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Batavia Model Ships
History of the Batavia:
The Batavia sailed from the Texel in a fleet of eleven ships on October
29, 1628, the captain was Adriaen Jacobsz, but the overall commander
was Fleet President Francisco Pelsaert. The two men disliked each other
and there was considerable friction between them, especially after the
ship's boatswain was incriminated in the assault of Lucretia Jansdr, a
widow who had spurned his advances.
After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, VOC ships were ordered to sail
east for 2,400 to 3,000 miles (depending on the season) between 36°S
and 42°S before turning northeast or north for Java. As there was no
way to determine longitude at sea, shipwrecks on the west coast of
Australia were inevitable. Jacobsz underestimated his ship's progress,
and in the middle of the night on June 4, 1629, Batavia ran aground on
what Pelsaert described as "the perilous shallows of the Abrolhos,
otherwise called by the Dutch the Frederick Houtmann's rocks"—about
28°57N, 114°10E. ("Abrolhos" is a corruption of the Portuguese for
"Watch out!") Efforts to save the ship were useless, and the ship's
company was divided between two nearby islands, with 180 placed on one,
and 40 on the other. Two days later, Pelsaert set out to look for water
with two of the ship's boats, the smaller of which was lost on the
mainland 40 miles away. Finding no water, on June 16 Pelsaert headed
for Java and with 48 people in one boat managed to reach Batavia
without incident on July 8. A week later, Sardam sailed for the
Abrolhos with a crew of 26, including some Gujarati divers, but adverse
winds kept them at sea until September 17.
In the meantime, a mutiny led by Jeronimus Cornelisz had led to the
murder of more than 100 castaways, including 12 women and 7 children.
As Sardam approached, a boat put out to warn Pelsaert that Cornelisz
intended to seize his ship and sail away without the other survivors.
The mutineers were captured and immediately tried aboard Sardam; 7 of
them were hanged on Seal Island on October 2, and 2 more were ordered
marooned on the mainland. Of Batavia's original complement, 60 had
drowned in the wreck and 125 were murdered. On November 15, Sardam
sailed with the 74 survivors as well as 9 chests of silver, 2 cannon,
and other salvaged items with a combined value of 210,500 guilders.
