Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash [222]
Loss of the Sardam’s boat JFP 12–13 Oct, 15 Nov 1629 [DB 215–16, 234]. Drake-Brockman’s translation is a little confusing at this point. As printed, it gives the distance from the Sardam to the yawl as “two miles” as though they were English units of measurement, but the original manuscript reads “2 mijlen,” seventeenth-century Dutch miles, each of which was equivalent to about 4.6 English statute miles.
The possibility of a second mutiny Allert Janssen had, indeed, warned Pelsaert on the way to the gallows that the commandeur should “watch very well on the Ship because quite many traitors remained alive who would seize an opportunity to execute that which they had intended; without naming anyone, saying that he did not wish to be called an informer after his death.” JFP 28 Sep–2 Oct 1629 [DB 157, 213].
Leniency shown to Wouter Loos Pelsaert’s moderation in this case still seems remarkable today. It was not until the end of October, when Judick Gijsbertsdr belatedly came forward to testify against him, that the mutineers’ last leader was closely questioned about his activities on Batavia’s Graveyard, and though he finally confessed, under repeated torture, to the murders he had previously denied, there was never any talk of increasing his sentence. Testimony of Judick Gijsbertsdr, 27 Oct 1629 [DB 225–6].
The trials on board the Sardam Sentences on Daniel Cornelissen, Hans Jacob Heijlweck, Cornelis Janssen, Jean Thirion, Andries Liebent, Hans Frederick, Olivier van Welderen, Jan Renou, and Isbrant Isbrantsz, JFP 24 Sep–20 Nov 1629; [DB 240-6].
Numbers of Batavia survivors Pelsaert to the Gentlemen XVII, 12 Dec 1629, ARA VOC 1630 [DB 259–61]. The names of the survivors are nowhere given, but Pelsaert seems definite that only seven women survived the disaster. Two of them—Zwaantie Hendricxsz and her companion—had reached Batavia in the longboat, so it would appear that either Anneken Bosschieters or Marretgie Louys, two of the women kept for “common service,” must have died on the islands. Neither is mentioned among Cornelisz’s victims, and both survived the wreck and the initial days without supplies, so presumably the death can be attributed to injury or disease.
The return to Batavia JFP 15 Nov–5 Dec [DB 234–9, 247].
The marooning The exact spot where the two mutineers were put ashore is still debated. Henrietta Drake-Brockman favored the mouth of the Hutt River. Most modern authors identify the location as a cove just north of Red Bluff, which stands at one end of Wittecara Gully. The Red Bluff site is several miles to the north of Drake-Brockman’s preferred location. Today a small memorial marks the spot. JFP 16 Nov 1629 [DB 237]; Phillip Playford, Carpet of Silver: The Wreck of the Zuytdorp (Nedlands, WA: University of Western Australia Press, 1996), pp. 237–42.
The Sardam’s council Thanks to the loss of Jacob Jacobsz, the council numbered only five on this occasion. The principal members were Pelsaert, Claes Gerritsz, Sijmon Yopzoon, and Jan Willemsz Visch. For some reason Gijsbert Bastiaensz and Jacob Jansz did not sit in judgment on the mutineers; possibly they were ill. Remarkably, however, Salomon Deschamps retained his place even though he had been sentenced to be keelhauled and flogged only a fortnight earlier. Once again, the only likely explanation is that he alone among those on board had the clerical skills needed to keep the necessary records.
Sentences passed on board the Sardam JFP 30 Nov 1629 [DB 239–47]. Daniel Cornelissen was sentenced to receive 200 strokes, twice the number meted out to Deschamps and the other minor mutineers who had been sentenced in the Abrolhos. Cornelis Janssen received 150 strokes and the fine of 18 months’ wages (the larger fine may simply represent a longer service with the VOC) and Hans