Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash [211]
Murder of Mayken Cardoes Confession of Andries Jonas, JFP 24–27 Sep 1629 [DB 201–2]; sentence on Andries Jonas, JFP 28 Sept 1629 [DB 202–4]. Jonas denied repeatedly, even under torture, that he had entered the predikant’s tent that night, but admitted freely to murdering Mayken Cardoes.
Attempted murder of Aris Jansz Testimony of Aris Jansz, JFP 27 Sep 1629 [DB 196–7]; sentence on Allert Janssen, JFP 28 Sep 1629 [DB 199].
Chapter 6: Longboat
Phillip Playford’s books provide the best description of the Western Australian coastline between the Abrolhos and Shark Bay. I found Jean Gelman Taylor, The Social World of Batavia: European and Eurasian in Dutch Asia (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983) particularly useful in reconstructing early seventeenth-century Batavia, and R. Spruit, Jan Pietersz Coen: Daden en Dagen in Dienst van de VOC (Houten: De Haan, 1987), is the most up-to-date authority on the remarkable and controversial governor-general of the Indies. The only reasonably full account of the bizarre incident concerning Sara Specx and her lover, Pieter Cortenhoeff (which for its sheer awfulness deserves much more space than it has been possible to accord it here) that could be found is C. Gerretson, Coen’s Eerherstel (Amsterdam: Van Kampen, 1944). The fact that Gerretson felt compelled to give his book this title—it means “Coen’s Rehabilitation”—says a good deal about twentieth-century historians’ general disapproval of this most remarkable of Dutch empire builders.
Description of the longboat A reconstruction of the boat, based on contemporary plans, was completed in the Netherlands some years ago. I saw it in Sydney, where the full-size replica of the Batavia built in Lelystad (see epilogue) had gone as part of the 2000 Olympic celebrations; it seems tiny, and far too small ever to have held 48 people. A photo of the reconstructed longboat can be found in Philippe Godard, The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia (Perth: Abrolhos Publishing, nd, c. 1993), p. 150.
The plan Pelsaert’s resolution of 8 June 1629, JFP [DB 127–8].
The crew Neither the bos’n’s mate nor Nannings, both of whom were active mutineers, are mentioned among Jeronimus’s band, so they must either have been on board the longboat or—less likely—have been among the dozen men who drowned when the Batavia was wrecked. For other members of the crew, see Antonio van Diemen to Pieter de Carpentier, 30 Nov–10 Dec 1629, ARA VOC 1009 [DB 42–3]; Pelsaert’s resolution of 8 June 1629, JFP [DB 127–8].
The voyage up the coast JFP 8 June–7 July 1629 [DB 128–33]; Phillip Playford, Carpet of Silver: The Wreck of the Zuytdorp (Nedlands, WA: University of Western Australia Press, 1996), pp. 69–71; Godard, op. cit. pp. 149–56. De Vlamingh’s views are quoted in Playford’s Voyage of Discovery to Terra Australis by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696–97 (Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1999), pp. 49–50.
The first landing JFP 14 June 1629 [DB 129–30]. The breakers were still far too fierce to permit a landing, but six sailors managed to swim ashore through the heavy surf. It did no good; they found no water and did not even see the Aborigines who were undoubtedly present in the area until the end of the day, when the commandeur noted a frightening incident: “Saw four men creeping towards [our men] on hands and feet. When our folk, coming out of a hollow upon a height, approached them suddenly, they leapt to their feet and fled full speed, which was clearly seen by us in the boat; they were black savages, entirely naked, without any cover.”
The second landing JFP 15–16 June 1629 [DB 125n, 130].
The river of Jacop Remmessens It had been discovered by the boatswain of the VOC ship Leeuwin. JFP 16 June 1629 [DB 131]; Günter Schilder, Australia Unveiled: The Share of Dutch Navigators in the Discovery of