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Pelsaert

Batavia’s Graveyard is being excavated at last #history
28 Apr 2015

Batavia’s Graveyard is being excavated at last #history

by Greta | posted in: History | 0

It’s been a while since I wrote a Batavia post. It has also been a while since Beacon Island (Batavia’s Graveyard) has been vacated and the fishing shacks removed. With those impediments to a proper investigation out of the way, … Continued

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Batavia, Batavia's graveyard, beacon island, history, murder, Pelsaert, skeletons
Maybe now the ghosts will rest in peace
4 Feb 2015

Maybe now the ghosts will rest in peace

by Greta | posted in: History | 1

I read today in a newspaper article that systematic excavation of Beacon Island in the Abrolhos group off the West Australian coast has begun with the discovery of a new grave. That might not mean much to many of you, … Continued

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abrolhos, archaeology, Batavia, Batavia wreck, Batavia's graveyard, beacon island, marine archaeology, maritime history, Pelsaert
Is Pelsaert’s journal an accurate account of the Batavia shipwreck?
5 Feb 2014

Is Pelsaert’s journal an accurate account of the Batavia shipwreck?

by Greta | posted in: History | 1

Many ships have been wrecked over the centuries. Most of their names became nothing more than ciphers in the ocean of history. But the wreck of the Dutch East Indies merchantman Batavia on remote islands off the coast of Australia … Continued

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Batavia, Dutch East Indies company, Historical fiction, Pelsaert, ship wreck, true story
A triumph for an amateur historian
7 Oct 2013

A triumph for an amateur historian

by Greta | posted in: History | 0

In 1963, the last resting place of the Dutch merchantman Batavia, which hit a reef on the Abrolhos islands off the coast of Western Australia in 1629, was finally found. 1963. It had taken three hundred and eighty-four years before … Continued

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50 years, abrolhos islands, amateur historian, Batavia, Batavia found, Batavia wreck, fiftieth anniversary, greta van der rol, history, Pelsaert, wreck site found
Kill or be killed
14 Jan 2013

Kill or be killed

by Greta | posted in: History | 1

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

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abrolhos islands, Australian history, Batavia, Cornelisz, Harmansz, Houtman Abrolhos, Pelsaert, Seals Island, shipwreck survivors, wallabi group
Why approach from the North?
1 Jan 2013

Why approach from the North?

by Greta | posted in: History | 0

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

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abrolhos islands, Australian history, Batavia, Pelsaert, shipwreck survivors, Wiebbe Hayes
‘Justice’ for the gang
22 Nov 2012

‘Justice’ for the gang

by Greta | posted in: History | 2

In previous posts I spoke about the punishments meted out to the members of Cornelisz’s gang of cuthroats, starting with the execution of the main ringleaders and then the lesser punishments (if that’s what you want to call keel hauling … Continued

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Australian history, Batavia, justice, Pelsaert, punishment, torture
The Butcher of Banda
5 Oct 2012

The Butcher of Banda

by Greta | posted in: History | 6

I saw in a Dutch paper  that the statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen which has proudly stood in the square in Hoorn for several hundred years, was to be replaced with a less controversial figure. The reason, it seems, was … Continued

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Batavia, Coen, journal, Pelsaert
Australia’s first white inhabitants
19 Aug 2012

Australia’s first white inhabitants

by Greta | posted in: History | 0

There is little doubt that Commandeur Pelsaert was much more lenient in his treatment of Cornelisz’s band of thugs than his masters in Batavia would have been. As mentioned in previous posts, Cornelisz and his major henchmen could count themselves … Continued

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Batavia, Hutt River, Pelsaert, Wittecarra Gully, Wouter Loos
The mind of a psychopath
16 Aug 2012

The mind of a psychopath

by Greta | posted in: History, On writing | 6

Quite a number of psychopaths have made names for themselves. Hitler, Napoleon, Stalin. Ted Bundy is another, more recent, example, as is Hannibal Lecter, featured in the movie The Silence of the Lambs. What about Jeronimus Cornelisz, erstwhile under merchant … Continued

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abrolhos, Batavia, characterization, Cornelisz, Jeronimus Cornelisz, Pelsaert, psychology, psychopath, To Die a Dry Death

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