Batavia (1628 ship)

rdf:langString Batavia (1628 ship)

rdf:langString View of starboard side of three-masted sailing ship at sea with it's lower sails raised

rdf:langString Full-scale replica of the Batavia

rdf:langString File:De BATAVIA voor de film onderweg als de NIEUW HOORN .jpg

rdf:langString Batavia ([baˈtaːvia]) was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the company's new flagship, she sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. On 4 June 1629, Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off the western coast of Australia. As the ship broke apart, approximately 300 of the Batavia's 341 passengers made their way ashore, the rest drowning in their attempts. The ship's commander, Francisco Pelsaert, sailed to Batavia to get help, leaving in charge Jeronimus Cornelisz, a senior VOC official who, unbeknownst to Pelsaert, had been plotting a mutiny prior to the wreck. Cornelisz sent about 20 men under soldier Wiebbe Hayes to nearby islands under the pretense of having them search for fresh water, abandoning them there to die. With the help of other mutineers, he then orchestrated a massacre that, over the course of several weeks, resulted in the murder of approximately 125 of the remaining survivors, including women, children and infants; a small number of women were kept as sex slaves, among them Lucretia Jans, who was reserved by Cornelisz for himself. Meanwhile, Hayes' group had unexpectedly found fresh water and, after learning of the atrocities, waged battles with Cornelisz's group. In October 1629, at the height of their last and deadliest battle, they were interrupted by the return of Pelsaert aboard the rescue vessel, Sardam. Pelsaert subsequently tried and convicted Cornelisz and six of his men, who became the first Europeans to be legally executed in Australia. Two other henchmen, convicted of comparatively minor crimes, were marooned on mainland Australia, thus becoming the first Europeans to permanently inhabit the Australian continent. Of the original 341 people on board Batavia, only 122 made it to the port of Batavia. Associated today with "one of the worst horror stories in maritime history", Batavia has been the subject of numerous published histories, the earliest dating from 1647. Due to its unique place in the history of European contact with Australia, the story of Batavia is sometimes offered as an alternative founding narrative to the landing of British convicts in Sydney. Many Batavia artifacts, including the ship's stern and skeletal remains from the massacre, are housed at the Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle, Western Australia, while a replica of the ship is moored as a museum ship in Lelystad in the Netherlands.