by Mike Dash
“. . . in the end . . .” Testimony of Wiebbe Hayes et al., 2 Oct 1629, OV [DB 68-9]. This testimony does not feature in Pelsaert’s journals, and was first published in Isaac Commelin’s pamphlet of 1647. As Drake-Brockman point out, it might be a forgery designed to clear Creesje of the suspicion that she submitted too tamely to Cornelisz; but there is internal evidence, in its dating, that it was at least written when it is supposed to have been, on the day of the apothecary’s execution.
Jan Pelgrom de Bye Interrogation of Jan Pelgrom, JFP 26–28 Sep 1629 [DB 209–11].
“Zevanck wanted to ensure . . .” It will be recalled that Stone-Cutter Pietersz was also present that night, but played no direct part in the massacre. Perhaps, as a member of Cornelisz’s council, he was beyond suspicion; perhaps, as Zevanck’s superior, he could not simply be ordered to take part in the killing.
Murder of Jan Gerritsz and Obbe Jansz Verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 174].
Murder of Stoffel Stoffelsz Confession of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 23 Sep 1629; verdict on Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 169, 184]
Murder of Hendrick Jansz Statement of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 24 Sep 1629; verdict on Rogier Decker, JFP 12 Nov 1629 [DB 169, 231–2] The date of this killing is variously given as 25 July and 10 August in the journals. Jansz was bound when Decker stabbed him and could not have put up much of a fight. Verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 175].
Murder of Anneken Hardens Verdict on Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 28 Sep 1629; verdict on Jan Pelgrom, JFP 28 Sep 1629; verdict on Andries Liebent, JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 184, 210, 244]. The date of this killing is variously given as 28 and 30 July.
Murder of Cornelis Aldersz Confession of Jeronimus Cornelisz, 23 Sep 1629; interrogation of Jan Pelgrom, 23 Sep 1629; interrogation of Mattys Beer, 26 Sep 1629; verdict on Mattys Beer, JFP 28 Sep 1629, [DB 169, 190–1, 195, 208–11]. In writing up his interrogation of Pelgrom, Pelsaert tells this story twice in almost exactly the same words. My quotations have been pieced together from these two accounts. Further variants appear in the commandeur’s notes on Mattys Beer. Pelsaert says on four occasions that Aldersz was decapitated by Beer’s single stroke, but another reference in the journals says merely that the soldier “with one blow near enough struck off his head.”
The murder of Andries de Vries Verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 174]; summary of the crimes of Rutger Fredricx, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 156]; verdict on Rutger Fredricx, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 207]; interrogation of Lenert van Os, JFP 23 Sep 1629 [DB 186–7]. The notion that Creesje and Andries shared a bond of friendship, and that De Vries was seen as an especial threat to the captain-general, arises from the fact that De Vries alone, rather than the mutineers in general, had sworn to forfeit his life if he ever talked to her.
The Selyns incident Confession of Wouter Loos, JFP 27 Oct 1629; verdict on Hans Jacob Heijlweck, 30 Nov 1629 [DB 226, 241].
Murder of Frans Jansz This incident took place on the High Island (Jansz was the only man to die there in the course of the mutiny), while Jeronimus and his principal lieutenants were negotiating with Wiebbe Hayes. A reserve body of mutineers stayed behind to act as reinforcements if required, and they had orders to dispose of Jansz while they were waiting for the others to return. Evidently Jeronimus had Hayes and his men firmly in mind at the time, and this must have help to crystallize his thought concerning the surgeon’s possible defection. Verdict on Hans Jacob Heijlweck, 30 Nov 1629 [DB 241].
“. . . creatures of miraculous form . . .” This was Pelsaert’s description of the tammar. The commandeur was the first Westerner ever to observe and describe marsupials, and his journal thus has considerable scientific as well as historical value. JFP 15 Nov 1629 [DB 235–6].
Wells According to one Defender, the wells were “50, 60 or even 100 vademen deep, being very sweet water.” Letter of 11 Dec 1629 in Leyds Veer-Schuyts Praetjen, Tuschen een Koopman ende Borger van Leyden, Varende van Haarlem nae Leyden (np [Amsterdam: Willem Jansz], 1630), pp. 15–8 [R 231]. The fact that two wells were discovered is mentioned by Pelsaert, JFP 20 Sep 1629 [DB 149]. Otherwise, see The ANCODS Colloquium, p. 99; Jeremy Green and Myra Stanbury, “Even More Light on a Confusing Geographical Puzzle, Part 1: Wells, Cairns and Stone Structures on West Wallabi Island,” Underwater Explorers’ Club News (January 1982): p. 2; Hugh Edwards, Islands of Angry Ghosts (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1966), pp. 174–5. Edwards comments that he finds it hard to believe it can have taken Hayes’s men almost three weeks to find the larger cisterns; an unresolved mystery. In any case, we are told that the quality of the water was excellent; it tasted “very sweet, like milk.” LGB.
Food Letter of 11 Dec 1629 in Leyds Veer-Schuyts Praetjen, Tuschen een Koopman ende Borger van Leyden, Varende van Haarlem nae Leyden, pp. 15–8 [R 231]. Shellfish were also available in abundance on the islands, but Dutchmen of the seventeenth century despised them as the poorest sort of food, and would have eaten oysters and mussels only in extremis. Gijsbert Bastiaensz, who spent some weeks on the island, commented on the fecundity of the island in very similar terms: “Miraculously God has blessed the good ones . . . with Water, with fowls, with fish, with other Beasts, with eggs in basketfull; there were also some Beasts which they called Cats with as nice a flavour as I ever tasted.” LGB. Tammars (Thylogale eugenii houtmani) stand up to two feet tall, and lack the extremely well developed hind limbs of the kangaroo.
New arrivals For the escape of people from Batavia’s Graveyard, see JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 143].
Improvised weapons Letter of 11 Dec 1629 [R 232]; LGB, which includes the reference to “guns”; Edwards, pp. 52–4.
Hayes’s dispositions For a full discussion of the coastal shelter and its inland counterpart, see chapter 10.
Location of Hayes’s boats See the discussions in The ANCODS Colloquium, pp. 93, 100.
Allert Jansz According to OV, he was a corporal rather than a cadet. This seems less likely, as, whatever Hayes’s qualities, an experienced corporal might have been expected to command the landing party, while a young cadet would not.
Jeronimus’s plans Verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 175]; Pelsaert’s “Declaration in short, [of] the origin, reason, and towards what intention, Jeronimus Cornelissen, undermerchant, has resolved to murder all the people . . . ,” JFP nd [DB 252].
“. . . by exploiting the well-known antipathy . . .” It is interesting, from this perspective, to note that when the mutineers signed their second oath of comradeship on 20 August, it included a clause that specified: “Also that the ship’s folk amongst us will not be called sailors any more, but will be reckoned on the same footing as the soldiers, under one company.” Oath of 20 August [DB 148].
Jeronimus’s letter Letter of 23 July to the French soldiers on Wiebbe Hayes’s Island [DB 148–9]. This letter was handed to Pelsaert by Hayes when the mutiny was over and was copied into the commandeur’s journals, together with the mutineers’ oaths, to form part of the evidence against Cornelisz and his men.
Cornelissen captured Verdict on Daniel Cornelissen, JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 240].
Attacks on Wiebbe Hayes’s island Pelsaert is inexact concerning the number and dates of these contacts. Drake-Brockman, op. cit., pp. 115–7, presents a chronology with the most likely dates. For the sources, see the commandeur’s “Declaration in Short” [DB 252–3]; verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 175]. Pelsaert’s earlier account (JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 159]) of the same episodes is partial, since it was based on Jeronimus’s original statement to him, and thus emphasized the roles of Zevanck and Van Huyssen while minimizing Cornelisz’s own. The second attack coincided with the murder of Frans Jansz, from which it appears that the mutineers split their forces and for some unknown reason chose to leave at least five of their best fighting men on the High Island.
Van Huyssen and Liebent grumble JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 159]; verdict on Andries Liebent, JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 244].
“To come to an acco
rd . . .” Pelsaert, “Declaration in Short” [DB 253].
Clogs LGB. When he arrived on the island (see below), the Defenders gave Bastiaensz a pair of these homemade shoes, a gesture that touched him so deeply that he wrote that he would keep them for the rest of his life.
“. . . under cover, as friends . . .” JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 142].
Bastiaensz and the treaty of peace This occurred on 1 September, during a reconnaissance. Jeronimus was also present, and, according to the predikant, “Our Merchant offered them Peace, but [tried] to deceive them.” It would appear that Cornelisz was planning some sort of surprise attack, but two musketeers, who had instructions to pick off the Defenders when they came to the beach, found that their weapons persistently misfired, and Hayes had again emerged unscathed. Ibid.
“Saying joyfully . . .” “Declaration in Short” [DB 253].
“Very skinny . . .” Letter of 11 Dec 1629 [R233].
“Deceiving them with many lies . . .” LGB. Negotiations seems to have been conducted through Gijsbert Bastiaensz, who acted as go-between. JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 142]
“Hither and thither . . .” LGB.
Capture of Cornelisz and execution of his lieutenants JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 159]; “Declaration in Short” [DB 253]; LGB.
Jeronimus in the pit Harderwijk MS [R 28].
Election of Wouter Loos Verdict on Wouter Loos, JFP 13 Nov 1629 [DB 226-7]; “Declaration in Short” [DB 253].
Loos and Creesje Interrogation of Wouter Loos, JFP 24 Sep 1629 [DB 225].
Loos and Judick LGB.
New council Bastiaensz, ibid., refers to the setting up of a “new government” on the island.
Loos’s motives for attacking Francisco Pelsaert, in interrogating Loos, suggested that the attack was launched “on the pretext that they wanted to be Master of the Water,” but adds, remarkably, “but on the contrary no water ever was refused to them.” Verdict on Wouter Loos, JFP 13 Nov 1629 [DB 228].
“. . . at least some military experience . . .” I would count Wouter Loos, Jan Hendricxsz, Stone-Cutter Pietersz, Lenert van Os, Mattys Beer, Andries Jonas, Hans Jacob Heijlweck, Lucas Gellisz, and perhaps Hans Frederick (who was often ill) among the soldiers, and Rutger Fredricx, Jan Willemsz Selyns, Allert Janssen, Andries Liebent, and Cornelis Janssen among the sailors. Of the boys, Jan Pelgrom, Rogier Decker, Abraham Gerritsz, and Claes Harmansz Hooploper might have been relied on to fight, taking the mutineers’ maximum fighting strength to 18 men. The other signatories to Loos’s oath—there would have been 15 of them, if the numbers of the mutineers’ party had remained unchanged since the men had signed Cornelisz’s second oath of 20 August—had played no part in the earlier attacks or killings, even though there were four or five soldiers and a similar number of sailors among them. A couple, including Olivier van Welderen, were not well enough to fight, but plainly the rest had no appetite for the killing.
Two muskets “Declaration in Short” JFP nd [DB 253]. It took some time to get these weapons into action; according to Jan Hendricxsz, “had we shot them [Hayes’s men] immediately, we should certainly have got them, but the gunpowder burned away 3 to 4 time from the pan.” Cornelisz, told of this later when they were all under guard, admonished Hendricxsz, saying, “If you had used some cunning you would have got it all ready on the water, and then we should have been ready.” JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 160].
The final attack JFP 17 Sept–13 Nov 1629 [DB 142, 222, 227–8]; LGB. Pelsaert and Bastiaensz give conflicting accounts as to how the action ended; the predikant writes that Loos ordered a retreat before the rescue ship appeared, but Pelsaert implies that the attack was still continuing when the Sardam hove into view: “[The mutineers] apparently would have caused even more disasters if it had not pleased God that we arrived here with the Yacht at the same time, or in the very hour, when they were fighting, and thus all their design has been destroyed.” Verdict on Wouter Loos, JFP 13 Nov 1629 [DB 227]. Jan Hendricxsz confirmed this account, noting that “while they were fighting with the other party, they suddenly saw the ship.” Confession of Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 178].
Chapter 8: Condemned
Pelsaert’s Batavia journals contain detailed summaries of the interrogations of all the major mutineers, together with the sentences passed on them. These, with the commentaries of Henrietta Drake-Brockman (Voyage to Disaster [Nedlands, WA: University of Western Australia Press, 1995]) and V. D. Roeper (De Schipbreuk van de Batavia, 1629 [Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1994]), have been my principal sources for this chapter.
Pelsaert’s initial actions JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 141–2].
The Sardam’s anchorage Hugh Edwards, “Where Is Batavia’s Graveyard?,” in The ANCODS Colloquium, pp. 91–3; Jeremy Green, “The Batavia Incident: The Sites,” in ibid., p. 100.
“Frantic relief” “The pious ones jumped for joy,” wrote Bastiaensz, “and immediately went in their little boat to the jacht to warn them.” LGB.
Loos and Pelgrom Verdict on Jan Pelgrom, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 209–10].
Hayes’s anchorage Edwards, “Where Is Batavia’s Graveyard?” p. 93, persuasively advocates this as the most likely explanation for Hayes’s appearance “round the northerly point,” as mentioned in Pelsaert’s journals.
“Thick with nettles . . .” H. Edwards, Islands of Angry Ghosts (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1966), p. 174.
The crew of the mutineers’ boat JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 146] lists the 11 members of the crew as Stone-Cutter Pietersz, Jan Hendricxsz, Rutger Fredricx, Hans Jacob Heijlweck, Lucas Gellisz, Hans Frederick, Jan Willensz Selyns, Hendrick Jaspersz Cloet, Hans Hardens, Jacques Pilman, and Gerrit Haas. It is interesting to note that the last four were very minor figures, who had committed no specific crimes and who were in fact never actually punished for their involvement in the mutiny. Probably at this point all those who had signed Jeronimus’s oaths expected nothing but death as a result.
The “boat race” Philippe Godard, The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia (Perth: Abrolhos Publishing, nd, c. 1993), p. 174n. It should be pointed out that neither party seems to have been aware that the “race” was going on; both were simply trying to reach Pelsaert and the jacht as rapidly as possible.
Crew of the Sardam Drake-Brockman, Voyage to Disaster, p. 153n.
Encounter with Wiebbe Hayes JFP 17–28 Sep 1629 [DB 142–3, 152].
Swivel guns These were small cannons, on pivots, which were generally loaded with grapeshot, nails, or other antipersonnel devices and mounted on the poop rail to deter boarders. When Pelsaert, in JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 143] says that he and his men “made all preparations to capture the scoundrels,” he surely meant that he had these pieces loaded and prepared to fire; at least, the anonymous Defender implies as much when he writes that the commandeur “pointed his guns” at the men in the boat. Letter of 11 Dec 1629, Leyds Veer-Schuyts Praetjen, Tuschen een Koopman ende Borger van Leyden, Varende van Haarlem nae Leyden (np [Amsterdam: Willem Jansz], 1630), pp. 15–18 [R 321].
The arrival and arrest of the mutineers JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 152].
“They answered me . . .” JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 143].
“We learned from their own confessions . . .” JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 152].
“I looked at him with great sorrow . . .” JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 144].
“Where the rest of the scoundrels were . . .” JFP 18 Sep 1629 [DB 144–5].
“These have all been found . . .” Ibid. [DB 145].
“We found that the ship was lying in many pieces . . .” Ibid.
Pelsaert legally obliged to administer justice swiftly Roeper, De Schipbreuk van de Batavia, 1629, pp. 30–2.
Jan Willemsz Visch Drake-Brockman, in Voyage to Disaster, p. 157n, speculates that he was a sailor, but on no good evidence. My identification of him as the Sardam’s provost, or—given the small size of the crew—simply the man deputed to fill that role is also guesswork, but it fits the typical composition of a shipboard raad rather better. He was certainly illiterate, signing the various in
terrogations only with a mark.
Dutch law on confessions and evidence Roeper, op. cit., pp. 31–2.
Water torture Ibid., p. 32; Drake-Brockman, op. cit., pp. 101–2; Giles Milton, Nathaniel’s Nutmeg: How One Man’s Courage Changed the Course of History (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999), pp. 328–9.
“Forcing all his inward parts . . .” Cited by John Keay, The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company (London: Harper Collins, 1993), p. 49.
Cornelisz’s testimony Interrogation of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 160–70].
“Saying they are lying . . .” Interrogation of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 170].
“On account of his unsteady and variable confessions . . .” Ibid.
“In order to speak again to his wife . . .” Ibid.
“Something was in it . . .” Ibid. Janssen and Hendricxsz indignantly denied the suggestion of their captain-general, calling out “as one Man that they would die on it, on the salvation of their souls, not to have lied in the least in the things heretofore confessed.”
“Mocked the Council . . .” Ibid.
“Confesses at last . . . He well knows . . .” Ibid.
Hendricxsz put to the torture Interrogation of Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 177].
Torture of Andries Jonas Interrogation of Andries Jonas, JFP 24 Sep 1629 [DB 201].
Cornelisz betrays his followers Interrogation of Rutger Fredricx, JFP 20 Sep 1629 [DB 205–6]; interrogation of Lenert van Os, JFP 23 Sep 1629 [DB 168–9]; interrogation of Rogier Decker, JFP 24 Sep 1629 [DB 169]; interrogation of Mattys Beer, JFP 23 Sep 1629 [DB 189–90].
Jonas’s contrition Interrogation of Andries Jonas, JFP 27 Sep 1629 [DB 202].
