No. 092 Pelsaert's Journal

The Batavia Journal of Francisco Pelsaert 1629 1 THE BATAVIA JOURNAL OF FRANÇOIS PELSAERT (ARA Document 1630: 1098 QQ II, fol. 232-316) Edited and translated by MARIT VAN HUYSTEE Report—Department of Maritime Archaeology Western Australian Maritime Museum No. 136 1994 The Batavia Journal of Francisco Pelsaert 1629 2 c[232 r] Sad daily notes on the loss of our ship Batavia, being sailed on the Abrolhos or Reef of Frederick Houtman, situated on the l 1 latitude of 28 /3 degrees, 9 miles from Southland on the Fourth of June, being Monday morning, on the 2 day of Whitsuntide, with a bright clear full moon2 about 2 hours before daybreak during the watch of the skipper, I was lying in my bunk feeling ill and felt suddenly, with a rough terrible movement, the bumping of the ship's rudder, and immediately after that I felt the ship held up in her course against the rocks, so that I fell out of my berth. Whereon I ran up and discovered that all the sails were in top, the wind south west, the course north east by north during that night, and were lying right in the middle of a thick spray. Round the ship there was only a little surf, but shortly after that one could hear the sea breaking hard round it. I said, skipper what have you done, that through your reckless carelessness you have run this noose round our necks. He answered, how could I do better? I did not sleep, but watched out very well, for when I saw the breakers in the distance I asked Hans the gunner3, what can that be? Whereupon he said, skipper it is the shine of the moon, upon which I trusted. I asked him some advise now, whereabouts he thought we were. He said, that only God knows, this is a shallow that must be lying quite a distance from the unknown land, and I think we are just on the tail of it. We must see now to put out an anchor at rear, perhaps it is low tide, so that we can wind it off. I asked him how deep it was there. He answered that he did not know. I ordered the lead to be fetched, which was in the cabin of the steersman, and I found that astern there was only l7 to l8 feet of water, but at the stem of the ship much less. At the moment, I did not know any better than that it was an unknown shallow in the sea as the skipper said. So we started to throw all our cannons overboard in order to make the ship lighter, and the schuyt [YAWL]4 with the boat was put out, and I ordered them to sound round about, and found at an pijlschot [ARROW'S SHOT]5 at the back of the ship 7 vadem[FATHOM] of water. But forwards very dry, we made aworp[KEDGE] anchor ready, to put out at the stern. Meanwhile it began to blow harder with showers, and the boat was smitten overboard by a gush, so that it floated quickly away and we had to send the yawl to help it row up. Before it could be put aboard it had become day and we found ourselves then surrounded by rocks and shallows on every side, and very suddenly by the fall of the waters (for we had sailed there by high tide) it began to surf and foam around the ship, so that through the bumping of the ship, one could not stand or walk. Therefore we decided to put overboard the main mast, in order that it would not immediately push into the ground6. But when it was cut down we found that it caused much damage, for we could not get it from aboard, so that we could not get the boat aboard due to the big surf. I saw no land that I thought would remain above at high water except an island that by guessing lay at least 3 miles from the ship, therefore I sent the skipper to 2 small islands or reefs not so far from the ship in order to see if there the people and some of the goods could be salved. About 9 the skipper returned because it was not really possible to get there through the rocks and the reef, for at one spot one could not get over the yawl, whilst at another it would be several fathoms deep. He reported that as far he could see the islands would not be flooded. Because of the great wailing that there was from the ship, by women, children, sick, and anxious people, we decided to put most of the people on land first and meanwhile to get ready on deck the money and the most precious goods, for which I did my utmost. But God the Lord The Batavia Journal of Francisco Pelsaert 1629 3 chastised us with many rods, for in spite of all the zeal we made to cant the vessel to leeward or to fall, it turned out exactly the opposite [233 r] because of the uneven reef upon which it was set, which so caused it that the people could only come out of the ship very slowly. Secondly, the ship had already burst at l0 and all speed and skill had to be used to get some broot [BREAD]7 out of the bread cabin. Of water we hoped to get enough but our goodwill and diligence were impeded by the godless unruly troops of soldiers, as well as sailors, and their likes whom I could not keep out of the hold on account of the liquor or wine, so that one could not get there and in the meantime the l 8 entire hold became flooded, so that hardly l /2 leggers [LEAGUERS] were filled with kitten [SMALL BARRELS or JUGS] and buckets and were ready on the deck of the ship. So that day went by and the boat had only done three trips with people, with which we had put on land l80 souls, 20 casks of bread and some small barrels of water. About sunset the skipper came aboard with the sloep [SLOOP]9, who had taken to land a casket of jewels and some people, and said to me, it won't help that we take water and bread on shore, since everyone on land drinks as much as he can, and forbidding has no result unless you order it otherwise. Whereupon I jumped into the yawl on account of our water of which, as far as I could see would be very little available, moreover there was such a great number of people that it had to be better used, and with the intention of returning immediately in order according to our resolution to get the money from the ship with the next boat. But by God's Truth, I was scarcely from aboard then it began to blow so hard that it was outside human power to reach the ship with the boat. Yea, we could hardly prevent it from drifting away. In the morning before daylight being the 5th, we put some folks with some bread and water on the largest of the islets, for we had been separated in the night into 2 parties, and I sailed from there in the sloop and the skipper in the boat, to go abroad, where I arrived at last about noon after much rowing, and the boat could [233 v] not sail up against the wind because it had no leeboards10, and it went back to the island. Also, on account of the big surf, for the waves broke over the poop, I could not come by the ship with the sloop. I remained a long time in the vicinity of the ship to wait for an opportunity to get aboard, but in vain. At last a carpenter Jan Egbertsz of Amsterdam, who dared to come to the sloop through the surf, whom the under merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz with at least another 70 men who were on the ship, sent with the request to help them, for there was no longer any safe place on the ship. How great a grief it was to me all reasonable people can imagine. I asked if there were no means of getting 5 or 6 planks or pieces to make leeboards for the boat. Secondly, that they should make one or two rafts to save themselves and with the first boat that could come aboard I would get the money. Whereupon the before mentioned Jan Egbertsz swam again aboard and they immediately threw six planks overboard, which we got. Whereupon with great regret I returned to the island, where I found the carpenter very busy making a leeboard out of a piece of topmast which had floated to land. In the afternoon it started to blow very hard out of the north-west and the ship was pounded very much that day by the waves, so that one could hardly see it and it was a miracle that it remained together. In the evening we calculated our water, which we had in the small barrels, and we found ourselves on the smallest islet where we were, with the folks of the boat and the yawl, with about 80 kannen [JUGS]11 of water, where we were about 40 people, and on the largest island, where there were l80 souls, was still much less.

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