The Longboat

The Batavia‘s longboat plays an important part in the history of the shipwreck. Jacobsz managed to get forty-eight people – including two women and a babe in arms – all the way to Batavia (now Djakarta) on Java. It was a two-thousand mile voyage across uncharted waters.

So what about the longboat? I spoke at length with a man who was part of a consortium who built a replica of the boat in Geraldton, Western Australia. The city is the nearest large town to the Abrolhos islands. Geraldton fishermen go out to the Abrolhos regularly to fish. In the summer months, they live out on the islands to catch crayfish. The wrecks of the Batavia, the Zeewyck and the Zuytdorp are a part of the area’s heritage.

The longboat was, indeed, long. Ten metres (or thirty-five feet). She had a shallow draft and wouldn’t have been a pretty vessel since she was a work boat, used to ferry cargo and supplies to the ship and to raise the anchor. I was told she had a capstan in the centre to assist with tasks like raising the anchor. The longboat didn’t have benches as such, as you’d find in today’s rowing boats, although she had three thwarts (which look like benches) to help with rigidity. And she had a false floor.

Think about that. Especially with raised sides, the sailors had to stand to row. Six on each side. And the rest of the folk would have had to find a space on the floor, or one of the thwarts if they were lucky. Apart from all those people, the boat carried barrels of food and water, the oars (when the vessel was sailing) or the canvas (when it was not). Cramped, uncomfortable and dangerous are all good words to use for this amazing trip.

The replica longboat has been completed. She’s made a trip out to the Abrolhos from Geraldton and tourists can take a turn in her on the last Sunday of each month.

Photo (c) Frank Sindelar of the replica longboat.