Casefile True Crime - Case 138: The Batavia

Episode Date: February 29, 2020

In October of 1628, the newly constructed Batavia embarked on its maiden voyage from the shores of The Netherlands, setting sail for the Dutch East Indies. The 341 individuals on board were oblivious to the fact that the journey would eventually be described as one of the worst horror stories in maritime history. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Erin Munro Creative Director: Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-138-the-batavia

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode describes acts of violence against men, women and children. It won't be suitable for all listeners. During the 17th century, the Netherlands became one of the world's foremost economic powers thanks to its advances in science, art and commercial trade.

Then known as the Dutch Republic, its wealth and power flourished through the importing of goods from overseas, with huge ships sent to Asia and Africa to bring back textiles, teas, grains and spices. A popular proverb among the Dutch during this period was, Jesus Christ is good, but trade is better. The Dutch East India Company, known in its homeland as the VOC, was a chartered company established to coordinate trade in India and other countries throughout Southeast Asia. Monopolising all trade to the east, it boasted tens of thousands of employees and its own

private army. Ships operating under its licence were enormous vessels called East India Men, built to carry large amounts of cargo as well as passengers and equipped with cannons and gunners in case pirates launched an attack. Due to their size and weight, these ships moved slowly at an average speed of five knots per hour and typically took eight months to complete a voyage. In 1628, the VOC commissioned the construction of an expensive new flagship to travel to the company's major trade settlement of Batavia, located in what is today the city of Jakarta

in Java, Indonesia. And after its destination, the Batavia was a grand vessel that was built in just six months at the exorbitant cost of 100,000 guilders, more than 4.5 million Australian dollars in today's currency. The approximately 55-metre-tall and 56-metre-long ship was made of VOC and featured four decks, three masts and 30 guns, and had the capacity to carry 600 tonnes of supplies. Its upper works were painted pale green with gold and red detailing, and its figurehead, a wooden carving positioned at the bow, was a lion leaping upwards.

In late October 1628, the Batavia set sail from Amsterdam with a fleet of seven other ships carrying 341 people who ranged from VOC officials, sailors and soldiers to relatively well-off passengers travelling with their families. A number of the younger passengers were cabin boys ranging from children to adolescents who were employed on the ship to wait on others. The Batavia was also packed with valuable cargo, including stone to build factories with, silverware, jewels and a fortune in coins that would amount to almost 41 million Australian dollars in today's currency.

Laugh on the ship was harsh, perilous and unpleasant. Sleeping waters were cramped and barrels of drinking water were contaminated with worms and dowry. Outbreaks of infectious and nutritional deficiency diseases were common, resulting in the deaths of 10 passengers. 27-year-old passenger Lucretia Yarns was travelling from her home city of Amsterdam to be reunited with her husband. She was an employee of the VOC and had left to work in the company's Batavia settlement

several years earlier. Shortly after his departure, the couple's three young children all contracted a disease and died. It was unusual for a merchant's wife to follow her husband overseas, but Lucretia was heartbroken and lonely. She was born into wealth and occupied a higher social status, resulting in her travelling on the Batavia with a maid and having her own private cabin. Lucretia, who was regarded as exceptionally beautiful, consistently rebuffed unwanted

attention from a number of men throughout the long voyage. On the evening of May 14, Lucretia was preparing to retire for the night. As she made her way back to her sleeping quarters, she was confronted by eight men wearing masks. Though she couldn't see their faces, they spoke to one another and she heard their voices. The master salons dragged Lucretia to a quiet corner on the ship's deck where they reached under her skirt to grope her and smeared her face, legs and genitals with tar and animal dung. The assault was over in a matter of seconds.

Word of Lucretia Yarn's assault reached the Batavia's commander, upper merchant Francisco who began investigating the matter. Upper merchants were VOC officials who were assigned overall responsibility for a particular fleet. Their task was to ensure the voyage would be profitable for the company's directors. Second in command was the ship's captain, followed by the upper merchant's deputy known as the under merchant. Francisco Pelsart was aged in his early 30s and was a long-time VOC employee, having

already completed a seven-year posting in India. Despite his experience, he was indecisive and lacked leadership skills. His command on the Batavia had been difficult at times as he often clashed with the ship's captain, Ariane Jacobs. Just in his mid-40s, Jacobs was a masterful sailor who had completed many voyages, but he was bad tempered, struggled with a drinking problem, and was known to harass female passengers. Pelsart and Jacobs had first met more than a year earlier when both were in India and grew to dislike one another after an altercation that occurred there.

During the Batavia's voyage, matters came to a head on April 14, 1629, when the ship stopped near the South African city of Cape Town to restock supplies. By this stage, bad weather had caused the Batavia to separate from all but two other ships in its seven-vessel fleet. While Commander Pelsart was on land bartering for goods, Captain Jacobs, without permission, rowed out in a small boat to visit the accompanying ships. While on board, he got drunk and violent, resulting in a fight. By the time Pelsart returned to the Batavia, official complaints had been lodged against

his captain. Pelsart reprimanded Jacobs, which led to the humiliated Jacobs deeply resenting his superior. Pelsart continued looking into the group assault against Lucretia Yarns. Though the perpetrators had concealed their faces, Lucretia recognized the voice of one individual and identified him as Yarn Avertz, the ship's bosson, a title given to the senior officer in charge of the Batavia's deck. Pelsart also suspected Captain Jacobs was somehow involved, and was mindful that the captain had attempted to seduce Lucretia on several occasions, but she rejected him.

Despite Pelsart's suspicions, he knew arresting both Avertz and Jacobs would displease the crew, so he postponed any further action until they arrived at their destination. When Captain Jacobs had deserted the Batavia at Cape Town to visit its companionships, he was joined by Commander Pelsart's deputy, an undemergent named Euronymous Cornelius. 30-year-old Cornelius was from a well-off, educated family who belonged to the non-conformist Anabaptist Church, a denomination considered controversial in the Dutch Republic. Cornelius followed in his father's footsteps and became an apothecary, preparing and selling medicines through his own shop in the Dutch city of Haarlem.

In November 1627, Cornelius and his wife had a baby boy who was placed in the care of a wet nurse after his mother became ill. Within several weeks, the infant had contracted syphilis from the nurse's breast milk and died. As syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease, this caused a significant scandal. In an effort to save his wife's reputation, Cornelius filed a lawsuit against the wet nurse, though the incident destroyed his career and he found himself unable to pay a number of debts.

Moreover, Cornelius was an associate and disciple of infamous painter Johannes Tarentius, who was convicted on charges of heresy, blasphemy, atheism and Satanism in 1628. Fearful that he would be prosecuted next, Cornelius left his wife and fled to Amsterdam, where he took service with the VOC and was posted to the Batavia. He quickly formed a friendship with Captain Ariane Jacobs, who made his disdain for Commander Francisco Pelsart clear by remarking that, were it not for the presence of other ships in the fleet, quote, I would treat that miserly dog so that he could not come out of his cabin for 14 days and I would quickly make myself master of the ship.

In response, Cornelius asked Jacobs, and how would you manage that? This did not harbour the same personal resentment against Pelsart, but was eager to take charge of the Batavia and steal the substantial fortune stored on the ship. The pair plotted a mutiny, a form of unlawful rebellion in which the crew of a ship overthrew their leader. Morale amidst the Batavia's crew was low due to the poor conditions and awful treatment they endured, all for a low pay. A few were convinced to join in the mutiny, including Bosun Jarn Avertz, several cadets,

a lance corporal, and some of his soldiers. In order for their plot to work, they needed to isolate the Batavia by steering it away from its remaining fleet. Captain Jacobs achieved this when the ship encountered a storm shortly after sailing away from South Africa's Cape of Good Hope. As it was an uncommon for ships within a fleet to become separated, this did not arouse any suspicion. Despite successfully isolating the Batavia, Cornelius and Jacobs' group of mutineers

was too small to stage a successful mutiny, so they schemed to turn more men against Commander Pelsart. While disguised, they would attack passenger Lucretia Jarns, whom Pelsart harboured romantic feelings for. In response, Pelsart would then discipline all of the ship's soldiers and sailors, enraging those punished and recruiting them to their cause. However, their plan failed when Pelsart did not take punitive measures against anybody for the assault on Lucretia.

The mutineers speculated that he was just biding his time and intended to take action once their route took them past the Australian mainland, a then uncharted landmass known as Terror Australia Syncognita, the Unknown Southland. They quickly put together a new plan, agreeing that as soon as Pelsart made any arrests for Lucretia's assault, the mutineers would enter his cabin at night and throw him overboard. They would then recruit 120 men to run the ship, throw all remaining passengers into the ocean, and turn to piracy. They planned to sail the Indian Ocean disguised as a VOC ship before retiring in a far-off

land with their stolen loot. Over the next few weeks, the mutineers waited patiently for the signal that it was time to revolve. During this period, ships travelling from Europe to Asia used strong westerly winds in the southern hemisphere named the Roaring Forties to speed east after leaving the Cape of Good Hope. These winds sent them towards the west coast of Australia very quickly, but as there was no accurate way to measure longitude, crews had the gauge when it was time to steer north

from sight and experience alone. If they made a mistake and kept sailing east, they ran the risk of hitting the Australian mainland. June 1629 marked the Batavia's eighth month at sea. By the early morning of June 4, it had been three weeks since Lucretia Yarns had been assaulted by the mutineers, and the Batavia was making use of the Roaring Forties. It was a clear night, and the moon provided ample light to Seabye. Shortly after 3am, Commander Pelsart was violently thrown from his bed following a rough, terrible

movement. He ran out to the deck, and upon seeing that the ship had run directly into an enormous coral reef, he shouted at Captain Yakub's, What have you done, that through your reckless carelessness, you have run this noose around our necks? Yakub's claim to the accident was not his fault, stating that he had sighted surfspray breaking against the reef from a distance, but the ship's lookout insisted it was nothing more than the moon's reflection on the water.

As it was unclear whether the tide was high or low, the crew wondered whether they might have simply run aground in shallows and would be able to float back out to sea once the water level rose. But after waiting several hours, it became clear that the collision had taken place at high tide. Falling water levels revealed they were surrounded by rocks, reefs and small islands. The impact had careened the ship half out of the ocean, with sharp coral tearing away its rudder and gouging its timber sides.

Several frightened individuals jumped overboard and either drowned or were pierced by the sharp coral below. The crew began discarding cannons and gunners to lighten the Batavia's load, and just after dawn they cut its main mast down as well. Historians were later determined that the Batavia struck a shoal called Morning Reef in the northern most cluster of the Abrolis, a network of 122 barren, windswept islands and associated coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. They are located roughly 60km west of what is today the city of Geraldton in Western Australia.

There are three distinct groups of islands, all of which have little in the way of vegetation or wildlife, aside from a few sea lions and birds. Seven hours after the collision, as preparations were underway to safely relocate Batavia's passengers, the ship burst open below the waterline and its hull began filling with water. The ship's crew began rowing the passengers away in the Batavia's longboat, an open vessel capable of holding 40 people and its yaw, a sailboat that could carry 23. They were set down on an island about 2km from the shipwreck. It was a tiny, hard and flat land mass with no vegetation, sand or shelter.

Broken and sharp coral pieces lay all over the ground, making it difficult to walk on. By dusk, a number of people had been transferred to the island, including all of the women and children. 150 pints of drinking water, barrels of wine, meat and bread, and a casket full of valuable trade goods such as jewellery, gold and precious stones were also transported to land. Rescue work paused at night when it became too dark to see. Only 120 people still remained on the slowly crumbling Batavia. At dawn the following morning, efforts to retrieve those still stranded on the Batavia

recommenced. The small island closest to the ship became overcrowded, so 180 men, women and children were moved to a larger land mass, roughly 800 metres away, that had a sandy beach. They were given a limited supply of food, while Commander Pelsart, Captain Jacobs, all of the senior VOC company officials, a number of sailors, two women and one infant, remained on the smaller island with the longboat and yaw. Commander Pelsart was convinced to travel to the Australian mainland to find supplies. As the journey would require a couple of days' preparation, he opted to explore other nearby

islands in the meantime. Before departing on their expedition, Pelsart and some of his companions rode over to the larger island where the majority of survivors were now stationed to give them a barrel of drinking water and explain their plans. As they approached, the survivors gathered together on the shoreline. Fearful that they would be mocked and prevented from leaving, the men rowing refused to stop and wouldn't allow Pelsart to deliver the water. Pelsart continued north to inspect the two largest islands in their vicinity, where he

dug for water but found none. He returned to his camp on the small inlet nearest the Batavia and on June 8, four days after the shipwreck, departed for the Australian mainland. He left behind a note explaining his actions and ordered his crewmen to sign an oath confirming that their mission was to search for water. They set sail in Batavia's longboat with the smaller yaw tied to the back. The longboat was designed to carry 40 people but as no one from Pelsart's island wanted to be left behind, it held 48 in total.

They left all the ships recovered jewels and coins behind. The group sailed north along the western Australian coast. The barren land was framed by jagged cliffs that soared up to 228 metres high. On several occasions, they managed to row to a shoreline and succeeded in collecting rainwater but never found a permanent freshwater supply. After sailing for a week without success, it was decided that they should continue on to their original destination of Batavia in Indonesia to seek rescue assistance from the VOC.

Upon learning of Commander Pelsart's departure, the near-200 survivors on the Big Island were left devastated. They accused their leader of abandoning them and dubbed the small inlet where Pelsart had camped, Trader's Island. Their own island, which measured 270 metres wide and half a kilometre long, was named Batavia's Graveyard. Then Mike Dash described it as a strip of coral rubble, where the only living thing was the wind.

The shipwreck survivors landed there at the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere's winter, which regularly battered the area with storms and fierce gales. Of those stranded on Batavia's graveyard, at least 100 were VOC soldiers or sailors, while more than a dozen others were men with trade experience such as carpenters and blacksmiths. There were 21 women, the majority of whom were wives of the crew, a number of teenagers and children, and two infants who were born during the voyage. Most of the population's food and water supplies were depleted within a day, and anxieties only increased when Commander Pelsart sailed away with the other VOC officials.

Some survivors were driven to drinking seawater or their own urine, while 10 people died from dehydration. It finally rained on the sixth and seventh days of their ordeal, allowing them to collect a valuable drinking water. Meanwhile, 70 men had chosen to stay on the Batavia, including mutineer Euronymous Cornelius. They pillaged supplies and helped themselves to food and alcohol. When the ship started flooding and breaking apart, it became harder and harder for them to find safe, dry places.

Some jumped overboard, attempting to whether float or swim to safety. Most failed, with 40 people drowning as a result. On June 12, one week after the collision, the ship collapsed completely. Just as a toll started disintegrating, Cornelius jumped from the deck and grasped onto a pole from a mast that had already landed in the ocean. Clutching it, he floated towards the shallows, spending two days in the water before reaching Batavia's graveyard. By this time, the survivors had created a functioning camp on the northeast portion of the island.

As the ship collapsed, more supplies and useful wreckage kept washing up. Tents were crafted from canvas and mast poles, driftwood was used for fires, and barrels of wine, water and vinegar had also been recovered. The survivors hunted sea lions and birds for food, decimating the wildlife population within a week. Cornelius was taken to a dry area, given a meal and a change of clothes, as well as a bed to sleep in. Prior to his arrival, a small council had been established, tasked with governing the

island's population. The role of council leader was initially given to the only survivor with any semblance of rank, a surgeon who was popular with the ship's crew, but lacked experience in command. As commander Pelsart's deputy, Cornelius had a rank and status that no one else present could claim, and he was immediately elected to lead the council. Cornelius enjoyed the authority he was granted, but was concerned that the large number of survivors would drain the island's resources and become a threat to his own survival. His worries increased when one of the young men who had been recruited for the intended

mutiny on the Batavia started revealing details of the plot to others because he was angry Captain Jacobs left him behind. He didn't share that Cornelius had also been involved, but Cornelius was unnerved nonetheless. If word spread that he had been part of a scheme to seize control of a VOC ship, there was a chance he would be arrested and tried for treason when help arrived. As such, Cornelius began plotting another mutiny. He believed that if he had a group of loyal supporters, he would be able to overpower any rescuers and commandeer their vessel to assume a life of piracy.

He was known to be a charismatic and well-spoken individual, and by late June he had successfully recruited two dozen men, including some of the original mutiners as well as army cadets. He then stockpiled all of the swords, daggers and muskets that had been saved from the ship, keeping them in a single storage area that he controlled. He sent some of his men out on scouting missions to other islands to determine whether survival elsewhere would be possible. Using boats crafted from the ship's wreckage, the men inspected several islands, including the two large ones Commander Pelsart had already visited, which were given the collective name

of the Highland due to a hill that rose from the smaller of the two. They found no drinking water and little in the way of food. Despite this, Cornelius proclaimed that his men had discovered decent resources elsewhere and announced that some people would be moved to other islands so that Batavia's graveyard wouldn't be overwhelmed. He promised that their supplies would be replenished as needed. 40 men, women and children were transported to an island to the west, dubbed Seals Island. Fifteen others were sent to the small inlet that once harboured Commander Pelsart and

the other VOC officials, Traders Island. Then, Cornelius announced that a third group comprised of 20 soldiers would also be sent away to source drinking water from the Highland. He told the soldiers to send smoke signals once they found water and someone would come to collect them. In actual fact, his plan was to remove the most threatening soldiers who were loyal to the VOC by marooning them on the islands that were furthest away. By dispatching these three groups, Cornelius successfully cut the population of Batavia's

graveyard by a third and removed nearly four dozen strong, able-bodied men from his island. Cornelius' next plan was to overhaul the council, as other members could vote against any of his decisions that they didn't agree with. An opportunity arose on July 4, exactly one month after the Batavia struck the reef. Cornelius was informed that a soldier had been stealing wine from a storage tent and sharing it with a friend. Although the involvement of the second accused was difficult to prove, Cornelius sentenced the both men to die, knowing his fellow counsellors would object.

In response to their outcry, he dissolved the council, gaining absolute power over the 130-plus people on Batavia's graveyard. The next day, Cornelius replaced the ousted council members with three of his most loyal followers. Their first act was to carry out the execution of the two wine thieves. The soldier was killed, but his friend's fate is unknown, with some speculating that he escaped to another island. That same day, Cornelius accused two carpenters of planning to sail away on a makeshift raft.

Within hours, both men were executed by two of Cornelius' mutineers. One later boasted that his sword went through his victim, quote, as easily as butter. Cornelius ordered the killings under the guise of law enforcement, as he was vastly outnumbered by the island's population and couldn't risk an uprising. Days passed, and the soldiers sent to the Highland in search of resources had yet to release any smoke signals. Cornelius declared that several parties of three to four individuals would be dispatched to assist them.

The first group, consisting of two soldiers and two sailors, were escorted to the Highland via boat by David Zavank, a member of Cornelius' hand-picked council. As soon as they were out of sight, Zavank and his crew of six mutineers launched an attack. They bound three of their passengers by the wrists and ankles, then threw them overboard. The remaining passenger was given mercy on the condition he swear allegiance to Cornelius. Two days later, the same trap was used again to drown two more men. Hans Hardens had been travelling on the Batavia with his wife Anakin and their six-year-old daughter Hylatrin.

He had submitted to Cornelius, likely to ensure provisions for his family. Uncertain as to whether he could trust Hans, Cornelius carried out a test of his loyalty. On July 8, he invited Hans and his wife to join him for a meal in his private tent. Meanwhile, a mutineer crept into the Hardens' family tent and strangled six-year-old Hylatrin to death. She was one of nine people who had been murdered under Cornelius' rule so far. And afterwards, Hans Hardens signed a loyalty oath to the mutineers. Private Webby Hayes was leading the soldiers searching for resources on the Highland.

Little is known of his background, but he was a skilled fighter and a natural leader. The group found nothing substantial on the smaller of the two islands. After several days, they explored the second larger island. It was separated from the first by a one-and-a-half-kilometre sandbank that appeared at low tide. This island was far more abundant in wildlife than any of the others the survivors had encountered. It was populated by wallabies, snakes and birds, and there were numerous fishing spots. But they struggled to find a freshwater supply. Subsisting on rainwater, bird's eggs, wallabies and fish, they explored the area more thoroughly

than any of the earlier groups had done. On July 9, they discovered two natural wells hidden beneath slabs of limestone, a sedimentary rock that typically forms in shallow marine waters. One of the wells was three metres deep and full of freshwater. They hastily lit three fires to alert the survivors to the south of their crucial discovery. The 15 people stationed on Traders Island noticed the smoke signals right away. They quickly boarded their two makeshift boats and began rowing towards the Highland. On Batavia's graveyard, Cornelius initially ignored the smoke signals, until he noticed

the two Traders Island boats heading in their direction. He ordered his men to attack, and two of his most trusted followers, David Zavunk and Conrad Van Hyssen, jumped into a boat with five other mutineers to pursue them. They caught up to the Traders Island survivors and ordered them to stop before boarding their vessels. The passengers, consisting mostly of soldiers and sailors, but also three women and two children, were forced to surrender. Several jumped into the ocean to escape, only to drown.

The rest were taken back to Batavia's graveyard. David Zavunk raced over to consult with Cornelius. He then ran back towards the shallows where the captives were being held, crying out, kill. Cornelius' men stabbed both children and all of the men, before rowing the three women out to sea and throwing them overboard. The massacre took place in full view of witnesses, making it the first time that many of the survivors realized the true nature of the man who was leading them.

In the days following the slaughter of the residents of Traders Island, roughly a dozen more men declared their loyalty to Cornelius. The most violent mutineers, emboldened after committing a public massacre, regularly tormented others by taking their belongings and threatening them. The bloodshed continued, and people lived in fear of inadvertently drawing attention to themselves. Eleven survivors were suffering from illnesses such as scurvy or fever, and had been isolated to a communal tent.

Cornelius felt those in poor health were draining the island's resources. On July 10, a mutineer, following his orders, entered the quarantine tent late at night and slit the throats of everyone inside. From that point on, it became extremely dangerous for anyone other than the mutineers to fall sick. Over time, more and more ill people were murdered, commonly at night when they were at them as vulnerable. By July 14, less than two weeks after the murders started, the mutineers had killed

nearly 50 survivors, lowering the population of Batavia's graveyard to around 90. Those residing on the Highland and Seales Island lived in relative safety out of reach, though it wasn't long before Cornelius turned his attention to them. On July 15, Cornelius ordered seven mutineers to kill all the male inhabitants of Seales Island. As well as being armed with swords and daggers, the mutineers had crafted weapons called Morning Stars which typically consisted of a spiked ball at the end of a chain attached to a piece of wood.

The mutineers' version consisted of half-bent strips of lead with long nails attached. The rope was tied to one end so they could be swung at victims' heads. Leading the attack were Cornelius' chief executioners, David Zavunk and Cornrat Van Heissen. As soon as they landed on Seales Island, four men and six boys were stabbed and killed. Those who were wounded were dragged to the shore to be drowned. Fifteen cabin boys managed to outrun the mutineers and hide. The four female inhabitants, as per Cornelius' instruction, were spared.

Eight men escaped to the Highland using boats they had crafted in a secluded area of the island. After slaughtering half of Seales Island's population, the mutineers returned to Batavia's graveyard. Three days later, on July 18, Cornelius ordered his men to return to Seales Island after dark and finish the job. Upon arrival, Zavunk handed a mutineer his knife and instructed him to kill the four women.

Without hesitation, the mutineer went to a heavily pregnant woman named Mike and Source, took her by the hand and said, Mike and Love, you must die before throwing her down and cutting her throat. The other three women were also murdered. Twelve of the cabin boys were stabbed and bludgeoned. Those who didn't die immediately were drowned at sea. Three boys survived by running away and hiding in bushes. They were safe until almost a week later, on July 24, when they emerged in sight of

Batavia's graveyard. Cornelius saw them and sent men to capture them. They were forced onto a boat with one of the boys made to throw the other two overboard to drown. He was permitted to live in exchange for becoming a mutineer. Towards the end of July, Cornelius ordered increasingly violent and shocking deaths. In one instance, he became enraged by a sick baby girl who cried constantly at night. As a former pharmacist, he offered the child's mother a medicine he'd mixed, claiming it

would help. This would be the only time he attempted to kill someone by his own hands. After consuming the concoction, the baby entered a comatose state but didn't die. The following night, Cornelius had a mutineer strangle her. Cornelius' egomania went unchecked. He wore Commander Francisco Pelsar's expensive clothes and would change outfits multiple times a day. His most trusted followers were also given special outfits made from expensive high-quality

red wool and sewn with elaborate trimmings. They lived better than anybody else on the island, eating cask meat from the ship's rations rather than surviving on birds and sea lions like everyone else. They slept in spacious tents and drank wine instead of rainwater. Mutineers who achieved the highest status were those who could overpower and slaughter other men, while those who killed women and children had a lower ranking. Some mutineers sought a high ranking as a matter of survival and to gain access to rations. Others were particularly bloodthirsty individuals who enjoyed being able to kill and abuse others

without consequence. Geisbert Bastienz, his wife Maria, and their seven children had managed to survive life on Batavia's graveyard so far, due in part to Geisbert's status as a man of the church. Geisbert was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, known as a predican. Shortly after the shipwreck, Geisbert's 21-year-old daughter, Judik, caught the attention of one of Cornelius' most violent and cruel henchmen, Cornrat van Heisen. She proposed to her on the condition that they consummate their marriage on the island, despite being unable to legally marry until they returned home.

Judik discussed the issue with her father, and though both were distressed by the offer, they believed her acceptance was the only way to ensure her safety. So Judik reluctantly agreed to become van Heisen's wife. On July 21, Judik and her father were invited to dine with van Heisen and Cornelius. While they ate, David Zavank and eight other mutineers approached the tent where the rest of Geisbert's family were staying. Zavank called out for the family's maid, and when she approached, he stabbed her. He and the others then entered the tent, claiming they were carrying out a search following

reports that the family had stolen supplies. After ransacking the tent, they extinguished a hanging lantern and attacked the entire family using a hatchet and an axe. Maria and six of her children, whose ages ranged from 8 to 23, were killed. Their bodies were dumped in a mass grave that had been dug earlier that evening. The mutineers continued their rampage throughout the night, killing the VOC's bookkeeper, and the mother of the baby Cornelius had poisoned. Their bodies were then deposited in the same mass grave that held Geisbert Bastien's family.

While the massacre was underway, Ari's Yance, a military barber and surgeon who resided on Batavia's graveyard, was set upon by two mutineers armed with swords. Fortunately, their weapons were blunt, allowing Ari's to escape with only minor wounds. He dove into the ocean and hid in the dark shallows as the mutineers searched for him. When they failed to spot Ari's, the assailants withdrew back to camp, presuming their victim had succumbed to his injuries. After they left, Ari snuck over to the side of the island where the mutineers kept their boats.

He boarded one and set sail for the Highland. When Ari's reached the Highland, he told Private Webby Hayes and the other soldiers settled there what had been taking place at Batavia's graveyard. The island's inhabitants were aware of the atrocities Cornelius and his mutineers had been committing, as many were refugees that had successfully escaped the bloodshed. Since Cornelius came into power, the population of the Highland had more than doubled to 45 men and one boy. In case Cornelius stormed their island, Private Hayes and his men crafted wooden pikes with

nails hammered into the ants, collected lumps of coral to throw it intruders, and made their own morning stars from wreckage that had washed up. Hayes had the advantage of being a skilled leader with strong soldiers and a sound understanding of battle tactics. The only way to access their island was from the neighbouring island's sandbank at Low Tide, ensuring the mutineers wouldn't be able to launch a surprise attack. Hayes constructed a two-room fort from limestone and coral slabs that overlooked the sandbank, allowing his men to keep a watch for invaders and take shelter from any potential threat.

Two days after the July 21 massacre, Cornelius made a move against those on the Highland. In a seemingly friendly letter addressed to Private Hayes' small militia, Cornelius referred to those who had fled to the Highland as evil doers who were banished from Batavia's graveyard. He claimed they had left without permission and ordered they be returned to him, along with the boat that Ari's yants had stolen. Hayes didn't believe Cornelius' claims and instead imprisoned the mutineer who delivered the letter.

After several days passed with no reply or sign of his messenger, Cornelius launched an attack. He sent his two chief executioners, David Zavunk and Cornrat Van Hyssen, to the island, with 20 other mutineers. Yet, they were forced to retreat as their adversaries had observed them approach and took up arms. On August 5, Zavunk and Van Hyssen attempted another incursion, this time with all the mutineers.

As they waded through the shallows towards the island, they were once again met by the well-prepared soldiers and were forced to turn back. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Batavia's graveyard continued to suffer. By August, only seven women remained alive and all were forced into sexual slavery. Cornelius became fixated on Lucretia yarns, who had already endured a demeaning assault at the hands of the mutineers while on the Batavia. He attempted to seduce her by writing her poems and giving her wine, but she rejected his advances.

After two weeks, Cornelius lost his temper and complained to David Zavunk about the matter. Zavunk then threatened Lucretia with death if she didn't comply with Cornelius' wishes, so she submitted to his will. That same month, a boy was blindfolded under the guise of a joke, only to be decapitated. Hans Hardens, who had already endured the murder of his six-year-old daughter, Hylatrine, also lost his wife when she was strangled with her own hair ribbon. The man who led the survivor's prior to Cornelius' arrival was stabbed with a pike

and sword, then hidden ahead with a morning star. The mutineers openly discussed whom they would like to murder next, and people were not permitted to mourn for their loved ones. Following the massacre of Geisbert Bastien's family, mutineers discovered him crying and stated, Be silent, or you go the same way. Geisbert's life was regularly threatened, but Cornelius believed he might prove a useful bargaining chip in the battle against the Highland, so he was kept alive.

By late August, winter was drawing to an end, and it was raining less, resulting in depleting water supplies. Cornelius attempted yet another charge on the Highland, this time with a more deceptive approach. On September 1, he sent Geisbert Bastien's to negotiate a peace treaty with Private Hayes, who agreed to receive the mutineers the following day. On September 2, the entire population of Batavia's graveyard, now reduced to 32 men and six women, travelled to the Highland with Cornelius.

They watched from the sandbank between islands as Cornelius and five of his most loyal followers continued onwards. They gifted their adversaries new clothes and red wine, which were well received. As Cornelius and Hayes engaged in peace talks, the mutineers offered the soldiers from the Highland jewels and money to switch sides. In response, the soldiers launched a surprise attack, arresting Cornelius and four of his men, including David Zavunk and Cornrat Van Heisen. One mutineer named Vowter Loos managed to escape and reach a small boat.

The mutineers waiting on the sandbank made a beeline for the soldiers, though they had to run almost half a kilometre to reach them. They vastly outnumbered the soldiers, so Private Webby Hayes ordered the immediate execution of Cornelius' captured followers to scare the rest of the mutineers away. Both David Zavunk and Cornrat Van Heisen were among those killed. The brutal display caused the approaching mutineers to retreat back to Batavia's graveyard, taking the innocent survivors with them. Veronimus Cornelius, now a prisoner of the Highland, was placed in a limestone pit that

functioned as a cell. He spent his days plucking feathers from birds that the soldiers had hunted. Over on Batavia's graveyard, a new ruler was elected from the mutineer's ranks, 24-year-old Vowter Loos. Under his authority, the murders ceased and women were no longer abused. But Cornelius now gone, a number of men abandoned the cause, leaving fewer than 20 loyalists. Two weeks later, supplies on Batavia's graveyard were running low. In a desperate bid to gain access to their water and food, Loos declared war on the Highlands.

The battle commenced at 9am on September 17. Though the remaining mutineers were now vastly outnumbered and didn't have the military experience of their opponents, they did have two muskets, each capable of firing one round per minute. Private Webby Hayes and his men took cover behind rocks and in their fort, but the mutineers still managed to wound four soldiers, one of whom later died from his injuries. The confrontation continued for several hours, until suddenly, in the early afternoon, a ship appeared on the horizon. Commander Francisco Pelsart and his group of 48 survivors had sailed for almost a month

in an effort to reach the Batavia settlement in Indonesia for help. They suffered no losses over the course of their journey and successfully reached the Dutch settlement on July 7, 1629. Two days later, Pelsart was summoned to appear before the VOC's council to account for the loss of the company's new flagship vessel and its precious cargo. Pelsart described the manner in which the Batavia had crashed into the reef, explaining that the majority of people on board had survived and they had managed to recover its most valuable items.

Among those who accompanied Pelsart to Batavia was his longtime adversary, Captain Aryan Yacobes. He was held accountable for his actions aboard the Batavia, including orchestrating the attack on Lucretia Yarnes in a failed bid at mutiny. Both Haye and Batavia's Bosun, Yarn Avertz, who Lucretia identified as the ringleader, were arrested. After being tortured, Avertz confessed to his part in the mutiny and the assault of Lucretia and was executed by hanging.

Captain Yacobes was ordered to stand trial for the faulty navigation that led to the Batavia becoming shipwrecked and his role in, quote, a gross evil and public assault. Captain Pelsart was granted another VOC ship named the Sardam to rescue the survivors he'd left behind and to recover as much cargo as possible. He departed Batavia on July 15 with a small crew and began sailing back towards the Abrolos Islands. By August 10, they were less than 80km from the shipwrecked site, but a navigation miscalculation as well as poor weather made it difficult to find the islands.

It took more than a month for them to orientate themselves. By September 13, the rescuers finally reached the northern end of the island chain. Three days later, on the evening of September 16, they sighted what remained of the Batavia and steered towards it the next morning. They dropped anchor at approximately midday on September 17, three kilometres from the highland and six and a half kilometres from Batavia's graveyard. As soon as the mutineers caught sight of the rescue ship, they ceased their attack on the highland.

A boat was sighted rowing from the ship towards the smaller of the two highland islands, which sat south from where the battle was being waged. A number of the mutineers who were still dedicated to Cornelius's plan of commandeering a rescue vessel immediately set sail for the Sardin. At the same time, private Webby Hayes and three of his men raced to their own makeshift boat, hoping that they would be able to reach the rescuers first. The two groups began frantically rowing, trying to beat one another there. Commander Pelsart, along with several crew members, had loaded one of the Sardin's boats

with supplies such as bread and water and headed towards the nearest visible land. Just as they reached its shores and disembarked, a boat carrying four men drew close. One of the men leapt out and shouted at them. Welcome, but go back aboard immediately, for there is a party of miscreants on the islands near the wreck who have the intention to seize the yacht. The man was Private Webby Hayes. He quickly informed Pelsart of the events that had taken place over the past few months. Pelsart set back out for the Sardin to warn the remainder of his crew.

As he neared the ship, he saw the mutineers were also rapidly approaching in their boat. When the mutineers boarded the Sardin, they were greeted by guns and pikes. Pelsart had made it aboard just in time to alert the crew of the ambush. The mutineers surrendered and were arrested. During interrogations, they revealed they had killed more than 100 men, women and children under the order of Euronymous Cornelius. Some also admitted to being part of the original mutiny on the Batavia, revealing that Captain Ariane Jacobs had been one of the masterminds behind it.

Cornelius was retrieved from his limestone prison and taken aboard the Sardin. Upon seeing the bound man, Commander Pelsart looked at his former deputy with great sorrow, as he was, quote, such a scoundrel, cause of so many disasters and of the shedding of human blood. Cornelius tried to absolve himself of any guilt by implicating his various followers in the mutiny and murders, but his claims were rejected and he was locked up in a cell. The following morning, Pelsart and several armed soldiers went to Batavia's graveyard to arrest the remaining mutineers and rescue the survivors.

They discovered crucial pieces of evidence on the island, including several oaths that Cornelius had made his followers sign. Dutch law at the time dictated that justice needed to be meted out as quickly as possible, so it was decided that the trials of the mutiny's ringleaders would be carried out on the islands where the crimes had taken place. Pelsart and five other high-ranking officials from the Sardin and the Batavia formed a council and began proceedings. While the survivors were housed on the Sardin, the accused mutineers were kept prisoner on

Seales Island, far away from everybody else. The defendants had no lawyers, so the trial solely consisted of Pelsart questioning witnesses. Thus only a few of the perpetrators would admit to their crimes. Torture was used to elicit confessions from the others, including Cornelius. Interrogators would strap the individual to a frame, then slowly pour water over their head until it covered their faces and hindered their ability to breathe. They were then forced to drink the water, which led to extreme bloating and fainting if the torture lasted for an extended period.

Pelsart's endured several days of these sessions. He had little hope of convincing the council he was innocent, as his former followers were willing to testify against him. Furthermore, the recovered oaths proved his control over the inhabitants of Batavia's graveyard. He eventually acknowledged that he'd ordered the deaths of three dozen people and planned a mutiny on board the Batavia. However, he blamed many of the remaining murders on the mutineers who had died in the

failed attack on the Highland. After admitting to some of his crimes, Cornelius attempted to delay his sentencing by reneging his confession, quibbling over small details at trial and asking to speak with his wife back in the Dutch Republic. He ultimately signed a confession on September 28 and was sentenced to have both his hands cut off and to be executed by hanging. Upset at the outcome, Cornelius stated, I see well they want my blood into my life, but God will not suffer that I shall die

a shameful death. I know for certain and you will all see it, that God will perform unto me this night a miracle so that I shall not be hanged. On September 29, Cornelius attempted to take his own life by drinking poison, but survived and was in so much pain that he begged for an antidote. His execution, along with the executions of seven other mutineers, took place on Seales Island on October 2, 1629. Before Cornelius was led to a set of gallows, Lucretia Yarns confronted him and insisted

he take responsibility for raping her. He replied, It is true, you are not to blame. The other mutineers sentenced to die asked that Cornelius be killed first so that they could watch. Their request was granted. Cornelius refused spiritual absolution and instead held verbal abuse at his former followers. Geisberg Bastiens, who lost his wife and six children in one night under the order of Cornelius,

later wrote about his experiences. He described how Cornelius remained staunchly unrepentant, quote, saying even at the end as he mounted the gallows, revenge, revenge, so that to the end of his life he was an evil man. Over the years, many have speculated as to what motivated Euronymous Cornelius to orchestrate the deaths of so many innocent people. Historian Mike Dash theorized that Cornelius was a psychopath due to his superficial charm, ability to manipulate others, lack of compassion, and impulsivity.

In his book, Batavia's Graveyard, Mike Dash writes, Though years of casual usage have stripped the word of much of its meaning, true psychopaths are not evil men incapable of self-control. On the contrary, they are always chillingly in command of their emotions. What they actually lack is empathy, the capacity to either understand or care what other people feel. Following Euronymous Cornelius's death, four other mutiners had their right hand severed and were subsequently killed, while the remaining three were merely executed. Their bodies were left out on display to remain hanging from the gallows until they decomposed.

Nine remaining mutiners were to be taken to VOC headquarters in Batavia to be interrogated further. Nineteen men who signed oaths of loyalty to Cornelius were released unless incriminating evidence arose. Most of these individuals likely aligned with Cornelius to protect themselves or others, but a few of Cornelius's legitimate followers managed to remain undetected. Before they embarked on their return journey to Batavia, Commander Pelsart was determined to salvage anything and everything that he could from the shipwreck to please his superiors. Divers recovered ten out of the vessel's twelve chests of money. Of the missing two, one had been trapped beneath the cannon and was inaccessible, while the other was never found.

The islands were also searched for anything of value that could be given to the VOC, with Pelsart finding jewels and other goods that Cornelius had hoarded for himself. On October 12th, the Sardams captain was sent out with four other men to fetch a barrel of vinegar that had been sited on a reef. Wild winds and rain ensued the following day. The five men were spotted attempting to navigate through the storm, but never returned. By mid-November 1629, what remained of the Batavia's wreckage on the reef had been driven almost entirely underwater by the waves. Pelsart determined that nothing further could be saved and prepared to leave. Before sailing north, he decided they should first travel to the Australian mainland in a last-ditch effort

to see whether the Sardams' missing captain and sailors had made it to land. He also planned to maroon two of the mutineers there as punishment for their crimes. The stranded mutineers were Los who had led Cornelius' men following his arrest, and a cabin boy named Jan Pelgrim. The decision to abandon them was intended as merciful, as Pelsart did not believe Los was as culpable as Cornelius, while Pelgrim was granted some leniency due to his youth. On November 16th, Los and Pelgrim were left with a boat and instructed to become familiar with the foreign land and its people in the hopes they might be able to find gold, silver or anything of value. If ships passed by their location, the pair were permitted to be

rescued so they could report what they discovered. Abandoning the two mutineers on the coast of Western Australia made them the first Europeans to inhabit the country, 159 years before the first British colony was established in Sydney in 1788. It is unknown what happened to them after they were abandoned, as the VOC never made any attempt to rescue them. 200 years later in 1829, the first permanent British settlement was established in Western Australia. Reports were received of light-skinned indigenous people having lived along the coast. Some have speculated whether this meant Los and Pelgrim joined an indigenous tribe and had children with them, but there is no evidence to support this. For those on board the Sardam,

the journey to Batavia took just under three weeks due to strong winds and the calmer spring weather. They arrived on Wednesday, December 5, 1629. Two months later, on January 31, 1630, crowds gathered to watch the public sentencing and executions of the 12 remaining mutineers. Six were hanged, with one having his right hand severed as well. Three were publicly flogged and then sent into exile. Two of the younger mutineers, aged 15 and 17, were made to draw lots to see which of them would be executed and which would only be flogged, with one being granted mercy due to their young age. A particularly brutal mutineer named Jacob Peters was found to have participated in the

original mutiny as well as engineering the slaughter of Gysbert Bastien's family. He was sentenced to the most severe punishment possible, death by being broken on the wheel. It involved an individual being tied to a scaffold while an executioner used an iron bar to crush all of the bones in their arms and legs. They would then be placed on a huge cartwheel, hoisted upright and publicly displayed, with death sometimes taking hours to occur. Batavia's Captain Arienne Jacobs refused to talk. Although he had been implicated in the mutiny on the Batavia, the only evidence was the accusations made by Commander Pelsart and some of those involved. Nevertheless, he remained in prison until June 1631 on unproven charges.

After this, there are no further records of Jacobs and it is believed he died in custody. A number of mutineers escaped capture and punishment for their actions. Four sailors who joined Pelsart on the longboat that sailed to Batavia to get help had been part of Jacobs and Cornelius' original mutiny plot, and three had taken part in the assault of Lucretia Yarnes. However, they remained behind rather than participate in the rescue mission. Pelsart learned of their involvement when he interrogated the other mutineers, but by the time the Sardam returned to Batavia, they had disappeared. Of the more than 200 individuals who were marooned on the Abrolis Islands for three months,

only 74 innocent survivors reached their final destination of Batavia, including five women and one child. VOC archives indicate that 115 people were murdered by Cornelius and his followers, a figure that amounts to more than a third of the Batavia's original passengers. Private Webby Hayes emerged as the hero of the tragedy for protecting those who had escaped Cornelius' men by establishing a stronghold on the Highland. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant, his salary was doubled, and he went on to have a successful military career. The men who fought alongside him also received promotions and wage increases.

For Lucretia Yarnes, her arrival to the Batavia settlement in Indonesia resulted in further sorrow. The point of her journey was to reunite with her husband following the unexpected deaths of their three children. However, he had been posted to Burma without her knowledge some time earlier and had since died. She opted to remain in Batavia and remarried in October 1630 before returning home to Amsterdam with her second husband in 1635. Shortly after arriving at the Batavia settlement in December 1629, Geisbert Bastianz decided to write to extended family members to relay the murder of his wife and children, as well as his experiences over the past few months. He penned a lengthy letter,

which later became one of the key records of the shipwreck in Damasica. Two years later, he remarried a widow and was sent to the Bander Islands, 2,000 kilometres east of Batavia, to minister to troops stationed there. He later caught dysentery and died in the spring of 1633. His daughter, Judic, had endured not only the loss of her family, but repeated sexual abuse during her time on Batavia's graveyard. To secure her future, she married a man after her rescue, but he died within a few months of their wedding.

She remarried a year later, but her second husband passed away after four years of marriage. Taking pity on Judic's situation, the VOC awarded her 600 Gilders compensation, almost 10,000 AUD in today's currency. This enabled Judic to return to the Dutch Republic to live in relative comfort. Commander Francisco Pelsaar was posted to Sumatra to be second in command of a military operation. He wrote a detailed journal about the Batavia shipwreck and subsequent events for his superiors. After reading it, the commanders of the VOC became displeased with Pelsaar, believing that if he hadn't left the survivors without a leader on the islands,

the massacre might have never occurred. There were no real consequences for Pelsaar, as he had become gravely ill a month earlier and died in September 1630 at the age of 35. His journal, which provides a comprehensive account of the tragedy, has been translated into English and is stored in the Netherlands State Archives in the city of The Hague. During the period when the VOC was journeying east through the Indian Ocean, a number of Dutch ships were wrecked along the dangerous and volatile West Australian coast. But the events that followed the Batavia colliding with Morning Reef in the Abrolis Islands made it the most notorious. Although the ship's story became infamous in the Dutch Republic in the immediate aftermath,

the exact location of the wreck became something of a mystery. In 1840, Captain John Lord Stokes was charting the Abrolis Islands for Britain's Royal Navy when he came across some large beams on an island in the Southern Group. Convinced he had found the side of the wreck, he named the landmass, Pelsaar Island. In the 1950s, the story of the Batavia fascinated Perth-based journalist, novelist and historian Henrietta Drake Brockman. When she learned of the discovery of utensils, a pistol, and two human skeletons on Inlet's 80 kilometres north of Pelsaar Island, she suspected Captain Stokes had mistaken the vessel's final resting place. Furthermore, Henrietta pointed out that Commander Francisco Pelsaar had described

wallabies in his writings, and the animals only lived on two islands in the Northern Group. Around the same time, the region became popular with cray fishermen. One day in 1960, a fisherman uncovered a human skeleton as well as a pewter bell from a trumpet that was inscribed with the year 1628, reigniting interest in the hunt for the Batavia. In June 1963, Dave Johnson was setting lobster pots in the area when he sighted something below the water. He returned to the location on several occasions to re-examine the object, and at one stage was digging on an island nearby and uncovered a skeleton. He alerted diver Max Cramer of his finds, as Max was in search of the shipwreck. On June 4, 1963, exactly 334 years after the Batavia

ran into Morning Reef, Max became the first person to dive on the long-lost ship, which was located about two miles from where Henrietta Drake Brockman had estimated it would be. The island where Dave Johnson had dug up the skeleton was now named Beacon Island, but centuries before had been dubbed Batavia's Graveyard. The two highland islands had been named East Wallaby and West Wallaby in the intervening years. While the gallows on Seales Island, where the bodies of Euronymous Cornelius and several of his followers were left on display, had long since disintegrated, remnants of private Webby Hazers stone fort remained on West Wallaby Island, making it the oldest European structure on Australian soil.

Over the course of a decade, the Batavia was salvaged. Divers found apothecary jars, cannons, grenades, an anchor, and coins from the chests that were left behind. Between 1972 and 1976, work carried out by the Department of Maritime Archaeology led to parts of the ship's hull being discovered, then carefully recorded and erased. These were treated, restored, and then rebuilt, and are currently on display at the Shipwrecks Museum in the Western Australian city of Freemantle. The Batavia expedition also features various recovered artifacts, as well as a victim's skeleton. A replica of the doomed vessel was constructed in the 1990s, and is currently in Lelystot, a city in the central Netherlands.

The longboat that Commander Francisco Pelsart used to reach the Batavia settlement has also been replicated, and set sail on the last Sunday of each month in the coastal city of Geraldton, in Western Australia. Since the mid-1990s, both Dutch and Australian archaeologists have undertaken several excavations on Beacon Island to recover the remains of those massacred there, and have succeeded in finding the skeletons of 16 people. As recently as November 2017, they discovered another mass grave that contained the remains of five individuals. In an interview with Australian television program 60 Minutes, Dutch maritime archaeologist Dr Wendy van Divenvoord explained why she believed finding the victims still remained important

almost 400 years later. She stated that she carried out the work, quote, as an honor to those people who died there to get their story told. Give them a little bit back for being left behind in this place at the end of the earth.