Batavia's Graveyard

by Mike Dash

  Hayes’s promotion JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 157].

  “Who had been without a commanding officer . . .” Gabriel Jacobszoon, the corporal, was dead, and Pietersz, the lance corporal, in prison.

  “Keep his men supplied with food and water” The main wells on Wiebbe Hayes’s Island had begun to run dry, and it was only after careful searching that new sources of fresh water were at last uncovered on the High Island.

  “The only goods recovered . . .” JFP 25 Sep 1629 [DB 150].

  “It would not be without danger . . .” JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 151].

  Executions set for 29 September This is the only date Pelsaert can have had in mind, since it must have been almost dark when sentences were passed on the 28th, and he states (JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 211]) that the executions would be “postponed” to 1 October. It would have been proper to have carried them out on the Sunday, 30 September.

  Cornelisz requests a delay Ibid.

  “The predikant put him at ease . . .” Ibid.

  Jeronimus again begged to know . . . JFP 29 Sep 1629 [DB 211–2].

  “Tut—nothing more?” Ibid.

  Jeronimus’s letters JFP 29 Sep 1629 [DB 171].

  Jacob Jansz Hollert The journals actually have “Jacop Jacopsz Holloch” at this point, an apparent error since no one of this name is referred to anywhere else in the text. Drake-Brockman interprets the name as a probable reference to “Jacob Jacobsz Houtenman,” the skipper of the Sardam; but the name as given actually seems closer to Jacob Jansz Hollert, the Batavia’s under-steersman, who had returned with Pelsaert; and this man does seem a much more probable recipient of the letters, since he would actually have known Cornelisz. Given that Ariaen Jacobsz is said to have stated [Interrogation of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 19 Sep 1629, DB 164] that he mistrusted both Claes Gerritsz and “the under-steersman, my brother in law,” this reading would imply that Gillis Fransz Halffwaack was the skipper’s relative, but that Fransz’s colleague, Jacob Jansz, was—at least in Jeronimus’s eyes—more sympathetic to the mutineers. Before condemning Hollert as a crypto-mutineer, however, it is worth recalling that by this stage in the story, the under-merchant had wiped out all but a tiny handful of the people he had got to know in the retourschip’s stern; of his immediate peer group, only Pelsaert, Claes Gerritsz, Bastiaensz, and Creesje were both alive and present in the archipelago. Since Gerritsz seems to have been kept busy on the Council and at the wreck, and neither the predikant nor Creesje were at all likely to act willingly as messengers, Hollert may have been nothing more than a last, despairing hope. For a more conspiracy-oriented perspective, see Philip Tyler, “The Batavia Mutineers: Evidence of an Anabaptist ‘Fifth Column’ within 17th Century Dutch Colonialism?” Westerly (December 1970): 36–7.

  “Was, perhaps, a remnant of the batch . . .” The other possibility is that the poison was obtained from the Sardam’s apothecary’s chest. (Frans Jansz’s chest had evidently been lost with the Batavia, as the eventual rediscovery of some of its contents at the wreck site showed. Jeremy Green, The Loss of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia 1629: An Excavation Report and Catalogue of Artefacts (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1989), pp. 95–6, 99–101. This catalog lists two different sets of ointment jars; in excess of 24 jars, or about one-eighth of the original contents of the chest, were recovered from the seabed. It is however possible that the remainder of the jars were recovered by the mutineers.

  The suicide attempt JFP 29 Sep 1629 [DB 211–2].

  Pelsaert confronts Jeronimus’s religious views JFP 30 Sep 1629 [DB 212].

  “Godless” Verdict on Andries Jonas, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 203].

  “Evil-minded” Ibid.

  “Innately corrupt” Pelsaert to the Gentlemen XVII of Amsterdam, 12 Dec 1629, ARA VOC 1630 [DB259].

  “See how miraculously . . .” JFP 30 Sep 1629 [DB 212].

  Site of the gallows Edwards, op. cit., p. 177.

  Creesje and Cornelisz Testimony of Wiebbe Hayes, Claes Jansz Hooft et al, 2 Oct 1629, OV, pp. 59–60 [G pt. 2, p. 37]. As Drake-Brockman points out (op. cit., pp. 67–9), this testimony does not appear in JFP and there are no places in Pelsaert’s journal from which it could reasonably have been excised. Its first appearance was in Jan Jansz’s Batavia pamphlet of 1647. Drake-Brockman adds that it may [1] be a genuine addition to the record, which the pamphleteer somehow got hold of (it is in the first, rather than the third person, unlike JFP, but its content is consistent with the unpublished records of the VOC, making outright forgery unlikely) or [2] a fake, invented by someone who wished to make quite certain that Creesje Jans was cleared of any imputation that she submitted willingly to Cornelisz. Both modern editors of Pelsaert’s journals—Drake-Brockman and Roeper (op. cit., p. 210) tend to favor its authenticity.

  “So that their eyes could see . . .” JFP 2 Oct 1629 [DB 213].

  Amputation of hands OV [G pt. 2, p. 37]. There is some uncertainty as to whether the full sentence was carried out, as Bastiaensz, in LGB, mentions the amputation of only Cornelisz’s right hand. I tend to think the predikant was simply being inexact in what was not, after all, an official account.

  “They all shouted . . .” JFP 2 Oct 1629 [DB 213]

  “If ever there had been a Godless Man . . .” LGB.

  Chapter 9: “To Be Broken on the Wheel”

  Henrietta Drake-Brockman did invaluable work, in the 1950s and 1960s, on the aftermath of the Batavia mutiny, and her Voyage to Disaster, while inaccurate in some small details, includes almost all that is known about the later history of Pelsaert, Gijsbert Bastiaensz and his daughter, Ariaen Jacobsz, and Creesje Jans. My own research has added only a little to Drake-Brockman’s findings. The archives of Dordrecht, Haarlem, and Amsterdam did provide some fresh information, and the massive early Dutch histories of the Indies also proved invaluable—in particular the first volume of J. Mooij’s Bouwstoffen voor de Geschiedenis der Protestantsche Kerk in Nederlands-Indiï (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1927), which translates as “Building Blocks for the History of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands Indies” and contains additional details concerning the fates of the predikant and his daughter.

  Death by hanging John Laurence, A History of Capital Punishment (New York: Citadel Press, 1960), pp. 41–5.

  “He could not reconcile himself . . .” JFP 2 Oct 1629 [DB 213].

  “Dying as he had lived . . .” Anonymous Batavia survivor’s letter, December 1629, in anon., Leyds Veer-Schuyts Praetjen, Tuschen een Koopman ende Borger van Leyden, Varende van Haarlem nae Leyden (np [Amsterdam: Willem Jansz], 1630), pp. 19–20 [R 236]. For the identification of the author, see the general comments at the beginning of the notes.

  Final confessions of the Batavia mutineers JFP 2 Oct 1629 [DB 213].

  Display of executed prisoners at Haarlem William Brereton, Travels in Holland, the United Provinces etc. . . . 1634–1635 (London: Chetham Society, 1844), p. 49.

  Salvage operations JFP 25–26 Sep, 3 Oct–14 Nov 1629 [DB 150–1, 213–22]. Pelsaert indicates, and other writers have assumed, that only one chest remained unsalvaged. However, the numismatist S. J. Wilson, in Doits to Ducatoons: The Coins of the Dutch East India Company Ship Batavia, Lost on the Western Australian Coast 1629 (Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1989), p. 9, reports that salvage operations undertaken in the period from 1963 brought up so much money—in excess of 10,000 coins—that the cash seems to have once filled two chests rather than one.

  “With heart’s regret” JFP 12 Oct 1629 [DB 215].

  “. . . well in excess of 150,000 guilders . . .” The Batavia herself had cost about 100,000 guilders, and the cash in the missing money chests totaled another 45,000 guilders. The value of the ship’s miscellaneous trade goods, particularly some of Pelsaert’s silver, must have totaled at least 5,000 guilders more. Wilson, op. cit., p. 9.

  Loss of the Sardam’s boat JFP 12–13 Oct, 15 Nov 1629 [DB 215–16, 234]. Drake-Brockman’s translation is a little confusing at this poi
nt. As printed, it gives the distance from the Sardam to the yawl as “two miles” as though they were English units of measurement, but the original manuscript reads “2 mijlen,” seventeenth-century Dutch miles, each of which was equivalent to about 4.6 English statute miles.

  The possibility of a second mutiny Allert Janssen had, indeed, warned Pelsaert on the way to the gallows that the commandeur should “watch very well on the Ship because quite many traitors remained alive who would seize an opportunity to execute that which they had intended; without naming anyone, saying that he did not wish to be called an informer after his death.” JFP 28 Sep–2 Oct 1629 [DB 157, 213].

  Leniency shown to Wouter Loos Pelsaert’s moderation in this case still seems remarkable today. It was not until the end of October, when Judick Gijsbertsdr belatedly came forward to testify against him, that the mutineers’ last leader was closely questioned about his activities on Batavia’s Graveyard, and though he finally confessed, under repeated torture, to the murders he had previously denied, there was never any talk of increasing his sentence. Testimony of Judick Gijsbertsdr, 27 Oct 1629 [DB 225–6].

  The trials on board the Sardam Sentences on Daniel Cornelissen, Hans Jacob Heijlweck, Cornelis Janssen, Jean Thirion, Andries Liebent, Hans Frederick, Olivier van Welderen, Jan Renou, and Isbrant Isbrantsz, JFP 24 Sep–20 Nov 1629; [DB 240-6].

  Numbers of Batavia survivors Pelsaert to the Gentlemen XVII, 12 Dec 1629, ARA VOC 1630 [DB 259–61]. The names of the survivors are nowhere given, but Pelsaert seems definite that only seven women survived the disaster. Two of them—Zwaantie Hendricxsz and her companion—had reached Batavia in the longboat, so it would appear that either Anneken Bosschieters or Marretgie Louys, two of the women kept for “common service,” must have died on the islands. Neither is mentioned among Cornelisz’s victims, and both survived the wreck and the initial days without supplies, so presumably the death can be attributed to injury or disease.

  The return to Batavia JFP 15 Nov–5 Dec [DB 234–9, 247].

  The marooning The exact spot where the two mutineers were put ashore is still debated. Henrietta Drake-Brockman favored the mouth of the Hutt River. Most modern authors identify the location as a cove just north of Red Bluff, which stands at one end of Wittecara Gully. The Red Bluff site is several miles to the north of Drake-Brockman’s preferred location. Today a small memorial marks the spot. JFP 16 Nov 1629 [DB 237]; Phillip Playford, Carpet of Silver: The Wreck of the Zuytdorp (Nedlands, WA: University of Western Australia Press, 1996), pp. 237–42.

  The Sardam’s council Thanks to the loss of Jacob Jacobsz, the council numbered only five on this occasion. The principal members were Pelsaert, Claes Gerritsz, Sijmon Yopzoon, and Jan Willemsz Visch. For some reason Gijsbert Bastiaensz and Jacob Jansz did not sit in judgment on the mutineers; possibly they were ill. Remarkably, however, Salomon Deschamps retained his place even though he had been sentenced to be keelhauled and flogged only a fortnight earlier. Once again, the only likely explanation is that he alone among those on board had the clerical skills needed to keep the necessary records.

  Sentences passed on board the Sardam JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 239–47]. Daniel Cornelissen was sentenced to receive 200 strokes, twice the number meted out to Deschamps and the other minor mutineers who had been sentenced in the Abrolhos. Cornelis Janssen received 150 strokes and the fine of 18 months’ wages (the larger fine may simply represent a longer service with the VOC) and Hans Jacob Heijlweck was sentenced to 100 strokes and the loss of six months’ wages. The lightest flogging was meted out to Isbrant Isbrantsz, who received only 50 strokes.

  “in order not to trouble . . .” Ibid. [DB 239].

  Zussie Fredericx As we have seen, the unfortunate Zussie had already been made to sleep with Jan Hendricxsz, who had kept her as his concubine for two months, as well as with Mattys Beer and Jan Pelgrom (Sentence on Jan Hendricxsz, 28 Sep 1629 [DB 184]; sentence on Mattys Beer, 28 Sep 1629 [DB 193]; interrogation of Jan Pelgrom, 26 Sep 1629 [DB209]), so the allegation, if true, would take to at least six the number of men she had intercourse with in the Abrolhos.

  The second siege of Batavia Bernard Vlekke, The Story of the Dutch East Indies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1946), pp. 93–4; Drake-Brockman op. cit., pp. 71–2; R. Spruit, Jan Pietersz Coen: Daden en Dagen in Dienst van de VOC (Houten: De Haan, 1987), pp. 103–7.

  The death of Jan Coen Spruit, op. cit., pp. 106–10; F. W. Stapel (ed.), Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, vol. 3 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1939), p. 456.

  The elevation of Jacques Specx Specx had not actually left the Dutch Republic until 25 January 1629, two months after Pelsaert had sailed. His election was merely provisional, as the appointment was made by the Council of the Indies and not by the Gentlemen XVII, but it was later made permanent and he served in the position for three years. F. W. Stapel, De Gouveneurs-Generaal van Nederlandsch-Indiï in Beeld en Woord (The Hague: Van Stockum, 1941), p. 19.

  Execution of justice on the Sardam Drake-Brockman draws attention to the fact that Deschamps was back on the Sardam’s council by 30 November, a fortnight after he was supposedly keelhauled and flogged—apparently because she doubted that he could have recovered from his punishment so quickly. Gijsbert Bastiaensz, the only witness to have left any sort of account, says merely that “of the others, some were punished on the Ship, some were brought to Batavia.” The last comment may simply refer to Jacop Pietersz, but since the reference to people is in the plural, I think it more probable that none of the sentences actually passed on the Sardam eight were actually carried out in the five days between the delivery of the verdicts and the ship’s arrival in Batavia. There is reason to assume that the five prisoners sentenced earlier did receive their punishments, since Pelsaert was quite definite, in his summing up, that they would take place “tomorrow,” i.e., on 13 November. It is certainly not impossible that Deschamps had recovered sufficiently to act as Pelsaert’s clerk again by the end of the month; much would depend on the actual severity of the flogging he received. It is beyond question that naval men who received a flogging were expected back at their posts more quickly than that. Sentences on Salomon Deschamps, Rogier Decker, Abraham Gerritsz, and Claes Harmansz, JFP 12 Nov 1629 [DB 231–4]; LGB; Drake-Brockman, op. cit., p. 247n.

  Specx’s sentences “Final sentences on men already examined and sentenced aboard Sardam,” ARA VOC 1011 [DB 270–1].

  Stone-Cutter Pietersz The Batavia journals contain no details of any interrogation of Pietersz, which makes ascertaining his part in the mutiny unusually difficult. See, however, the confession of Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 178] for Pietersz’s role in the Traitors’ Island killings.

  Breaking on the wheel Philippe Godard, The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia (Perth: Abrolhos Publishing, nd, c. 1993), p. 215; Laurence, op. cit., pp. 224–5. An executioner was typically paid three guilders for performing such an execution.

  The proportion of casualties Francisco Pelsaert left the following note regarding the fate of the people embarked on board the Batavia (ARA VOC 1098, fol. 582r [R 220]; Godard, op. cit., pp. 205–8):

  VOC PERSONNEL AND SOLDIERS

  Men of little worth who deserted before departure by running away throughthe dunes 6

  Transferred to the Galiasse and the Sardam, two consorts, onthe eve of departure 3

  Died from illness, especially scurvy, during the voyage 10

  Drowned during shipwreck, trying to swim ashore 40

  Died on the island where the Batavia was wrecked, either fromillness or from drinking seawater 20

  Reached the East Indies with the Batavia longboat 45

  Murdered by Jeronimus Cornelisz by drowning, strangling, decapitation, orbutchery by axe 96

  Executed by Wiebbe Hayes after being captured in their attack against hispositions on the Cats’ Island 4

  Condemned to death and hanged on Seals’ Island 7

  Condemned to death, then reprieved and abandoned on the continent 2

&
nbsp; Died accidentally on board the Sardam during the return to Batavia 2

  Arrived safely at Batavia on board the Sardam 68

  Total 303

  * * *

  PASSENGERS OF BOTH SEXES

  Died of illness or thirst on Batavia’s Graveyard 9 children, 1woman

  Killed by the mutineers 7 children, 12 women

  Reached Batavia safe and sound on board the Sardam 2 children, 7women

  Total 38

  * * *

  Giving a total complement of 341, of whom 329 were apparently on board when the ship sailed. At least two babies are known to have been born on the ship, and a boy, Abraham Gerritsz, was picked up in Sierra Leone, while 10 other people died of illness during the voyage itself. This gave the Batavia a total complement of 332, which had been reduced to 322 by the time she was wrecked. Of these, a minimum of 110 were killed by Cornelisz’s men (in his journals Pelsaert puts this figure as “more than 120,” and on one occasion “124”), 82 died of accident and illness, 13 were executed or marooned, and the remainder survived to reach Batavia in either the retourschip’s longboat or the Sardam. In addition, however, Jan Evertsz at least, and probably Ariaen Jacobsz and Zwaantie Hendricx, died as a direct result of the events on board the ship, and five more mutineers were executed after their arrival at Batavia, taking the number of deaths associated with the mutiny and the shipwreck to as many as 218. There is still some possibility of error here, since accounts written in the Indies suggest that the longboat carried 48 people and not the 45 mentioned by the commandeur. Taking Pelsaert’s own estimates, however, 36.7 percent of the Batavia’s actual complement survived, and if Evertsz and the five minor mutineers executed in the Indies are excluded from those figures, and Jacobsz and his paramour included, on the grounds that their true fate remains unknown, the proportion falls to the figure cited: 116 survivors from the total complement of 332, or 34.9 percent.