Hollandia was built by the Dutch East India Company in 1742 in Amsterdam to a new design, as a 32 gun, 700 ton ship with a length of 42 metres (138 ft). On 3 June 1743 she left Texel as part of a Batavia bound fleet carrying a large amount of trade coin and several important passengers.. On July 3rd,1743 the Hollandia set sail on her maiden voyage from Texel in the Netherlands bound for Batavia (present day Indonesia). On board were 276 sailors and soldiers as well as a number of distinguished passengers under command of Captain Ian Kelder. The Hollandia had begun her trip by heading Westward through the English Channel, but through a disastrous navigational error headed West-Northwest taking her dangerously close to the rocks of the Scilly Isles. Efforts to correct the mistake failed and the Hollandia struck Gunner Rock on the night of July 13th. 
Badly damaged but still afloat, the Captain ordered one or more of the Hollandia's cannons to be fired as a distress signal but terrified islanders were unable to assist in the dark night and the perilously rough sea conditions. By morning nothing remained of the ship but floating debris; all 276 members aboard perished and the ship's precious cargo was lost. 

Rex Cowan began his search for Hollandia in 1968, starting with Dutch and English archives and using advanced (for the time) equipment such as a proton magnetometer, finally locating the wreck on September 16th, 1971.