Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny

In 1628 the Dutch East India Company loaded the Batavia, the flagship of its fleet, with a king's ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to Java; the ship itself was a tangible symbol of the world's richest and most powerful monopoly.

The company also sent along a new employee to guard its treasure. He was Jeronimus Corneliszoon, a disgraced and bankrupt man with great charisma and dangerously heretical ideas. With the help of a few disgruntled sailors, he hatched a plot to seize the ship and her riches. The mutiny might have succeeded, but in the dark morning hours of June 3, 1629, the Batavia smashed through a coral reef and ran aground on a small chain of islands near Australia. The captain and skipper escaped the wreck, and in a tiny lifeboat they set sail for Java--some 1,500 miles north--to summon help. More than 250 frightened survivors waded ashore, thankful to be alive. Unfortunately, Jeronimus and the mutineers had survived too, and the nightmare was only beginning.

Author: Mike Dash
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Published: 05/27/2003
Pages: 512
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.10w x 1.20d
ISBN13: 9780609807163
ISBN10: 0609807161
BISAC Categories:
- History | Modern | 17th Century
- History | Australia & New Zealand | General
- History | Expeditions & Discoveries

About the Author
Mike Dash is the author of the national bestseller Tulipomania. A journalist and Cambridge-educated historian, he lives in London.