Peter Fitzsimons, Batavia, (Sydney: William Heinemann; 2011), 490 pages.
This book tells the story of the Batavia, the prize ship of the fleet of the Dutch East India Company. In 1629, the Batavia sailed on her maiden voyage from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). The ship was carrying the treasure of the Dutch East India Company to be used to expand the company's operations in the Dutch East Indies. The voyage to the Dutch East Indies was via the Cape of Good Hope. Due to a navigation error, the Batavia stuck an unseen reef off Western Australia in the middle of the night. The captain evacuated the ship and crew to the uninhabited islands that formed part of the reef, and also salvaged provisions and treasure. The captain then decided to get help by taking an open longboat to travel across 2000 miles of open sea to their port in what we now call Indonesia. The captain left his second in command to manage operations until he returned. The second in command, who was planning a mutiny before Batavia hit the reef, decided that 220 people on a small reef island was too many for their limited supplies. Quietly he put in place a plan for him and 40 other mutineers to save themselves by killing most of the others. Many innocent people were murdered including women and children. A wave of terror started on this deserted atoll. A few managed to escape the genocide by escaping to a neighboring island where they found fresh water and were able to resist and survive until the captain returned with a rescue ship. Once the captain returned, a salvage was undertaken and the mutiny and other crimes exposed. The perpetrators were dealt with swiftly: some were hung, while others were taken to Indonesia to face justice.
This book is not strictly a history. It was written in the present tense, like a novel based on documents of the Batavia's surgeons, the captain's journal, and other historical documents. The author's intention was to rely on historical facts to accurately convey the unprecedented drama of the Batavia shipwreck by making it read like a novel, while not limiting himself to only the few precise details of the story that have survived. For example, to read like a novel, the author invented conversations and dialogues between various people with little or any knowledge of whether those conversations actually occurred. Given the few historical accounts from which this story is drawn, it's at best a blend of history/fact and fiction. Faction perhaps? The author's style was annoying at times to this reader, but was consistent with his intention of having history told like a novel. The book was at times a gripping account of a terrifying shipwreck and appealing mass murder an deign of terror. It was a thoroughly entertaining work of faction/historical narrative. The book also has a useful index of other books and sources for persons interested in reading about the wreck of the Batavia in more detail. The book also contains useful color photographs of relics, the island atoll and reef, a full size replica if the Batavia, and other symbols and pictures.
