The Shipwreck of the Batavia combines in just the one tale the
birth of the world's first corporation, the brutality of
colonisation, the battle of good vs evil, the derring-do of
sea-faring adventure, mutiny, ship-wreck, love, lust, blood-lust,
petty fascist dictatorship, criminality, a reign of terror, murders
most foul, sexual slavery, natural nobility, survival, retribution,
rescue, first contact with native peoples and so much more.
Described by author Peter FitzSimons as "a true Adults Only version
of Lord of the Flies, meeting Nightmare on Elm Street," the story
is set in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the
Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the
Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave
Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a
mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just
off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in
the middle of the night. While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert
decides to take the long-boat across 2000 miles of open sea for
help, his second-in-command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes over, quickly
deciding that 250 people on a small island is unwieldy for the
small number of supplies they have. Quietly, he puts forward a plan
to 40 odd mutineers how they could save themselves, kill most of
the rest and spare only a half-dozen or so women, including his
personal fancy, Lucretia Jansz - one of the noted beauties of
Holland - to service their sexual needs. A reign of terror begins,
countered only by a previously anonymous soldier Wiebbe Hayes, who
begins to gather to him those are prepared to do what it takes to
survive . . . hoping against hope that the Commandeur will soon be
coming back to them with the rescue yacht. It all happened, long
ago, and it is for a very good reason that Peter FitzSimons has
long maintained that this is "far and away the greatest story in
Australia's history, if not the world's." FitzSimons unique writing
style has made him the country's best-selling non-fiction writer
over the last ten years, and he is perfect man to make this bloody,
chilling, stunning tale come alive.
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