Batavia (1628 ship)

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Batavia (Dutch pronunciation: [baːˈtaːvijaː] ) was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). She was built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the flagship of one of the three annual fleets of company ships and sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. On 4 June 1629, Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off Western Australia. As the ship broke apart, approximately 300 of the Batavia's 341 passengers and crew made their way ashore, the rest drowning in their attempts. Her commander, Francisco Pelsaert, sailed nearly 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) over 33 days in an open longboat to Batavia, present-day Jakarta, to get help, leaving in charge senior VOC official Jeronimus Cornelisz, unaware the latter had been plotting a mutiny prior to the wreck. Cornelisz tricked about 20 men under soldier Wiebbe Hayes into searching for fresh water on nearby islands, leaving them to die. With the help of other mutineers, he then orchestrated...

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