Batavia 31"

Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). She was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and had 24 cast-iron cannons. Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors. A twentieth century replica of the ship is also called the Batavia.

Mutiny on the Batavia

On October 29, 1628, the newly built Batavia, commissioned by the Dutch East India Company, sailed from Texel for the Dutch East Indies to obtain spices. It sailed under Commandeur and "opperkoopman" (senior merchant) François Pelsaert, with skipper Adriaen Jacobsz. These two had previously encountered each other in Surat, India. Although some animosity had developed between them there, it is not known whether Pelsaert even remembered Jacobsz when he boarded Batavia. Also on board was the "onderkoopman" (under merchant) Jeronimus Cornelisz, a bankrupt pharmacist from Haarlem who was fleeing the Netherlands in fear of arrest because of his heretical beliefs.

During the voyage, Jacobsz and Cornelisz conceived a plan to hijack the ship, which would allow them to start a new life somewhere using the supply of trade gold and silver then on board. After leaving South Africa, where they had stopped for supplies, Jacobsz deliberately steered the ship off course away from the rest of the fleet. Jacobsz and Cornelisz had already gathered a group of men around them and arranged an incident from which the mutiny was to ensue. This involved attacking a young female passenger on board in order to provoke Pelsaert into disciplining the crew. They hoped to paint his discipline as unfair and recruit more members out of sympathy. However, Pelsaert made no arrests and the mutineers were forced to wait.

On June 4, 1629 the ship struck a reef near Beacon Island (28° 30' South, 113° 47' East), part of the group of islands and reefs termed the Houtman Abrolhos off the Western Australian coast. Of the 341 on board, 38 were passengers including women and children; most were transferred to nearby islands in the ship's longboat and yawl, but 40 drowned. An initial survey of the islands found no fresh water and limited food (sea lions and birds). Leaving 268 people behind, a group comprising the captain, senior officers, Francisco Pelsaert, a few crewmembers, and some passengers, left the wreck site in a thirty-foot longboat (a replica of which has also been made) in search of drinking water. After an unsuccessful search for water on the mainland, the group headed north to the city of Batavia, now Jakarta. This journey, which ranks as one of the greatest navigation feats of the day, took thirty-three days and all aboard survived. After their arrival in Batavia, Pelsaert was sent back to rescue the other survivors. He arrived at the site two months after leaving Batavia on the vessel Saardam, only to discover that a mutiny had taken place.

Jeronimus Cornelisz was well aware that if the longboat party ever reached Batavia, Pelsaert would report the impending mutiny and Jakobsz would put the blame on him. Therefore, he made plans to hijack any rescue ship that might return, and seek a safe haven with that. He even made plans to start a new kingdom. For this, he needed to eliminate any possible opponents. Although Cornelisz never committed any murders himself, he used his powers of persuasion to coerce others into doing the dirty work for him. His followers murdered a total of 125 men, women, and children, after moving a group of soldiers led by Wiebbe Hayes to a nearby island (West Wallabi) under false pretenses.

Pelsaert arrived just as Cornelisz's men were trying to eliminate the remaining group, and the combined force captured the mutineers after a short battle. After a brief trial the worst offenders, including Cornelisz, were executed on the island. Two young sailors, considered only minor offenders, were marooned on mainland Australia, never to be heard of again. Reports of unusually light-skinned Aborigines in the area by later British settlers has been suggested as evidence that the two men might have been adopted into a local Aboriginal clan. However, numerous other European shipwreck survivors, such as those from the wreck of the Zuytdorp in the same region in 1712, may also have had such contact with indigenous inhabitants.

The lesser offenders were tried in Batavia where most were executed after being punished by flogging, keelhauling and being dropped from the yard arm. Cornelisz's second in command was broken on the wheel. Despite being tortured, Jakobsz did not confess to his part in planning the mutiny, and thereby escaped execution due to lack of evidence. What finally happened to him is not known, but it is suspected that he died in prison in Batavia. Pelsaert was held partly responsible for what happened because of lack of authority. Wiebbe Hayes was promoted. Of the original 341 on board Batavia, only 68 made it to port of Batavia, the final destination.

The wreckage

In 1970, the wreck and many artifacts were salvaged, including the stern of the ship. In 1972 the Netherlands transferred all rights to Dutch shipwrecks on the Australian coasts to Australia. Some of the items, including human remains, which were excavated, are now on display in the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, Australia. Others are held by the Geraldton Region Museum. These two museums are presently engaged in a dispute over the rights to the remains - including a stone arch, currently in Geraldton which was intended to serve as a stone welcome arch for the city of Batavia.

The replica

A replica of the Batavia was built at the Bataviawerf in Lelystad in the Netherlands. The project lasted from 1985 to April 7, 1995, and was conducted as an employment project for young people under master-shipbuilder Willem Vos. The shipyard is currently reconstructing another 17th century ship, which, in contrast to the merchant ship Batavia, is a ship of the line, the Zeven Provinciën; Michiel de Ruyters' flagship.

The Batavia replica was built with traditional materials, such as oak and hemp and using the tools and methods of the time of the original ship's construction. For the design, good use was made of the remains of the original ship in Fremantle (and of the Vasa in Stockholm) as well as historical sources, such as 17th century building descriptions (actual building plans were not made at the time) and prints and paintings by artists (who at the time generally painted fairly true to nature) of similar ships.

On September 25, 1999, the new Batavia was transported to Australia by barge and moored at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney. In 2000, Batavia was the flagship for the Dutch Olympic Team during the 2000 Olympic Games. During its stay in Australia the ship was towed to the ocean once, where it sailed on its own. On June12, 2001, the ship returned to the Bataviawerf in Lelystad where it remains on display to visitors.