The Batavia shipwreck disaster

In the 1600s the Dutch-owned, Batavia, was shipwrecked off what eventually became known as Western Australia. 

More than 100 people died in the grounding but the carnage didn’t end there. 

What befell the survivors was sheer horror – anarchy, tyranny, madness, murder and rape, in a reign of terror where people were picked off one-by-one.

In the end, only about a third of the 340 passengers and crew would live.

And the waters off Western Australia were cast as the harsh and unforgiving end of the earth. 

In October 1628 the private, Dutch East India Company, sent its flagship, Batavia, to the other side of the world to buy valuable spices from its southern colonial namesake, now known as Jakarta, Indonesia.

At the time, the European spice trade was booming.

And such were the profits, there was no shortage of people wanting to work on the ships despite deadly risks such as disease and from limited navigational tools (link to my latitude longitude story) including getting lost in vast oceans or crashing into rocks or reefs. 

Officially, the Batavia was carrying about 340 men, women and children – a mix of sailors and officers, soldiers and people heading to the Dutch colony to start a new life.

The ship was part of a fleet of eight and packed with silver coins. 

The ship was skippered by Ariaen Jacobsz, and the fleet’s commander, Francisco Pelsaert was also on board.

But the men hated each other - a volatile mix on a long, dangerous journey.

Pelsaert’s deputy was Jeronimus Cornelisz who didn’t believe in Heaven and Hell, but that people were free to do good or evil with no spiritual consequences. 

Cornelisz was fleeing the Netherlands to avoid being persecuted for being a heretic. 

Cornelisz and Jacobsz became friends and plotted a mutiny to eliminate Pelsaert and take the riches. 

That’s when the Batavia became separated from the rest of the fleet during a storm off the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

The Batavia was now on its own and that suited the conspirators who were recruiting others for the mutiny. But their plans were disrupted. 

On a stormy night in June 1629, about 8 months after the voyage started, the Batavia ran aground on a coral reef near Beacon Island off Western Australia.

About 100 of the roughly 340 people on board died in the shipwreck.

The next morning, about 180 people used the ship’s longboat to get to Beacon Island, but it was barren with no fresh water.

The crew, sailors and officers went to another island, while a few people, including Cornelisz remained on the foundering ship.

Pelsaert and Jacobsz found that none of the surrounding islands had food or water.

That’s when they decided to take about 40 sailors and ship’s officers and row the longboat 3,000-kilometres to their original destination, to get help.  

By now, nine days after the shipwreck, Cornelisz, had no choice but to swim from what was left of the ship, to Beacon Island.

There, he found desperate survivors with no leader, and he took advantage.

Cornelisz started by leading a group of his mutinous supporters to run the island.

He wanted to get rid of anyone in his way, seize any rescue ship and escape with the Batavia’s riches.

Cornelisz’ men disarmed the survivors of anything that could be used as a weapon and took their boats and rafts. Cornelisz had total control.

He sent some survivors to two nearby islands to fend for themselves.

Cornelisz also targeted the trained and disciplined soldiers he feared may thwart his plans.

They were taken to an outer island to find water but were disarmed and left there. 

He targeted anyone he saw as a rival or as weak.

Cornelisz had his men kill all the survivors on one of the nearby islands.

Then, the murders began on Beacon Island.

Some were killed in darkness, others taken out to sea and drowned.

A lot of people started to disappear. It was a massacre.

Eventually, survivors were forced to kill each other to show obedience to Cornelisz and save their own lives.

He and his men also raped the women.

Cornelisz then ordered the killing of everyone on the second nearby island, but his plans unravelled when some fled and reached the soldiers abandoned on a further island.

The 22 soldiers commanded by Wiebbe Hayes were defenceless but strong after finding food and water.

Hayes and his men knew that Cornelisz would find out they’d been forewarned so they sprang into action using their training and primitive weapons to defend from any attack.  

They repelled two and during the third attack, captured Cornelisz and killed three of his thugs. 

But the mutineers tried again and killed three of Hayes’ men.

That’s when things changed. 

It took Commander Pelsaert and his crew 33 days to row to Batavia and organise for the shipwreck survivors to be rescued.

Pelsaert joined that voyage, but it took a long seven weeks. 

When the rescue ship was spotted, the mutineers and the soldiers raced into their respective rafts and frantically rowed toward it. 

It’s thought the mutineers may have tried to take the ship, but Hayes and his men got there first.

They warned the rescue party of the evil Cornelisz. 

The mutineers were arrested. Cornelisz and his closest accomplices were hanged. 

Another 16 mutineers would be taken to Batavia and executed.

Two others charged with lesser crimes were dumped on the barren Australian mainland.

125 men, women and children were murdered during Cornelisz’ reign of terror.

In the end, there were 70 innocent survivors put on the rescue ship. 

Once Pelsaert was able to recover most of the riches from the Batavia wreck, they headed for the safety of the colony in the East Indies. 

Hayes was promoted for his bravery, but Pelsaert’s reputation suffered, and he soon died from disease. 

Jacobsz was jailed soon after arriving in Batavia on the longboat. 

Pelsaert kept records of the events and his journals were widely published in 1647, ensuring the disaster would not be forgotten. 

It wasn’t until 1963 that the Batavia wreck was found.

Archaeologists then spent years studying the wreck and the remains on the islands – helping piece together more of the haunting tale.

More recently, a five-year research expedition from 2014 found graves and artifacts on the islands.

The journals and discoveries of the horrors and brutality that befell the passengers on the Batavia have made it one of the most infamous maritime disasters in history.

The remains of the ill-fated ship and its contents can be seen at various museums, including the Australian Maritime Museum’s collection.