The Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company that wrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1629, killing around 40 of its 341 passengers. A mutiny then broke out among the survivors led by Jeronimus Cornelisz, resulting in the massacre of over 110 men, women and children. Cornelisz was later hanged for his role in the mutiny along with some of his accomplices. The wreck of the Batavia was one of the worst mutinies in maritime history.

1. Batavia (ship)
The wreck killed approximately
40 of its 341 passengers. A
mutiny amongst the survivors led
to a massacre.
Source: Wikipedia /slideshow Anders Dernback 2019

2. Batavia was the flagship of the Dutch East
India Company. It was built in
Amsterdam, Dutch Republic, in 1628.
Batavia sailed on her maiden voyage for
the capital of the Dutch East Indies,
Batavia.
The ship wrecked on the Houtman
Abrolhos off the coast of Western
Australia. The wreck killed approximately
40 of its 341 passengers. A mutiny
amongst the survivors led to a massacre.
1628

3. Jeronimus Cornelisz
Also on board was the onderkoopman (under- or junior
merchant) Jeronimus Cornelisz, a bankrupt pharmacist from
Haarlem who was fleeing the Netherlands, in fear of arrest
because of his heretical beliefs associated with the painter
Johannes van der Beeck, also known as Torrentius.
During the voyage, Jacobsz and Cornelisz conceived a plan
to take the ship, which would allow them to start a new life
somewhere, using the huge supply of trade gold and silver
on board. After leaving the Cape of Good Hope, where they
had stopped for supplies, Jacobsz deliberately steered the
ship off course, and away from the rest of the fleet. Jacobsz
and Cornelisz had already gathered a small group of men
around them and arranged an incident from which the mutiny
was to ensue.

4. Jeronimus Cornelisz (1598 – October 2 1629 )2,
Jeronimus Cornelisz (1598 – October 2, 1629)
(properly Corneliszoon, "son of Cornelis"; first name
informally being "Jeroen" was a Frisian apothecary and
Dutch East India Company (VOC) merchant. In June
1629 he led one of the bloodiest mutinies in history
after the merchant ship Batavia was wrecked in the
Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of coral islands off the west
coast of Australia. Almost all that is known of the
shipwreck and aftermath stems from a book by the
expedition commander Pelsaert who quickly absented
himself and reached safety, but allegedly returned to
defeat the Cornelisz faction in the nick of time.

5. Early life
Early life
Born in the Frisian capital, Leeuwarden, Cornelisz grew
up in a non-conformist household. His mother and
probably his father were Mennonites, members of an
Anabaptist church. It has been speculated that they may
have had links with some of the more militant Anabaptist
movements, such as the Batenburgers, that flourished in
the Netherlands during the sixteenth century.
The young Jeronimus was well educated, probably at the
Latin School at Dokkum, and followed his father into the
family trade by training to become an apothecary. He
qualified around the year 1623 and practiced in his home
town until 1627, leaving in that year apparently as a result
of disagreements with the town council.

6. Syphilis
Cornelisz moved to the much larger Dutch city of
Haarlem, where he opened up an apothecary shop
near the centre of the town. In November 1627 he
and his wife had a son, but the child died less than
three months after being placed in the care of a wet
nurse. The cause of death was established as
syphilis, considered a scandal, and Cornelisz became
embroiled in a legal action against the nurse, seeking
to prove that his child had contracted the disease
from her and not from his wife. With his reputation
and future business prospects destroyed, Cornelisz
was forced to realize what he could by selling off his
shop and assets.

8. Batavia modern built (replica)

9. The Batavia Technical Details
The Batavia Technical Details
VOC East Indiaman Batavia
Built in accordance with the decision of the Gentlemen Seventeen
[i.e.VOC directors] of 17 March 1626
Length between perpendiculars 45.30 m
Overall length 56.60 m
Beam 10.50 m
Maximum draught 5.10 m
Height main mast 55 m
Empty weight 650 tons
Ballast 220 tons of lead
Artillery 24 cast-iron guns
Total surface area of sails 1180 m2
Total length of rigging 21 kilometres
Total number of persons on board 341 (in 1628)

10. The port side of the wreck.
Photo: Don Hitchcock October 2014
Source and text: The Shipwreck Galleries, Western Australia Museum,

11. Batavia

12. Location of Batavia

13. Western Australia

14. Houtman Abrolhos
This is a photograph of a beach informally known as
"Cave Beach", located on one of the Wallabi Islands
in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houtman_Abrolhos#/media/File:Houman_Abrolhos_bay.jpg

15. Batavia

16. The Great Cabin
Photo: http://addiator.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/batavia-shipyard.html

17. Batavia's stern
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(ship)#/media/File:Batavia_Timbers.jpg

18. Batavia

19. Beacon Island, in the Wallabi Group, Abrolhos Islands
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beacon_Island_Abrolhos.jpg

20. Image plate of Hayes' soldiers and Cornelisz's mutineers
racing to the rescue ship in separate boats

21. Mutiny
Mutiny on the Batavia
Voyage
On 27 October 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 (upper- or
senior merchant) Francisco Pelsaert, with Ariaen
Jacobsz serving as skipper. These two had previously
encountered each other in Surat, India. Some animosity
had developed between them in Surat after Jacobsz
became drunk and insulted Pelsaert in front of other
merchants, leading to a public dressing-down for
Jacobsz by Pelsaert

22. Shipwreck
Shipwreck location
On 4 June 1629, the ship struck Morning Reef near
Beacon Island, part of the Houtman Abrolhos off the
Western Australian coast. Of the 322 aboard, most of
the passengers and crew managed to get ashore,
although 40 people drowned. The survivors, including
all the women and children, were then transferred to
nearby islands in the ship's longboat and yawl.
An initial survey of the islands found no fresh water
and only limited food (sea lions and birds). Pelsaert
realised the dire situation and decided to search for
water on the mainland. A group consisting of Captain
Jacobsz, Francisco Pelsaert, senior officers, a few
crew members, and some passengers left the wreck
site in a nine metres (30 ft) longboat (a replica of which
has also been made), in search of drinking water.

23. Murders
Jeronimus Cornelisz was left in charge of the survivors. He
made plans to hijack any rescue ship that might return and
use the vessel to seek another safe haven. Cornelisz made
far-fetched plans to start a new kingdom, using the gold
and silver from the wrecked Batavia. However, to carry out
this plan, he first needed to eliminate possible opponents.
Cornelisz's first deliberate act was to have all weapons and
food supplies commandeered and placed under his control.
He then moved a group of soldiers, led by Wiebbe Hayes,
to nearby West Wallabi Island, under the false pretense of
searching for water. They were told to light signal fires
when they found water and they would then be rescued.
Convinced that they would be unsuccessful, he then left
them there to die, taking complete control of the situation.

24. A 1647 engraving showing the Beacon Island
massacre of survivors of the Batavia shipwreck

25. Search for water
After an unsuccessful search for water on the mainland, they
abandoned the other survivors and headed north in a danger-
fraught voyage to the city of Batavia, now known as Jakarta.
En route they made further forays onto the mainland in search
of fresh water. In his journal, Pelsaert states that on 15 June
1629, they sailed through a channel between a reef and the
coast, finding an opening around midday at a latitude guessed
to be about 23 degrees south where they were able to land,
and water was found.
The group spent the night on land. Pelsaert commented on
the vast number of termite mounds in the vicinity and the
plague of flies that afflicted them. Drake-Brockman suggested
this location is approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of
Point Cloates where water has subsequently been located.

26. Cornelisz seized on the news of water on
the other island
Cornelisz seized on the news of water on the other island,
as his own supply was dwindling and the continued survival
of the soldiers threatened his own success. He went with his
men to try to defeat the soldiers marooned on West Wallabi
Island. However, the trained soldiers were by now much
better fed than the mutineers and easily defeated them in
several battles, eventually taking Cornelisz hostage. The
mutineers who escaped regrouped under soldier Wouter
Loos and tried again, this time employing muskets to
besiege Hayes' fort and almost defeating the soldiers.
But Wiebbe Hayes' men prevailed again, just as Pelsaert
arrived. A race to the rescue ship ensued between
Cornelisz's men and the soldiers. Wiebbe Hayes reached
the ship first and was able to present his side of the story to
Pelsaert. After a short battle, the combined force captured
all of the mutineers

27. Rescue
Although Cornelisz had left the soldiers, led by
Wiebbe Hayes, to die, they had in fact found
good sources of water and food on their islands.
Initially, they were unaware of the barbarity
taking place on the other islands and sent pre-
arranged smoke signals announcing their finds.
However, they soon learned of the massacres
from survivors fleeing Cornelisz' island. In
response, the soldiers devised makeshift
weapons from materials washed up from the
wreck. They also set a watch so that they were
ready for the mutineers, and built a small fort
out of limestone and coral blocks.

28. Pelsaert states
Pelsaert states that they continued north with the
intention of finding the 'river of Jacob Remmessens',
identified first in 1622, but owing to the wind were
unable to land. Drake-Brockman suggests that this
location is to be identified with Yardie Creek.
It was not until the longboat reached the island of
Nusa Kambangan in Indonesia that Pelsaert and the
others found more water. The journey took 33 days,
with everyone surviving. After their arrival in Batavia,
the boatswain, Jan Evertsz, was arrested and
executed for negligence and "outrageous behavior"
before the loss of the ship (he was suspected to
have been involved). Jacobsz was also arrested for
negligence, although his position in the potential
mutiny was not guessed by Pelsaert.

29. Batavia's Governor General, Jan
Coen, immediately gave Pelsaert
command of the Sardam to rescue
the other survivors, as well as to
attempt to salvage riches from the
Batavia's wreck. He arrived at the
islands two months after leaving
Batavia, only to discover that a
bloody mutiny had taken place
among the survivors, reducing their
numbers by at least a hundred
At least a hundred killed

30. Male, aged about 35–39, with a gashed skull, broken
shoulder blade and a missing right foot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(ship)#/media/File:Batavia_victim.jpg

31. Cornelisz never committed any of the murders
himself
Cornelisz never committed any of the murders himself,
although he tried and failed to poison a baby (who was
eventually strangled). Instead, he coerced others into
doing it for him, usually under the pretense that the
victim had committed a crime such as theft. It has been
suggested that Cornelisz sought "novelty and
stimulation" after having ordered numerous murders by
ordering more "perverse atrocities".
The mutineers had originally murdered to save
themselves but eventually they began to kill for
pleasure or out of habit. Cornelisz planned to reduce
the island's population to around 45 so that their
supplies would last as long as possible. He also feared
that many of the survivors remained loyal to the VOC.
In total, his followers murdered at least 110 men,
women, and children.

32. Aftermath
Pelsaert decided to conduct a trial
on the islands, because the Sardam
on the return voyage to Batavia
would have been overcrowded with
survivors and prisoners. After a brief
trial, the worst offenders were taken
to Seal Island and executed.
Cornelisz and several of the major
mutineers had both hands chopped
off before being hanged.

33. Wouter Loos
Wouter Loos and a cabin boy, Jan Pelgrom de By,
considered only minor offenders, were marooned on
mainland Australia, never to be heard of again. This
unwittingly made them the first Europeans to have
permanently lived on the Australian continent. This location
is now thought to be Whitecarra Creek near Kalbarri,
though another suggestion is that nearby Port Gregory was
the place. Reports of unusually light-skinned Aborigines in
the area by later British settlers have been suggested as
evidence that the two men might have been adopted into a
local Aboriginal clan.[citation needed] 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,
making it now impossible to determine whether the Batavia
crew members were responsible.

34. The remaining mutineers
The remaining mutineers were taken to Batavia for trial.
Five were hanged, while several others were flogged,
keelhauled or dropped from the yard arm on the later
voyage back home. Cornelisz's second in command,
Jacop Pietersz, was broken on the wheel, the most
severe punishment available at the time. Captain
Jacobsz, despite being tortured, did not confess to his
part in planning the mutiny and escaped execution due
to lack of evidence. What finally became of him is
unknown. It is suspected that he died in prison in
Batavia. A board of inquiry decided that Pelsaert had
exercised a lack of authority and was therefore partly
responsible for what had happened. His financial assets
were seized, and he died within a year.

35. Wiebbe Hayes
On the other hand, the common soldier
Wiebbe Hayes was hailed a hero. He was
promoted to sergeant, which increased his
salary, while those who had been under his
command were promoted to the rank of
corporal. Of the original 332 people on
board the Batavia, only 68 made it to the
port of Batavia.
The Sardam eventually sailed home with
most of the treasure previous housed on the
Batavia aboard. Of the 12 treasure chests
that were originally on board the Batavia, 10
were recovered and taken aboard the
Sardam.

36. Guilty of mutiny
Cornelisz was tried in the islands,
found guilty of mutiny, and hanged
along with half a dozen of his men.
Both of his hands were amputated
prior to the hanging (it appears
with a hammer and chisel). The
remaining mutineers were taken
back to Java and tried; many were
subsequently executed. Ariaen
Jacobsz apparently died in the
dungeons of Castle Batavia.

37. Execution
The hangings on Long Island
as illustrated in the Lucas de
Vries 1649 edition of
Ongeluckige Voyagie

38. Treasure
The Batavia carried a considerable amount of
treasure. Each ship in the Batavia class carried
an estimated 250,000 guilders each in twelve
wooden chests containing about 8000 silver
coins each. This money was intended for the
purchase of spice and other commodities in
Java. The bulk of these coins were silver
rijksdaalder issues produced by the individual
Dutch states, with the remainder being mostly
made up of similar coins produced by German
cities such as Hamburg. Each of these silver
coins was equal to 2.5 guilders, hence
approximately 12 x 8000 = 96000 coins.

39. The treasure also included special
items
The Batavia's treasure also included special items being
carried by Pelsaert for sale to the Mogul Court in India
where he had intended to travel on to. There were four
jewel bags, stated to be worth about 60,000 guilders,
and an early-fourth-century Roman cameo, as well as
numerous other items either now displayed in Fremantle
and Geraldton, or recovered by Pelsaert. The Gemma
Constantina Batavia cameo depicts the emperor
Constantine I and is considered probably to have been
made at his court to commemorate the Battle of the
Milvian Bridge in. The cameo was in 1628, the property
of an Amsterdam jeweler called Gaspar Boudaen, on
whose behalf Pelsaert was carrying it. Boudaen had
added a gold frame with jewels

40. Rijksdaalder silver coins recovered from
the wreck site
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(ship)#/media/File:Batavia_treasure.jpg