Jeronimus Cornelisz - Batavia

Batavia

It was widely believed, though it has never been proven, that Jeronimus became acquainted with the controversial painter Johannes van der Beeck (also known as "Torrentius"), another Haarlem resident, at about this time. Torrentius was a notorious libertine and suspected heretic, and in 1627 he was tried and sentenced for his religious beliefs. Whether or not Cornelisz was a member of Torrentius' circle, or shared his heterodox beliefs, he certainly left Haarlem within weeks of the end of the painter's trial, going to Amsterdam and taking service with the Dutch East India Company, or VOC. He was posted to the new ship Batavia, which sailed for Java, in the East Indies, in October 1628.

Cornelisz, whose main motive in sailing for the East seems to have been to recover from his crippling financial position, became friendly with the Batavia's skipper, Ariaen Jacobsz, in the course of the ship's long voyage. He and Jacobsz became discontented with the leadership of the commander of the ship, the merchant Francisco Pelsaert, and plotted a mutiny. Before the plot could be put into effect, however, the Batavia ran aground in the Abrolhos archipelago and was lost. More than 200 survivors made their way ashore, and when Pelsaert and Jacobsz set off for help in the only boat, Cornelisz was left in command on the islands.

What followed horrified all Europe. Cornelisz established a brutal personal rule in the islands, backed by a core of men who had plotted with him on board ship. When food and water supplies became scarce, the mutineers began to kill their fellow survivors, at first covertly, then more and more openly. In all, Cornelisz and his henchmen were responsible for the deaths of between 110 and 124 men, women and children over a two month period. Their victims were drowned, strangled, hacked to pieces or bludgeoned to death singly or in large groups. Seven surviving women were forced into sexual slavery. Lucretia Jans was given preferential treatment by only having to serve Cornelisz.

Cornelisz's rule in the Abrolhos was challenged by a group of loyalists, led by a common soldier, Wiebbe Hayes, who managed to establish themselves on a nearby island. (See Batavia (ship)#Murders.) Their survival made it impossible for Jeronimus to carry out his intention of seizing any rescue ship, massacring its crew, and turning pirate in the Indian Ocean, and when Pelsaert eventually returned in a small ship called the Sardam, Cornelisz and his men were captured.