Voyage – Shipwrecked – Mutiny – Rescue & Punishment
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Rescue & Punishment
On 17 do. in the morning, with daybreak, lifted our anchor again, the wind North; were then about 2 miles from the High island, ran towards that for . (45) - Before noon, approaching the island, we saw smoke on a long island 2 miles West of the Wreck, also on another small island close by the Wreck, about which we were all very glad, hoping to find great numbers, or rather all people, alive. - Therefore, as soon as the anchor was dropped, I sailed with the boat to the highest island, which was nearest, taking with me a barrel of water, ditto bread, and a keg of wine; coming there, I saw no one, at which we wondered. I sprang ashore, and at the same time we saw a very small yawl with four Men rowing round the Northerly point; one of them, named Wiebbe Hayes, sprang ashore and ran towards me, calling from afar, ‘Welcome, but go back aboard immediately, for there is a party of scoundrels on the islands near the wreck, with two sloops, who have the intention to seize the Yacht.’ (from Pelsaert’s Journal)
Wiebbe Hayes further explained what had happened and that he was holding Cornelisz as prisoner. Pelsaert duly captured the remaining mutineers when they tried to board the Sardam.
When they came over, we immediately took them prisoner, and we forthwith began to examine them, especially a certain Jan Hendricxsz from Bremen , (49), soldier, who immediately confessed that he had murdered and helped to murder 17 to 20 people, under the order of Jeronimus. I asked him the origin and circumstances of this, why had they practiced such cruelties. Said the he also wished to explain how it had been with him in the beginning, - saying, that the skipper [Ariaen Jacobsz] Jeronimus Cornelisz, the Highboatswain [Jan Evertsz] and still more others, had it in mind to seize the ship Batavia before it was wrecked; to kill the Commandeur [Pelsaert] and all people except 120 towards whom they were more favourably inclined, and to throw the dead overboard into the sea and then to go pirating with the ship. (from Pelsaert’s Journal)
After questioning Cornelisz, who blamed everyone but himself for all the vile deeds, Pelsaert set out to capture the final mutineers on ‘Batavia’s Graveyard’. When they saw the Commandant they lay down their arms and capitulated on the spot.
In the evening I ordered the principal scoundrels and other accomplices whom I had bound here on the island, to be taken to Seals Island, from whence one could get them at an appropriate time if one wanted to examine them, so that in the meantime we would have more security.(from Pelsaert’s Journal)
Pelsaert interrogated the mutineers and discovered all that had happened. Among the litany of crimes the mutineers had committed was not only the murder of many people and the rape of women, but also the looting of VOC property and valuables belonging to passengers and crew alike. The various letters and agreements that Cornelisz had drafted and the mutineers had undersigned also implicating them in treason and treachery.
JERONIMUS CORNELISZ, of Haarlem, Apothecary, and late under Merchant of the ship Batavia , on Monday, being the first of October, as he has requested to be baptised, [shall be taken] to Seals Island, to a place made ready for it in order to exercise Justice, and there firstly to cut off both his hands, and after shall be punished on the Gallows with the Cord till Death shall follow, with confiscation of all his money, gold, Silver, monthly wages, and all claims which here in India he may have against the profits of the Gen. East India Company, our Lord Masters.(Pelsaert’s Journal)
Following the confession of their crimes, the condemned mutineers were sentenced to their right hand cut off and in the case of Cornelisz both hands, prior to being put to death on the gallows. Seals Island was the place designated for the execution and this was carried out on 2 October 1629. Two men were left behind as punishment, while it was decided that some of the lesser offenders were to be taken back to Batavia.
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Pelsaert, during this whole trial period, had diligently set about recovering the items stolen by the mutineers, as well as the chests of specie and other valuable items from the wreck, using divers from Gujarat.
On 5th December 1629 the Sardam returned to Batavia with the remaining survivors and salvaged cargo of coins and jewels. The lesser offenders, who had been flogged, keelhauled and dropped from the yard arm as punishment on the voyage home, were executed.
Later in Batavia Wiebbe Hayes and some of his men were rewarded for resisting the mutineers with a promotion. Hayes was made Sergeant and the others Corporals, carrying a higher wage, of course.
In the end, after it was all over and all the mutineers had been executed, out of 316 people aboard the Batavia, only 116 survived. The actual number is complicated because, from the number on board the vessel when it left Holland, some people deserted or died on the voyage, additionally one person was picked up in Sierra Leone and an unknown number of children were born on the voyage or died in the islands.
Voyage – Shipwrecked – Mutiny – Rescue & Punishment
