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Jeronimus Cornelisz, mad bad and dangerous to know.
Instigator of a mutiny amongst survivors of a Dutch shipwreck off the coast of Western Australia in the first half of the Seventeenth Century.
Not an astronomical death toll by Twentieth Century standards, but the combination of the setting, the disaster of a shipwreck, the descent into group madness... has led to an opera, surprisingly enough.
Extracts from Pelsaert's
' The Disastrous Voyage of the Ship Batavia' ,
first published in 1647
This is worth checking out too:
Also Mike Dash's book on the Batavia's wreck and mutiny.
No refunds for unhappy passengers:
Instigator of a mutiny amongst survivors of a Dutch shipwreck off the coast of Western Australia in the first half of the Seventeenth Century.
Not an astronomical death toll by Twentieth Century standards, but the combination of the setting, the disaster of a shipwreck, the descent into group madness... has led to an opera, surprisingly enough.
Jan Hendrycks confesses that one day he had been called by Jeronimus into his tent and that he gave him to know that at night time he must help him with the murder of the Predikant's family. At night, Zeevonk has called outside Wiebrecht Clausen, a young girl, whom Jan Hendrycks stabbed with a dagger, and inside, all people - the mother with her six children - had their heads battered in with axes . . .
' The Disastrous Voyage of the Ship Batavia' ,
first published in 1647
With Pelsaert and the disgraced skipper, Adriaen Jacobsz, both gone, Jeronimus Cornelisz, who was responsible for the ship's cargo, began to hatch a variation on the mutinous plan that had been brewing in his mind since before the Batavia came to grief. He would enlist a small group of followers, convince them that their only chance of survival on these god-forsaken shores was to systematically kill off everyone else, then await the return of Pelsaert, commandeer the rescue vessel and set off with the 250,000 guilders worth of silver coins, the casket of jewels, and other valuable items of cargo that had been salvaged. And if Pelsaert, didn't return, they'd build a new boat out of the wreckage.
Cornelisz and his cronies succeeded in murdering at least 125 men, women and children - but were unable to penetrate the defences of Wiebbe Hayes and others who were holding out on West Wallabi island, where there was plentiful wildlife and fresh water.
Cornelisz and his cronies succeeded in murdering at least 125 men, women and children - but were unable to penetrate the defences of Wiebbe Hayes and others who were holding out on West Wallabi island, where there was plentiful wildlife and fresh water.
This is worth checking out too:
Also Mike Dash's book on the Batavia's wreck and mutiny.
No refunds for unhappy passengers:
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