specifically trained by Petrus Plancius to map the southern stars.

The voyage is beset with trouble from the beginning.

Scurvy had broken out after only a few weeks due to insufficient provisions.

Due to quarrels among the captains and traders, several have been killed or imprisoned on board.

When the fleet finally is able to obtain fresh supplies at Madagascar on September 13, seventy-one of the two hundred and forty-eight sailors have died, most of scurvy.

Although only a brief stop in Madagascar had been planned, the ships are to remain here for six months on a deathwatch (The Bay of Ampalaza, the Madagascan bay where they were anchored, is now known as the "Dutch Cemetery") while the surviving crew recovers and makes repairs, at which point Keyser probably makes most of his celestial observations.

He is aided in this by de Houtman’s older brother Frederick and by Vechter Willemsz.