The Batavia Ship is one of those historical ships with a rather impressive history. During October 1628, the Batavia Ship (which was a part of the Dutch East India Company) set sail to the Netherlands and it was full of coins and jewels. As it tried to reach its destination, the ship struck a reef at 40 km off the Western Australian coast. And as people tried to escape the ship, they went towards the nearest island. The story continues with one of the major bloodsheds that happened during the 17th century.
The ship struck a reef near the Abrolhos islands and it sank. 40 people drowned, but the survivors managed to swim to the Beacon island. They took most of the provisions and food from the ship, however they didn’t have any fresh water on the island. The commander, some crew members and passengers went on another boat trying to find fresh water. They took around 33 days to find a new place with water, and that’s when they arrived in Jakarta at Batavia.
Just as they arrived there, the boatswain on the ship was executed for negligence. The skipper was also arrested. A search party was created to help those stranded on the islands. The search party took 2 months to arrive to the islands. But when they arrived there, they encountered a massacre as the number of survivors was reduced with more than 100.
When the captain left the Batavia islands, the pharmacist that was unable to raise the mutiny on this ship tried to create a new gang to help him with his plan. He actually sent some cabin boys, as well as men and women to another island to search for water, and he left them there. He actually did the same thing to a soldier group. He drowned many of those soldiers by sending them on random errands and having someone push them overboard.
The mutineers became intoxicated with murder and started to kill for pleasure. The survivors that were initially sent to other islands were hunted down and they were killed. Some of the soldiers sent on useless errands to find water actually found it and they started creating a fort. They sent smoke signals to lure Cornelisz towards them. Since the soldiers were very well fed, they had no problem handling the mutineers, and they captured Cornelisz only for him to have a trial on the island. He and some of his team actually had their hands chopped before they were hanged.
The wreckage of Batavia Ship was found and salvaged during the 1970s. It is quite impressive to know that they found everything from jewelry to antique items and even some human remains. Some of the items are now displayed in the Western Australian Museum in Fremantle, Australia. Despite that, a major part of the wreckage can still be found on West Wallabi, and that’s why this is a premier diving site for people interested in the local history.
Consider getting a Batavia Ship replica?
If you want to have an impressive, historically accurate replica of this great ship, don’t hesitate and visit our store today. Our handcrafted model ships are made 100% from high quality timber with amazing details.
The cannons, anchors, fixtures and cannons are sculpted from metal. The gun ports are cut into the hull and the unit is also painted by hand to maintain high quality and historical accuracy. This handcrafted Batavia model ship also has realistic life boards and lots of deck features. You have a solid wood stand to keep everything together. On top of that, the sails are created from fine linen and the rigging lines have a different texture to resemble the real ship.
Getting a replica of this ship is amazing because you get to see the full recreation in the form of model ships. While it’s a smaller scale replica, you get to have a great reminder of how impressive and visually stunning this beautiful ship really was before it ended up at the bottom of the ocean.
Don’t miss this great opportunity and order it today!
