Batavia's Graveyard (58 page)

Exhaustion of the food supplies
Again, there is no explicit mention of
this in the journals, but it is my impression that earlier authors have probably
understated the effects of food shortages on Batavia’s Graveyard. Even at the end of
the mutiny, when the numbers of people on the island had been reduced to only 50 or so,
strict rationing was still in force there (Interrogation of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 17
Sep 1629 [DB 159]), and Wiebbe Hayes and his men were surprised at how gaunt their
attackers were (anonymous letter of 11 Dec 1629 [R 233]). Shortages probably began within
the first fortnight; the
Zeewijk
survivors wiped out the sea lion population on
their much larger island within 10 days of coming ashore (Boranga, op. cit., p. 34). There
were fewer than 100 of them (Edwards, op. cit., p. 103), and the position of the
Batavia
survivors was surely thus even more desperate. The “seal’s meat” noted as
being present in the
predikant
’s tent six weeks later (Verdict on Andries
Liebent, JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 244]) probably came from elsewhere, after the party’s
mobility had been restored by the construction of the rafts.

“. . . they deferred to him.”
This is speculation on my part,
but Jeronimus’s outburst on 4 July, when the council defied him (see below), seems
typical of a man who had come to expect that his proposals would be obeyed without
question.

Cornelisz joins the Council
Philippe Godard states (
The First and Last
Voyage of the
Batavia (Perth: Abrolhos Publishing, nd, c. 1993), p. 132, that
Jeronimus was never a member of the first ship’s council, but Pelsaert, in his
“Declaration in Short,” op. cit. [DB 251], says specifically that the council
was “his” on 4 July, i.e., before the dismissal of the first set of councillors
and the appointment of Zevanck, Van Huyssen, and Pietersz to the group. Bastiaensz, in
LGB, wrote that the under-merchant was “elected chief.” It would, indeed, have
been remarkable—given his seniority—if the apothecary had not become the leader
of the
raad.

Pelsaert’s clothing
JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 146].

“He seemed to be everywhere . . .”
This behavior is inferred
from Bastiaensz’s statements and from modern insights into the psychopathic
personality (see epilogue). Exactly what the under-merchant really did during this period
was not recorded and cannot now be known.

“This merchant . . .”
LGB.

Ryckert Woutersz
“Declaration in Short,” op. cit. [DB 251].
Jeronimus alleged that Woutersz had spoken up “on the day that the ship
Batavia
was wrecked”; confession of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 162]. On the
obscure fate of this mutineer, see chapter 9.

Hopes that Ariaen would dispose of Pelsaert and flee to Malacca
Interrogation
of Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 164].

Cornelisz’s estimate of the
jacht
’s crew
Summary of the
interrogation of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 153].

The plan to seize the rescue ship
JFP 17 Sep 1629 [DB 143]; JFP 28 Sep
1629 [DB 152–3].

Seductive
LGB.

Van Welderen’s age
Gsbert was younger than his brother, Olivier, who
was 22. Verdict on Olivier van Welderen, JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 245]

Rutger Fredricx
Interrogation of Rutger Fredricx, JFP 20 Sep 1629 [DB
205].

“Appear not to have been approached . . .”
There is an evident
discrepancy between the number of mutineers said to have been active on the
Batavia
(not more than 12–15) and the numbers who revealed themselves in the Abrolhos
(25–35).

David Zevanck
Unfortunately, nothing at all is known of Zevanck’s
background. He presumably came from Zevanck (modern Zevang), which is a rural area a
little to the north of Amsterdam, but without more detailed information it would be
useless—or at least extremely time-consuming—to try to trace his antecedents;
nor has anyone yet found his name mentioned in the earlier records of the VOC. It is,
indeed, quite possible that he was making his maiden voyage on the
Batavia.
That he
came from a good family is almost certain—on several occasions he is referred to as
“Van Zevanck” in the journals, which suggests his family owned some property and
had at least pretensions to being counted among the gentry of the Netherlands—but all
that can be said with any certainty is that he must have been educated and was probably
young.

“Acting very subtly . . .”
“Declaration in Short” [DB
251].

The mutineers’ tents
Ibid. [DB 252].

“Discouraged the ship’s carpenters . . .”
This is
interpretation, but it is difficult to imagine what else Pelsaert might have meant by his
passing reference to the under-merchant “practising devilish shifts in such a manner
as to prevent them going to Batavia.” “Declaration in Short” [DB 251]. In
1727, the survivors of the
Zeewijk
built quite a large one-masted sloop, the
Slopje,
from the wreckage of their
retourschip
and successfully sailed her to
Java.

“He said that the number . . .”
LGB.

“Nothing but some biscuit barrels”
There was also a note written
by Pelsaert
,
which was found tucked beneath a barrel. From this, the survivors
learned what they had already guessed; that their
commandeur
had sailed on to the
South-Land in search of water. JFP 6 June 1629 [DB 127].

The naming of Traitors’ Island
The derivation of the name is not
actually explained in Pelsaert’s journals. For the naming and the location of this
island, see Green. et al,
The ANCODS Colloquium,
pp. 99–100.

The Seals’ Island party
The actual figure is nowhere given in the
journals but seems to have been 45; 18 men and boys died on the island on 15 July, and 16
women, boys, and children on 21 July, and we are told three boys were captured and about
eight escaped. Another estimate does suggest the party was larger—perhaps 60
strong—but this has to be wrong; there must have been about 130 people left on
Batavia’s Graveyard when the killings began, if the account of the killings given in
JFP is correct. For the larger estimate, see anonymous letter of 11 Dec 1629 [R
232].

Jeronimus’s promise to the people of Traitors’ Island
Interrogation
of Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 179].

“Toward the end of the third week of June”
Hayes and his men
were on the islands about 20 days before finding water (JFP 20 Sep 1629 [DB 149]), landing
first on what was later known as High Island and then, when they were unable to find
wells, wading across the mudflats to what became Wiebbe Hayes’s Island (LGB). Their
signals appear to have been noticed on 9 July, when Pieter Jansz and his party abruptly
left Traitors’ Island for the high islands and had to be intercepted by
Cornelisz’s men (Verdict on Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 183]). This would
give an approximate date of 20 June for Hayes’s arrival on the High Land
itself.

“High Land”
The phrase comes from LGB.

“Some of the boldest soldiers . . .”
Ibid.

Wiebbe Hayes
The baptismal and marriage records of Winschoten, in the
Provincial Archive of Groningen, date only to 1646, and the burial registers only begin in
1723; no traces of Hayes’s early life have yet emerged. The files of Winschoten
marriage contracts date to 1608, but Hayes’s name does not appear among them. A check
on signatures in the surviving solicitors’ records for the period 1624–28 also
produced nothing, but Hayes may simply have been too poor and insignificant to have had
any need of solicitors. Alternatively, he may not have come from Groningen.
“Wiebbe”—pronounced “Webb-uh”—is a Frisian name, which was
unusual even for the time and is now obsolescent, so perhaps Hayes and Cornelisz had that
origin in common. If he survived to return to the Netherlands, Hayes might have been rich
enough to leave more trace of his activities, but no sign of him has yet emerged. There
is, for example, no record in the local burial registers of a Wiebbe Hayes ever being
buried in Amsterdam.

Hayes known to Cornelisz
The under-merchant later wrote to the French
mercenaries in Hayes’s party that he had “a particular liking for and trust in
Wiebbe Hayes.” His letter was intended to split Hayes’s Defenders, and Cornelisz
would have found it important to have retained at least the veneer of truthfulness in
setting out his case. It seems unlikely that he would simply have lied outright about
their acquaintance, as this would have cast doubt on some of his other statements.
Jeronimus to Jean Hongaar et al., 23 July 1629, in JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 149].

Jeronimus’s plans for the rescue ship
“His procedures,”
wrote Francisco Pelsaert, “could neither exist nor be acceptable to God or Worldly
Power.” But to Jeronimus they were merely common sense. JFP 3 Dec 1629 [DB 239]. For
Cornelisz’s thoughts, see JFP 17–28 Sep 1629 [DB 143, 153, 160]. On the number
of men the
jacht
would carry, see JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 153].

Abraham Hendricx
He was possibly, but not certainly, the same Hendricx who
had taken part in the assault on Creesje Jans.

“On 4 July . . .”
Pelsaert’s “Declaration in
Short,” JFP nd [DB 251].

Appointment of the new council
Ibid.

“He proved this point immediately . . .”
Pelsaert gives 4 July
as the date of the sentencing of these men (Verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep
1629 [DB 173]), but 5 July as the date of their executions (Verdict on Daniel Cornelissen,
JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 240]) and also as the day on which Zevanck and the others joined the
council (“Declaration in Short” [DB 251]), while clearly implying that the
carpenters were sentenced by Cornelisz’s
raad.
One or other of these journal
entries must be incorrect. See also verdict on Hans Frederick, JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB
244].

The first covert drownings
The date of this incident appears to have been
4 July, and not 3 July as Drake-Brockman suggests, which would have put the murders before
Cornelisz ordered the execution of Hendricx and Ariaensz. Van Os’s interrogation
makes it clear that the murders were ordered on 3 July but not committed until the
following day, which probably suggests that Jeronimus knew he was going to charge Hendricx
and Ariaensz with theft well in advance. Jan Cornelis was the only Dutchman; he came from
Amersfoort, in the province of Utrecht, while Liebent and Janssen, an ordinary private,
were Germans and Wensel was a Dane. Interrogation of Lenert van Os, JFP 23 Sep 1629 [DB
186]; verdict on Mattys Beer, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 192]; verdict on Rutger Fredricx, JFP 28
Sep 1629 [DB 206–7]; verdict on Daniel Cornelissen, 30 Nov 1629 [DB 240].
Pelsaert’s various accounts of these killings are somewhat confused. Some state that
the men were tied up on the raft, others that they were taken to Traitors’ Island,
tied up there, and dragged into the sea to drown.

Murder of Hans Radder and Jacop Groenwald
Verdict on Jan Hendricxsz, JFP
28 Sep 1629 [DB 182–3]; verdict on Mattys Beer, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 192–3];
interrogation of Rutger Fredricx, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 205].

Andries de Vries is spared
Verdict on Mattys Beer, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB
192–3]; interrogation of Rutger Fredricx, JFP 20 Sep 1629 [DB 205].

Signal beacons
“Declaration in Short,” JFP nd [DB 252].
Bastiaensz, in LGB, adds that Jeronimus “affected not to see” the
fires.

Massacre of the people from Traitors’ Island
I assume that
Jansz’s departure was caused by sight of Hayes’s beacons, though this is not
mentioned in the journals; Pelsaert is clear that the provost’s party left the island
before they were attacked, and it seems clear that they would not have departed unless
they had indeed seen signals. The coincidence of the known date of the massacre—9
July—and the statement that Hayes’s men, who must have been put onto the High
Land sometime around 20–30 June, had searched “for 20 days” for water seems
to fit this supposition. Exactly when the provost was killed is not stated, either, but I
think the journals would have mentioned if he had been one of the otherwise anonymous men
who jumped into the sea and drowned, and since he did not survive long enough to come
ashore on Batavia’s Graveyard I have assumed he met his death in the shallows in the
manner described.

In general, the account of the massacre of Jansz’s men is perhaps the most
fragmented to be found anywhere in Pelsaert’s journals. There is no single coherent
account of the episode; instead, important details lie scattered throughout the
transcripts of many separate interrogations and verdicts. See chiefly, interrogation of
Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 22 Sep 1629 [DB 167]; verdict on Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 28 Sep
1629 [DB 173]; interrogation of Jan Hendricxsz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 179]; verdict on Jan
Hendricxsz, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 183]; interrogation of Andries Jonas, JFP 24 Sep 1629 [DB
200]; verdict on Andries Jonas, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 203]; interrogation of Rutger
Fredricx, JFP 20 Sep 1629 [DB 205]; verdict on Rutger Fredricx, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 207];
verdict on Lucas Gellisz, JFP 12 Nov 1629 [DB 233].

Andries Jonas
Interrogation of Andries Jonas, JFP 24 Sep 1629 [DB
200].

The declarations of the minor mutineers
It can hardly be argued that these
men were anxious to become killers, since practically none of them took any part in the
violence in the archipelago.

Frans Jansz changes loyalties
Because Jansz never signed the
mutineers’ oaths (see chapter 7), his involvement with Cornelisz emerges only from
vague hints in the journals and in his participation in the massacres on Seals’
Island (below).