Madness, murder and rape on the Batavia: new theory on Australia’s most horrific shipwreck

“What befell the survivors was sheer horror – anarchy, tyranny, madness, murder and rape, in a reign of terror where people were picked off one-by-one. His theory – The Batavia Disaster: A new scenario to explain the massacre after the shipwreck – has been published in the May edition of the International Journal of Maritime History. Pelsaert sent Cornelisz and the condemned mutineers to the gallows. View image in fullscreen An illustration from the 1647 Dutch book Ongeluckige voyagie, van’t schip Batavia (Unlucky voyage of the ship Batavia). They have welcomed this new theory on the Batavia massacre, although they did not necessarily agree with the alternative explanation.