The Batavia and the World’s Bloodiest Mutiny

The Batavia, a ship of the Dutch East India Company, was built in 1628 and began its maiden voyage in October of that year.  She was named for the town of Batavia, now Jakarta, on the northwest tip of the island of Java.  The voyage began full of hope and promise of riches.  The spice and silk trade had proved to be very lucrative for the company.  The merchants had a large store of trading capital on board, and the passengers were anxious to return to their homes, or start life in a new land.  In June of 1629 she was shipwrecked and on her way to becoming the center of the bloodiest mutiny in history.

In 1628 the Dutch East India Company (in Dutch the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) had been established for more than 25 years.  It was well on its way to becoming the world’s first transnational corporation, having issued bonds and shares of stock.  It was the first publically traded company.  Also, it was granted the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins and establish colonies.

                                                                                         Commandant Francisco Pelsaert

The Batavia’s mission fit well into these broad powers.  Commandant Francisco Pelsaert led the fleet of seven boats from his flagship, Batavia.  Additionally, he was the company’s senior merchant for the voyage.  The ship was captained by Adrian Jacobsz.  A junior VOC merchant, Jeronimus Cornelisz, , was in a lesser command position for the voyage and hoped to establish his own colony in the East Indies.  The cargo consisted primarily of a large number of silver coins, two paintings by the artist Rubens being delivered to an East Indian ruler, and pre-fabricated sandstone blocks for a new gatehouse in the city of Batavia.  There were approximately 340 people on board including 100 soldiers and roughly 30 civilian passengers – some wives, children, and servants of VOC employees.

Junior Merchant Jeonimus Cornelisz

 

Shortly after the fleet left the Netherlands it encountered a severe storm.  Only three of the ships continued the voyage.  Despite this beginning the three remaining ships reached the Cape of Good Hope a month ahead of schedule.  It was at this point that the disaster began to unfold.  As they sailed east from the Cape the three ships lost sight of each other and the Batavia was left to proceed on her own.  A long term bitterness between the Commandant and the Captain erupted into a full-fledged feud.  As the ship traversed the Indian Ocean the Commandant became seriously ill and stayed mostly in his cabin.  This allowed the Captain, who was now the Commandant’s mortal enemy, and the junior merchant, who needed funds to establish his colony, to develop a mutinous plan to commandeer the ship, kill all the soldiers, and throw the captain overboard.

Before the plan could be executed, however, the Batavia ran aground on a shallow coral reef nearly 40 miles off the southwest coast of Australia.  The shipwreck itself wasn’t as tragic as the events which followed.  Roughly 180 people including 30 some women and children were ferried to Beacon Island nearby.  Another 40 or so including the Commandant and the Captain camped on what became known as Traitor Island.  They took with them most of the ships provisions.  The junior merchant and the rest of the men temporarily remained aboard the Batavia.

                                                                        Drawing of the desertion of the survivors 

There was no water on either of these two islands.  The Commandant took the longboat, the Captain, and nearly four dozen men in search of water on mainland Austrailia, essentially deserting nearly 270 people.  Water was not immediately found on the mainland.  The Commandant decided the best course was to sail to the city of Batavia to get help.  Miraculously, the entire group made the harrowing trip safely in 33 days.  The Commandant had the boatswain executed and the Captain arrested for loss of the ship.  Seventy days later the Commandant aboard the yacht Sardam had returned to the site of the wreck to rescue the survivors.

Drawing of the murder and rape by the mutineers 

In the meanwhile, the Batavia broke up drowning all 40 men still aboard.  This gave junior merchantman Cornelisz the opportunity to set his plan in motion.  He established himself as the officer in charge and gathered around him a cadre of men he trusted to help him capture the Batavia’s resources and do away with the rest of the survivors.  He went about systematically drowning and murdering as many as possible.  He sent 45 men, women and children to Seal Island, another close island, with the thought they would quickly perish.  His bad luck, however, was that this group under the leadership of one of the soldiers, Wiebbe Hayes, found water and food.  After being warned of Cornelisz intentions, the Seal island group successfully stood off two attacks by the mutineers.

                                                                          Drawing of the hanging of the mutineers 

Shortly after the second attack on Seal Island the Commandant returned and took charge of the situation.  Commandant Pelsaert quickly learned of junior merchant Cornelisz horrendous reign of terror and captured everyone who was not aligned with Wiebbe Hayes.  The mutineers confessed to committing murder, rape, looting of VOC and passenger property in addition to conspiring to mutiny.  Under the powers granted by the VOC the Commandant tried all of the mutineers.  The majority were hanged on Seal Island after having one hand cut off (a common punishment for theft).  The Captain had both of his hands cuff off and was then hanged.  Several lessor offenders were transported to Batavia city where they were tried and executed.  Two were left behind as punishment with the expectation they would die on Seal Island.  Of the 316 original people aboard the Batavia only 116 survived.

Replica Batavia under sail 

The Batavia was 186 feet long, with a beam of 34 feet and a total height of 180 feet. She had 24 cannons, 1425 square yards of sail and could carry up to 341 people including passengers.  Today, a full size replica of the Batavia can be seen in Lelystad, Netherlands.

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 ShipModels Online offers a museum quality 37” Tall Ship Model of the Batavia along with other ships of the same period.  For information about possible sale pricing and discounts send an e-mail to SMO Support.