Batavia (64 page)

The fewest trinkets, fans, plates:
Pelsaert, Declaration (in Journal); Godard, p. 79.

Closes the door firmly and moves on:
Pelsaert, 19 September 1629.

Gone ashore to promenade:
By another account in Pelsaert’s Journal, the trio went to the
Assendelft
, not the
Sardam
.

Very beastly with words:
Pelsaert, Declaration (in Journal).

And how would you do that?:
Ibid.

Hottentot dance:
From an eyewitness account provided by soldier David Tappe in 1688, describing a visit to the Hottentots at the Cape: Van Gelder and Roeper, pp. 89–90.

I am still for the Devil anyhow:
Ibid.

Most famous pirate of their time:
Snelders, p. 41.

It can be done if handled right:
Pelsaert, 17 September 1629.

Even worth risking your life for:
Ibid., 19 September 1629; Dash, p. 115.

With his hand on the whip-staff:
The whip-staff was a stout piece of timber passing through a hole in the deck to a pivot and from there to the end of the tiller.

The mighty
Batavia
gradually alters course:
We only know for certain that Jacobsz was the one who contrived to separate the
Batavia
from the rest of the fleet. The account given here is my best assumption as to how he achieved it. The altering of the ship’s course would have taken place gradually, rather than suddenly, because nothing goes suddenly when manoeuvring a sail-powered ship of this magnitude. For example, to make a 180-degree turn, the
Batavia
needed about five miles’ space and took about half an hour.

The skipper shrugs off his concerns:
Godard, p. 80.

The sickness he picked up in India:
Drake-Brockman,
Voyage to Disaster
, p. 28.

Godless to such an extent:
Bastiaensz (Predikant’s Letter), p. 254.

Indecently maltreat her body:
Batavia
website, Western Australian Museum, http://202.14.152.30/collections/maritime/march/DHI-site/bat-hist-01.html.

Over here! I need help!:
Was Lucretia indeed raped? I frankly suspect so. Given the character of the men attacking her and the fact that none of them had been with a woman for at least seven months, that is at least the likelihood. But the record is unclear.

Chapter Three: The Shine of the Moon o’er the Waves

The shine of the moon o’er the waves:
Pelsaert, 4 June 1629. As eminent an authority as Mike Dash has it the other way, that it was Hans who spotted the disturbance on the water and Jacobsz who assured him it was okay. I have remained true to Pelsaert’s Journal, which quotes the skipper as saying it was Bosschieter who made this most grievous error.

This is not of my doing!:
Ibid.

What can that be?:
Ibid.

Some coral reef, miles from
het Zuidland:
Here, Jacobsz is attempting to cover up the fact that they may well have travelled too far before they turned northwards to Batavia. The risk taken travelling Brouwer’s Route was compounded by the inability to accurately calculate longitude – and certainly the
Batavia
was making good time. Underestimating the distance travelled led to numerous ships foundering off the coast of the Southland.

They are able to take further soundings:
Pelsaert, 4 June 1629.

Only the skipper can strike the first blow:
Edwards,
Islands of Angry Ghosts
, p. 25.

Our back is surely as broken as the
Batavia
’s:
Pelsaert, 4 June 1629.

Just before nine in the morning:
Ibid.

The bread-locker:
Ibid.

There is a way this man carries himself:
Given how well Wiebbe Hayes performed on the islands, he is highly unlikely to have been one of the soldiers who panicked or refused to obey orders, and the likelihood is that he really would have been noticed at this point as a good man in a crisis.

Together worth well over 50,000 guilders:
Pelsaert, 4 June 1629.

You have been masters here long enough:
Ibid., 19 September 1629.

Just as if he were sowing seeds:
Pelsaert, ‘The guilty sentenced and punished aboard the
Sardam
on the return leg’.

Hard shards of coral for their bed:
Pelsaert, 4 June 1629.

Lucretia Jans knows naught:
This is essentially a summation of the things that Pelsaert knew at this time and would likely have committed to his journal.

There goes the rubbish:
Pelsaert, ‘The guilty sentenced and punished aboard the
Sardam
on the return leg’.

He has come with a message:
Pelsaert, 4 June 1629.

There is no one who will sail with you:
Ibid., 5 June 1629.

We are not going to run any risk:
While this is not a verbatim quote from Pelsaert’s Journal, it is a reasonable extrapolation from the
Commandeur’s
description of events.

Pelsaert is entirely powerless:
Pelsaert, 5 June 1629.

Chapter Four: Batavia’s Graveyard

Pelsaert must cede:
While this scene is not written about in Pelsaert’s Journal, I have assumed this is the case given the limited space and weight restrictions in the departing longboat and the fact the valuables chest is later referred to as being onshore.

Myself and the others named below:
The text of this letter has been created from Pelsaert, 6 June 1629.

He arrives at an estimation of their latitude:
Henrietta Drake-Brockman posits an interesting theory at this point, in her book
Voyage to Disaster
. That is that once Jacobsz realised the reef he had hit was precisely the reef he had been told to avoid, he consciously bodgied up the latitude so as to make it appear he had hit another reef entirely. And this, in turn, explained why Pelsaert made such hard work of finding the ship again.

Funnelling it down into a barrel:
Without knowing specifics such as this, at the very least we know that Hayes comported himself so well in the first fortnight on the island that he emerged as the leader.

We have signed this with our own hand:
Pelsaert, 8 June 1629.

A seemingly dry cursed country:
Ibid., 12 June 1629.

The two are walking along the southern shore:
It is known, at least, that the two established a friendship on the island.

Wybrecht Claas volunteers to swim to the ship:
Dash, pp. 137–8.

There is no dissent:
Ibid., p. 135.

They are into the storm proper:
Pelsaert, 9 June 1629.

The blessed rain!:
Dash, p. 138.

Without spilling any of the precious water:
This is the most likely method of having gathered the water, and Wiebbe Hayes is the most likely person to have instigated and commandeered such a system.

The detritus spews out into the ocean:
Dash, p. 139.

The rocks now seem redder than before:
Pelsaert, 13 June 1629.

Mundooroo’s own mighty arm:
This, and what follows, is my best attempt to recreate what happened from the information that is known, which comes from Pelsaert’s Journal.

Chapter Five: The Grip Tightens

The sick ones are far more important to her:
The Lucretia who emerges after the assault is a far more humble, empathetic person. We know she has worked closely with Frans Jansz to try to cure Pelsaert aboard the
Batavia
and that Frans Jansz would have been the one to establish the sick tents. Lucretia, without family or other duties on the island, would have been the obvious person to help Frans Jansz in the sick tent.

Drinking themselves to the point of bursting:
Pelsaert, 15 June 1629.

He requires everyone to sign a document:
Ibid., 16 June 1629.

You are the highest-ranking official:
Dash, p. 141.

Trusted with the Company’s most precious property:
Ibid., pp. 141–2.

A scarlet tunic brightly trimmed with gold braid:
Godard, p. 139.

A veritable promenading peacock:
Pelsaert, 19 September 1629.

They are even given some of the red velvet:
Ibid.

Woutersz was mouthing off about the mutiny:
Ibid.

And I’ ll tell you why:
Edwards,
Islands of Angry Ghosts
, p. 40.

This wonderful sound often comes from Cornelis:
It was common for trumpeters to play for the amusement of ships’ companies as well.

It is Ryckert Woutersz:
We know that Ryckert Woutersz was indiscreet on Batavia’s Graveyard, telling everyone about the mutiny, and that this greatly annoyed the other Mutineers. We also know that, shortly after Jeronimus arrived on the island, there is no further mention of Ryckert. Though it is not specifically stated in Pelsaert’s Journal, my assumption is that he was murdered, and that this was very likely the first murder ordered by Jeronimus.

The wrath of the council:
Again, if Woutersz was murdered, I think it would have been the perfect excuse for Jeronimus to tighten his control. It fits with his prior plan to use the assault of Lucretia to turn the ship’s company against Pelsaert.

Be sure to take Jan Carstenz with you:
Though there is no record of Jeronimus specifically ordering Hayes to take Carstenz to the High Islands, it makes sense that that was the case, to separate him from his beautiful wife, who would soon be a ‘woman for common service’.

Their whiskers quivering:
When Pelsaert was on this island a fortnight earlier, he had dissected the native Tammar wallabies and written up quite detailed notes on these curious ‘cats’, which were subsequently published in his journal (15 November 1629). The islands were later renamed ‘East Wallabi Island’ and ‘West Wallabi Island’, one assumes due to this fact. East and West Wallabi Island are the only islands in the Abrolhos upon which the Tammar wallaby lives. Thus, the soldiers had access to sources of both food and water (later discovered) that were unavailable to the Mutineers.

Hayes orders his men to move at low tide:
Dash, pp. 150, 376.

In which case they would all be lost:
From the moment that Pelsaert arrived alive in Batavia, both Jacobsz and Evertsz would be in great danger, as Pelsaert was always going to make the report he did, incriminating the skipper and his high bosun. Under those circumstances, it is surprising that Pelsaert met with no harm, and we may take it as given that this was because it was just too hard to murder him in such a packed vessel, surrounded by his loyalists.

This green and fertile coast:
Pelsaert, 27 June 1629.

Until he thinks his belly will burst:
Ibid.

Jeronimus Cornelisz has made an oath:
Ibid., 19 September 1629.

Chapter Six: Bloody Oath

It is a ship entering the same strait:
Pelsaert, 2 July 1629.

What extraordinarily whimsical winds:
Ibid., 3 July 1629.

It is one thing to put Hendricxsz to death:
Pelsaert, Declaration (in Journal).