page_title: Batavia (1628 ship)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Batavia (1628 ship) / Maiden voyage / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the Batavia mutiny (1629) victims, excavated on Beacon Island and now displayed at Fremantle Shipwreck Museum
context_page_description: Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company. Built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the company's new flagship, she sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies.
  On 4 June 1629, the Batavia wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off the coast of Western Australia. As the ship broke apart, 40 of the 341 passengers drowned in their attempts to reach land. The ship's commander, Francisco Pelsaert, sailed to Batavia to get help, leaving merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz in charge. Cornelisz sent about 20 men to nearby islands under the false pretense of searching for fresh water, abandoning them there to die. He then orchestrated a mutiny that, over course of several weeks, resulted in the murder of approximately 125 of the remaining survivors, including women, children and infants; a small number of women were kept as sexual slaves, among them the famed beauty Lucretia Jans, reserved by Cornelisz for himself.
  Meanwhile, the men sent away had unexpectedly found water and, after learning of the atrocities, waged battles with the mutineers under soldier Wiebbe Hayes' leadership.
context_section_description: Pelsaert decided to conduct a trial on the islands, because Sardam on the return voyage to Batavia would have been overcrowded with both survivors and prisoners. After a brief trial, the worst offenders were taken to Seal Island and executed. Cornelisz and several of the major mutineers had both hands chopped off before being hanged.
  Loos and a cabin boy, Jan Pelgrom de Bye, considered only minor offenders, were marooned on mainland Australia, never to be heard of again. This unwittingly made them the first Europeans to have permanently lived on the Australian continent. This location is now thought to be Wittecarra Creek near Kalbarri, though another suggestion is nearby Port Gregory.
  The remaining mutineers were taken to Batavia for trial. Five were hanged, while several others were flogged, keelhauled or dropped from the yardarm on the later voyage back home. Cornelisz' second in command, Jacop Pietersz, was broken on the wheel, the most severe punishment available at the time. Jacobsz, despite being tortured, did not confess to his part in planning the mutiny and escaped execution due to lack of evidence. What finally became of him is unknown. It is suspected that he died in prison in Batavia. A board of inquiry decided that Pelsaert had exercised a lack of authority and was therefore partly responsible for what had happened. His financial assets were seized, and he died within a year.
  Hayes was hailed a hero and promoted to sergeant, which increased his salary, while those who had been under his command were promoted to the rank of corporal. Of the original 332 people on board Batavia, only 122 made it to the port of Batavia. Sardam eventually sailed home with most of the treasure previously housed on the Batavia aboard. Of the twelve treasure chests that were originally on board, ten were recovered and taken aboard Sardam.
caption: Male, aged about 35–39, with a gashed skull, broken shoulder blade and a missing right foot
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