Voyage – Shipwrecked – Mutiny – Rescue & Punishment

Mutiny

In the days following Commander Pelsaert’s departure the Batavia broke up completely drowning 40 men with her. Those who survived, which included Jeronimus Cornelisz, made it by flotsam and jetsam to the coral shallows of Beacon and Traitor islands.

The departure of the Commander in their hour of need – or so they perceived it – had left all survivors bitter and distressed. It was therefore not too difficult for Cornelisz to hand pick 40 or so men with as little scruples as he had and assert himself over them. He had his sight set to seize any relief ship that might appear and take off with it. If that failed, to spend his remaining life according to Torrentius’ philosophy of seeking sensual pleasures.

In order to eliminate any opposition to his desires, he had to eliminate all remaining survivors and set out systematically to do just that.

Firstly, he sent a party of cabin boys, men and women, about 45 in number, to Seals Island (Long Island) on the claim that there was water there (which there was not). He was not expecting them to survive.

Then he instructed a group of soldiers under the command of Wiebbe Hayes to explore the ‘high islands’ that could be seen on the horizon. Before they left, he confiscated their arms. He did not expect them to return. After all, that was the direction to which Pelsaert had gone and he had not returned.

Next he drowned a good many by sending them out in boats on useless errands, where his accomplices would push them overboard. Having thus eliminated much potential opposition, Cornelisz set about organising the rest to be murdered, including the women and children, starting with the ill and infirm. A few of the women were kept alive, for obvious reasons. This included, not surprisingly, Lucretia van der Mylen whom he took for himself.

Noticing that the group he sent off to Seal Island lived longer than expected (they could see them wandering on the beach) he dispatched his henchmen to get rid of them, which they duly did.

The predicant, Gijsbert Bastiaenz, was witness to all these horrible deeds without the courage or power to intervene. He himself lost his wife and all his children in the massacre save his eldest daughter who was coveted by Conrad van Huyssen, one of Cornelisz' conspirators. Bastiaenz was one of the few to survive and he described his ordeal in a letter that survived.

Then a smoke signal was received from one of the ‘high islands’, or Cats Island (now known as West Wallibi Island). Clearly Wiebbe Hayes and his soldiers had found water. This complicated matters greatly for Cornelisz. Firstly it meant they had a means to survive. Secondly, he was in danger of them warning any rescue ship approaching.

After a failed attempt to persuade Hayes and his men to join forces (they had been forewarned by some Seal Island survivors) Cornelisz sent an attack force to eliminate them. After all, Hayes and his men did not have any weapons.

When his men returned defeated the furious Cornelisz took matters in his own hand, travelling to Cats Island to use his powers of persuasion to lure the men into a deadly trap.

This is where he met the end of his gruesome reign. He and 5 of his men were overpowered and tied up. Cornelisz was kept alive, but his companions were duly executed.

It was at this point that rescue appeared on the horizon.

Voyage – Shipwrecked – Mutiny – Rescue & Punishment