Hugh Edwards - Islands of Angry Ghosts: The Story of Batavia, Australias Bloodiest Mutiny

When the magnificent, full-scale replica of the 1628 Dutch East Indiaman Batavia passed under Sydney Harbour Bridge in December 1999, those who watched were understandably thrilled by the spectacle. Here was a type of vessel that had not sailed for four centuries. Caravels, carracks, galleons and Indiamen unlocked the world of exploration and trade for Europeans, carrying explorers to the Americas and that mysterious southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita . In 1963, before the wreck of the Batavia was discovered, the bloody part this ship and its crew played in pre-Cook Australian history was little known beyond maritime historians and divers, who considered the Batavia to be the holy grail of wrecks. However, since Hugh Edwards and his crew salvaged the original, the story of the Batavia has become a well-known part of Australian history.

In October 1628, when the Batavia sailed from Amsterdam, she was the flagship of the Dutch East India fleet. A brand-new vessel with carpenters aromatic chips still in her holds, carrying 316 people and 12 iron-bound chests of silver coin, as well as jewels and gifts for the Great Mogul of India. The Batavia was a treasured ship in her own right, and with a princes ransom on board, she was sailing for the East Indies, her final destination the city she was named for Batavia, now modern Jakarta. She was to never reach her goal. On 4 June 1629, eight months out of the Netherlands, she smashed onto one of the coral reefs of the Abrolhos Islands off the Western Australian coast, just two hours before daylight, the watch mistaking the surf ahead for moonlight on the water.

In the ensuing confusion, most of the passengers and crew managed to struggle to the shore of the low-lying coral islands. It was on these deserted islands that a drama of such savagery was played-out that the mutiny on the HMS Bounty pales by comparison. For the terrified survivors, this strange place at the end of the earth was as alien as anything they had ever encountered and many probably thought they would never survive. Indeed, many would not, although they were not to die from starvation or dehydration, but from the cut of a sword or a knife.

While the Batavia s commander, Francisco Pelsaert, and her skipper, Ariaen Jacobsz, sailed for help in one of the ships boats, the mutiny that had been planned on board the ship broke out amongst the people left behind on the island. The former undermerchant, Jeronimus Cornelisz, ordered his comrades to drown, stab or cut the throats of 125 men, women and children in the bloodiest massacre in Australian history.

For centuries, the location of the Batavia s wrecksite and the islands central to the ancient, horrific story, were lost. All attempts to find them had failed until 1963, when they ship was finally located below the surf on Morning Reef in the Wallaby Group of the Abrolhos Islands.