In a couple of previous posts, I’ve described how Jeronimus Cornelisz gradually built up his power base in the Abrolhos Islands, before starting his reign of terror in earnest. First, he took control of the ship’s council, which governed the … Continued
The Battle of Bannockburn, fought over two days in the summer of 1314, was when the Scots came of age, and Robert the Bruce cemented his hold on the Scottish throne, and sent Edward II’s English army packing. The field … Continued
In my last post, I described how Jeronimus Cornelisz, arch-villain of the Batavia shipwreck survivors, divided his flock by setting up settlements on different islands. He’d promised all of them to supply them with provisions from the central store, a … Continued
I recently posted a few dioramas of the engine room (so to speak) of Stirling Castle – the kitchen and bake house. We also visited the upstairs chambers, where the gentry lived. Much of the restored part dates back to … Continued
Scotland is, of course, full of Scottish history. One of the most interesting visits we made was to Stirling Castle, which stands on a rugged crag above the town of Stirling. As with all these castles, some sort of fort … Continued
Jeroniumus Cornelisz has gone down in history as a mass murderer, responsible for the deaths of around one hundred people who had survived the horror of the wreck of the Batavia in 1629. To give him his due, you’d have … Continued
There’s a tendency for we humans, living in the here and now, to think things were always like that. Oh, we might acknowledge that once there was a place called Gondwana, and that it sat over the South Pole, and … Continued
In the few months in 1629 that the ship-wrecked Batavia’s survivors were trapped on the islands of the Houtman Abrolhos’s Wallabi group, Jeronimus Cornelisz’s band of cut throats murdered around one hundred people. There’s no way of knowing exact numbers. … Continued
I’m one of those people who believes that when you write about real historical events, it isn’t your place to change facts. For example, unless you’re writing alternative history, you can’t move the Battle of Waterloo from 1815 to 1820, … Continued
I’ve written at some length in previous posts about how punishment was meted out to Cornelisz’s band of cut throats. The lucky ones, you might say, met their end at the Abrolhos Islands. (see death by hanging) The VOC took … Continued