Batavia_ENG

The primary historical accounts of Batavia’s wreck and the aftermath are the journals written by Commander Francisco Pelsaert. His journal recording Batavia’s voyage from the Netherlands was lost in the wreck on 4 June 1629. However, once they reached the relative safety of the islands, Pelsaert began a new journal to document Batavia striking the reef, the efforts to move people to nearby islands, and his journey to Batavia in a long boat to seek help.

Pelsaert kept a further journal recording his voyage back to the islands in Sardam to rescue survivors and salvage the cargo. He also used this journal to transcribe the damning documents written by the mutineers during his absence, as well as record testimonies by the survivors and mutineers for the trial proceedings he conducted while at the islands.

Pelsaert was anxious to show that the wreck and aftermath were not his fault. As personal journals, they reflect his subjectivity and bias. Nevertheless, they provide a vivid account of the horror and heroism from the time of Batavia’s wrecking on 4 June, to Sardam’s return to Batavia on 5 December 1629.

Both original journals are held by the National Archives of the Netherlands bound as a single document.

Unlucky voyage

An edited version of Pelsaert’s account was first published in 1647 under the name Ongeluckige voyagie, van’t schip Batavia (Unlucky voyage of the ship Batavia), by Jan Janz, a publisher who specialised in navigational and cartographic material. This publication included fifteen copper engravings, some of which have been reproduced in this book. In 1897, this version was translated into English by Willem Siebenhaar, and published in the Western Australian newspaper The Western Mail as part of a Christmas special.

Later, Evert ‘Dirk’ Drok translated photostat and microfilm copies of Pelsaert’s original journals for Western Australian author Henrietta Drake-Brockman’s book Voyage to Disaster, published in 1963. Drok translated the Old Dutch aloud while Henrietta Drake-Brockman took notes. It is this English translation of Pelsaert’s account that has been used in this book.

Starting on the next page, the select quotes from Pelsaert’s journals are linked from main story pages by the quill icon in the navigation menus. The crosses return readers to the linked page.