Houtman Abrolhos (Abrolhos Islands) Western Australia Australia

The newly built Batavia, commissioned by the Dutch East India Company, had sailed on October 28, 1628, from Texel for the Dutch East Indies, to obtain spices.

It sails 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.

Although some animosity had developed between them there, it is not known whether Pelsaert even remembered Jacobsz when he boarded Batavia.

Also on board is the onderkoopman (under- or junior merchant) Jeronimus Cornelisz, a bankrupt pharmacist from Haarlem who is fleeing the Netherlands, in fear of arrest because of his heretical beliefs associated with the painter Johannes van der Beek, also known as Torrentius.

Jacobsz and Cornelisz during the voyage have conceived a plan to take the ship, which will allow them to start a new life somewhere, using the huge supply of trade gold and silver then on board.

After leaving Cape Town, where they had stopped for supplies, Jacobsz had deliberately steered the ship off course, away from the rest of the fleet.

Jacobsz and Cornelisz have already gathered a small group of men around them and arrange an incident from which the mutiny is to ensue.

This involves molesting a high-ranking young female passenger, Lucretia Jans, in order to provoke Pelsaert into disciplining the crew.

They hope to paint his discipline as unfair and recruit more members out of sympathy.

The woman is able to identify her attackers, however.

The mutineers are then forced to wait until Pelsaert makes arrests, but he never acts.

The ship on June 4, 1629, strikes a reef near Beacon Island, part of the Houtman Abrolhos off the Western Australian coast.

Forty people drown, but most of the three hundred and twenty-two passengers and crew manage to get ashore.

The survivors, including all the women and children, are then transferred to nearby islands in the ship's longboat and yawl.

An initial survey of the islands finds no fresh water and only limited food (sea lions and birds).

Pelsaert realizes the dire situation and decides to search for water on the mainland.

A group comprising Captain Jacobsz, Francisco Pelsaert, senior officers, a few crew members, and some passengers leave the wreck site in a thirty-foot (nine point one meters) longboat, in search of drinking water.

After an unsuccessful search for water on the mainland, they abandon he other survivors and head north in a danger-fraught voyage to the city of Batavia, now known as Jakarta.

This journey, which ranks as one of the greatest feats of navigation in open boats, takes thirty-three days and, extraordinarily, all aboard survive.

After the arrival in Batavia, the boatswain, a man named Jan Evertsz, is arrested and executed for negligence and "outrageous behavior" before the loss of the ship (he is suspected to have been involved).

Jacobsz is also arrested for negligence, although his position in the potential mutiny is not guessed by Pelsaert.

Batavia's Governor General Coen immediately gives Pelsaert command of the Sardam to rescue the other survivors, as well as to attempt to salvage riches from the Batavia's wreck.

Jeronimus Cornelisz, who had been left in charge of the survivors, is well aware that if that party ever reached the port of Batavia, Pelsaert would report the impending mutiny, and his position in the planned mutiny might become apparent.

Therefore, he makes plans to hijack any rescue ship that might return and use the vessel to seek another safe haven.

Cornelisz even makes 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 needs to eliminate possible opponents.

Cornelisz's first deliberate act is to have all weapons and food supplies commandeered and placed under his control.

He then moves a group of soldiers, led by Wiebbe Hayes, to nearby West Wallabi Island, under the false pretense of searching for water.

They are told to light signal fires when they find water and they will then be rescued.

Convinced that they will be unsuccessful, he then leaves them there to die.

Cornelisz now has complete control.

The remaining survivors are to face two months of unrelenting butchery and savagery.

“With a dedicated band of murderous young men, Cornelisz began to systematically kill anyone he believed would be a problem to his reign of terror, or a burden on their limited resources.

The mutineers become intoxicated with killing, and no one can stop them.

They needed only the smallest of excuses to drown, bash, strangle or stab to death any of their victims, including women and children.”

Cornelisz never commits any of the murders himself, although he tries and fails to strangle a baby.

Instead, he uses his powers of persuasion to coerce others into doing it for him, firstly under the pretense that the victim had committed a crime such as theft.

Eventually, the mutineers begin to kill for pleasure, or simply because they are bored.

He plans to reduce the island's population to around forty-five so that their supplies will last as long as possible.

Between them, his followers murder at least one hundred and ten men, women, and children.

Cornelisz had left the soldiers, led by Wiebbe Hayes, to die, but they have in fact found good sources of water and food on their islands.

Initially, they had not known of the barbarity taking place on the other islands and still sent pre-arranged smoke signals announcing their finds.

However, they soon learned of the massacres from survivors fleeing Cornelisz' island.

The soldiers put together makeshift weapons from materials washed up from the wreck.

They also set a watch so that they are ready for the mutineers, and build a small fort out of limestone and coral blocks.

Cornelisz seizes on the news of water on the other island as his own supply is dwindling and the continued survival of the soldiers threatens his own success.

He goes with his men to try and defeat the soldiers marooned on West Wallabi Island.

However, the trained soldiers are by now much better fed than the mutineers and easily defeat them in several battles, eventually taking Cornelisz hostage.

The mutineers who escape regroup under a man named Wouter Loos and try again, this time employing muskets to besiege Hayes' fort and almost defeating the soldiers.

Wiebbe Hayes' men prevail again just as Pelsaert arrives at the islands, two months after leaving Batavia, only to discover that a bloody mutiny has taken place among the survivors, reducing their numbers by at least a hundred.

A race to the rescue ship ensues between Cornelisz's men and the soldiers.

Wiebbe Hayes reaches the ship first and is able to present his side of the story to Pelsaert.

After a short battle, the combined force captures all of the mutineers.

Pelsaert decides to conduct a trial on the islands, because the Saardam on the return voyage to Batavia would otherwise be overcrowded with survivors and prisoners.

After a brief trial, the worst offenders are taken to Seals' Island and executed.

Cornelisz and several of the major mutineers have both hands chopped off before being hanged.

Wouter Loos and a cabin boy, considered only minor offenders, are marooned on mainland Australia, never to be heard of again.