Batavia (61 page)

A swan surrounded by her cygnets, the
Batavia
replica sailed into Sydney in 1999, where she served as the flagship for the Dutch Olympic team the following year.
(Australian National Maritime Museum)

Ornately painted in pale green, with red and gold ochre trimmings, the towering stern of East Indiaman
Batavia
(faithfully reproduced here on the replica) rose 40 feet above the waterline.
(Photolibrary)

The carved figure of a magnificent scarlet Lion of Holland adorned the low-lying prow of the
Batavia
(seen here on the replica), leaping out at all who would dare to get in her way.
(Newspix/Peter Barnes)

The
Batavia
replica’s mainmast was so high that when she arrived in Sydney for the Olympic Games, she could only pass beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge during exceptionally low tide.
(Sydney Heritage Fleet)

Lest she fall prey to enemies and pirates alike, the
Batavia
was defended by a total of 30 cannons (reproduced on the replica), ranging in size from eight- up to 24-pounders and individually up to two tons in weight.
(Newspix/Bob Barker)

The title page of
Ongeluckige Voyagie, Van’t Schip Batavia
, illustrating the stricken Batavia broken upon the reef.
(Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

Showing no mercy to this day, cruel breakers crash down upon the defenceless reefs and barren islands of the Abrolhos.
(Photolibrary/Bill Bachman)

In 1960, local Pop Marten’s discovery of a skull here on Beacon Island (formerly Batavia’s Graveyard, the scene of so much bloodshed) proved a vital clue in locating the
Batavia
three years later.
(Newspix/Andy Tyndall)

Illustrations from
Ongeluckige Voyagie, Van’t Schip Batavia
. Under full sail and at rapid clip, the unsuspecting
Batavia
approaches the reef (top); the longboat and yawl lowered and heading away (bottom right); the
Batavia
with mainmast cut away lies stricken as the longboat and yawl shuttle survivors to the nearby tiny island, later known as Traitors’ Island (bottom left).
(National Library of Australia, nla.aus-vn2323054)

An outraged Pelsaert is held back from swimming to the aid of survivors on Batavia’s Graveyard by bosun Jan Evertsz – from
Tales of Old Travel
(1869), by Henry Kingsley.
(Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

High seas preventing Pelsaert from reaching the
Batavia
, he steers for the smaller of the islands, where Jacobsz and his men await them – from
Ongeluckige Voyagie, Van’t Schip Batavia
.
(National Library of Australia, nla.aus-vn2323054)

The waterhole that enabled the soldiers abandoned on Wiebbe Hayes’s Island to survive.
(Newspix/Andy Tyndall)