When it comes to agonizing ordeals, few experiences can compare to that of being shipwrecked. If you are lucky - or unlucky - enough to escape a quick death by drowning, then you face the bleak prospect of drifting on the open sea, exposed to the blistering sun, caustic saltwater, violent storms, hungry sea creatures, and pretty much everything else nature can throw at you. Depending on what - if any - emergency supplies you have on hand, you will either die within three days due to lack of water or cling to life for weeks or even months on end until you finally succumb to hunger or one of the aforementioned maritime hazards - or, against all odds, you are rescued. And even if you do manage to make landfall on some deserted island, many of the world’s islands are so-called ‘green deserts’ devoid of easily accessible food or water - meaning you will likely meet the same fate as before, only on dry land. Now, if all that makes you want to never set foot on a boat ever again, know that it could actually be worse. Much worse. While history abounds with lurid tales of disaster at sea, one shipwreck from 1629 stands head and shoulders above the rest, for those lucky enough to survive the initial sinking faced a threat more dangerous and terrifying than anything in nature: each other. This is the story of the wreck of the Batavia, the most brutal disaster in maritime history.
Measuring 56 metres long and weighing 1,200 tons, the Batavia was built in 1628 as the Dutch East India Company’s newest flagship. Established in 1602, the company, known by its dutch initials VOC, was one of the world’s first multinational corporations and a political force unto itself, wielding the power to raise armies, wage war, imprison and execute convicts, establish its own colonies, and even mint and circulate its own currency. Enjoying a virtual monopoly on the East Asian spice trade for nearly 200 years, the VOC was the most profitable company in world history, with a peak worth of 78 Dutch Guilders - equivalent to a mind-boggling 7.9 trillion (yes, you heard that right: trillion) dollars today.
On October 27, 1628, Batavia set sail from Texel in the Netherlands on her maiden voyage, accompanied by a fleet of six VOC merchant ships. The fleet was bound for the capital of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies - what is today Jakarta in the Republic of Indonesia. Aboard Batavia were 330 people, including 180 sailors, 100 VOC soldiers, and a handful of wealthier passengers including 22 women and their maids. The ship also carried a cargo of supplies for the Dutch East Indies colony and $35 million in silver coins to exchange for valuable nutmeg and other spices. Like all VOC ships, the Batavia operated under a split command structure, with skipper Ariaen Jacobsz [“Yah-kobs”] being subordinate to Commandeur Fransisco Pelsaert, a high-ranking merchant officer in charge of protecting the Company’s financial interests. As it happened, Jacobsz and Pelsaert detested one another, having fallen out years before when Jacobz drunkenly insulted Pelsaert in public. While this made for an inauspicious start to the voyage, the worst was yet to come.
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