The Batavia shipwreck of 1629 represents one of history's most horrific maritime disasters, where a Dutch East India Company flagship carrying 340 people crashed off Western Australia, leading to a brutal mutiny orchestrated by Geronomus Cornelisz, a former apothecary and follower of the heretic Johannes Torrentius, who established a cult-like regime on the isolated islands, ordering the systematic murder of over 125 survivors through starvation, drowning, and brutal executions, ultimately resulting in only 122 of the original passengers surviving to reach Batavia.
Install our extension to search inside any video instantly.
Shipwreck That Turned Into a Nightmare Cult Ft. Bricky
Added:[music] [music] [music] Welcome everyone to another episode of the Acceptable Losses podcast where usually Curio ruins my day. But today, not only do I get to ruin Curios Day, I get to ruin Bricky's day, too. What a fun, exciting time to be alive.
Introduce yourselves, fellas.
>> Why do you say it like that? That's it's frightening when you say it like that.
What do you mean ruin?
>> Oh, you know, you're you're you're not on Adri. This isn't happy fun Caiaphas came day. Oh, no. We're going into some real life horror.
>> Oh, yes, of course. Warhammer 40k known for being hypolucky. My bad.
>> Sometimes >> I was gonna say we we we can't be we can't be only calling 40k like you know awful when we've just come off of sorry I prefer blonde then I shot her. We can't do that. There's [laughter] no way.
>> No that's that's not fair. That's not >> that's not fair curio. There was murder in that.
>> A lot of murder. Yeah it's true. I mean, he he did shoot her, so there is that.
But [laughter] >> well, he prefers blondes. Curios, come on.
>> Yeah. I mean, she had it coming when you think about it. [laughter] >> Duh.
>> But, uh, no, I mean, hi. Thanks for bringing me on to acceptable losses.
>> Um, this is good.
>> Yay me. Uh, >> save your thanks for the end of the episode. [laughter] I uh I a formal apology again to the acceptable losses uh merch folks uh for the uh situations in the world have made things take a while, but you're uh pretty much almost everyone should have received their stuff now or at least like there's the last like 30 people left and uh or at least it's been shipped or whatever. So, yay. We It just took me like 3 months longer because of the world is really annoying right now.
But yeah, >> Jesus is not really your fault. And from what I've heard, everybody's very happy with what they've gotten. So >> Oh, that's good. I I haven't I haven't heard much from the those that received it. So I I'm That's glad to hear. I'm glad to hear that.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh but um yeah, Curio um uh you uh poor poor poor one out.
[laughter] What a transition. Just sparkling.
>> I I'm I'm also here. I'm just most relieved I didn't have to do the intro because I thought for a second I was going to have to. And let's be honest, I can't do outros. So, the added layer of pressure. I would have folded. We all know I would have folded. But I, you know, I'm I don't know whether to be excited about this or not. like I am, but also I don't know what this is, which is a very weird position to be in on this podcast because, you know, normally normally I'm doing the thing DK is doing. And so this is this is like this is untrod ground where I just don't know what the thing is. So you I mean do do we have to do we have to guess or are you going to be kind and just tell us? I >> you know that that's a funny that's a funny thing to say [laughter] >> but it's also kind of a funny thing to say like are you gonna be kind like you haven't been giving DK quotes on Adri for the last year. Uh he's usually pretty nice about it though to be fair you know like if if I'm in the ballpark Curio will give it to me. So you know I I mean there's there is a quote at the start of this thing. It's not a mystery quote. I'll still give it to you. But um um so I guess I guess let's just start.
Now I I I won't I won't force a mystery quote on you, but uh there are a lot of Dutch names in this one and um to any of our Dutchspeaking fans out there, I am so sorry for the misprononunciations that are about to be wrought on you. So with that being said, um today we are covering the horrors of the Bavia.
And our introductory quote goes like this. I'll take this one and then I'll start giving you guys like the rest of them. But the intro quote is, "4th of June being Monday morning on the second day of Woodson tide with a bright clear full moon about 2 hours before daybreak during the watch of the skipper. I was lying in my bunk feeling ill and felt suddenly with a rough terrible movement the bumping of the ship's rudder. And immediately after that I felt the ship held up in her course against the rocks, so that I fell out of my birth. round the ship there was only a little surf, but shortly after that one could hear the sea breaking hard round it. I said, "Skipper, what have you done that through your reckless carelessness you have run this noose round our necks?"
Skipper. Skipper. And that is from the journal of Commander Francisco Pelsart, June 4th, 1629.
I'm actually quite excited for uh quite excited for the um pronunciate Dutch pronunciations, >> brother. [laughter] I I had a very hard time when I was in Roderdam for Twitch. Connie, you I had a very hard time.
>> But yeah, I believe this is considered the single most horrible maritime disaster ever. Shy >> is what we are covering today.
>> That was a label. disa disaster as in like excluding [clears throat] things like war and all of that.
>> Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a maritime mishap disaster type thing. Um, so you know what? Let's get into it and you'll you'll see what we're talking about. So okay for an introduction uh the Dutch East India Company the VOCC for short was a very powerful trading company that was founded in6002 and was given a just remarkably long monopoly to carry out trade in and around Asia and the truly horrific nature of its imperialist colonist monopoly and the longstanding impact of its almost 200 years of existence are well documented and the volume of Dutch colonies in the 1600s in and around Indonesia are extensive and much like other spice trades in history the nightmarish nature of that sort of like slave trade era can't be ignored of course uh one of the most prominent port cities that was essential for the workings of the Dutch East India Company was Batavia or Betavia. I'm probably going to rotate between both pronunciations because I'm stupid.
Anyway, uh Betavia, Betavia, uh which is where modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia is is sort of the setting for our story.
And during this time, it was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. And annual fleets would make their way from the Netherlands to transport goods, services, and most importantly, coin. Each of these fleets had a flagship and in the late summer of 1628, a newly completed flagship would lead five other ships from the Netherlands to Batavia. However, this flagship, this newly completed flagship would never make it. Instead, it would make it into the history books as one of the most horrific incidents in maritime history.
So today on this extra special crossover episode of Detective Ridiculous on acceptable losses, we are going to be talking about the real life tragedy that was the shipwreck of the Batavia.
It is going to be a terribly harrowing experience going forward. And uh Pawsum said that after reading all of the journal entries of the captain in graphic detail, they are probably just going to stare at a blank wall for the foreseeable future. And Shai and Pawsome >> discuss this idea in the midst of recording the terror episode, and you will soon find out why.
>> So this is what this is what they were getting really excited about whilst we were whilst we were talking about people freezing to death. uh dying of lead poisoning, cannibalism, all of that stuff. This is the bit they were like, "We've got something worse. Let's go."
>> Yeah.
>> Mhm. Also, it should be noted that like Shai said, this is the significantly more palatable version. Um if you look up like the actual like journal entries, it's somehow a lot worse than Possum Paints It. You know, this would this would go insane as an Uncharted storyline.
[laughter] >> Yeah. Uncharted the game, Drake just stops this from happening.
>> No, no, no, no, no. There's always like a uh you know, oh, what happened to Sir Francis Drake? What could have possibly occurred? And it's like, oh, this is the maritime disaster, but was it that much of a disaster? And then he finds it and they actually all just died horribly.
And then the game ends.
>> Well, [laughter] Well, well, >> so you say Bavia a lot and it just is it >> I think it's supposed to be Batavia.
>> Betavia. Betavia. That I I the reason I got in my head about that is in the fourth Uncharted game, the place they're looking for is a pirate haven called Libertalia.
And so it's it's kind of getting in my head a little. Yeah, I'm I'm probably going to be swapping between the two, like I said, cuz you know, American brain dupicking.
>> All good.
>> And before we get to the point in which the flagship, which is named after Betavia, it's called the Batavia. So, if there's ever any confusion of like, oh yeah, the Batavia sailed to Batavia, it's cuz the flagship is named after the city. But um before we get to the point in which the flagship set sail on October 29th of 1628 uh we need to discuss the three most important people of this story. We have Francisco Pelart uh Aryan Jacobs and Geronomus Cornelius.
I am calling him Cornelius because I am hoping and praying that that's how this is actually said. It is. You know, I'm I'm just kind of hoping that's how that's pronounced.
>> Yeah, close enough. Sure.
>> Yeah. Um, so Francisco Pelart was born in 1595 in Antworp and was a merchant.
Uh, he joined the Dutch East India Company in 1618 and spent about 7 years in Agra, a city in India to hone his craft until he became a senior merchant.
uh he would eventually return to the Netherlands which at this time is called the United Provinces and in 1628 he would be eager to take his posting as commander or commander of the fleet. Uh as per tradition in the VOC the flagships the flagships of their fleets would have two people in charge on it.
You've got the commander and the ship's actual captain. Uh, in this case, the ship's direct captain, which has a weird translation, a couple weird translations, but apparently the term coupman is like senior merchant or skipper. Uh, and that is Aryan Jacobs.
Uh, there's not a lot known about his earlier career or how he got into the VOC. Uh, but one thing is known, Jacobs and Palart have hated each other for a long time. Uh according to sources there was some incident in Surat India where Jacobs became drunk at a merchant gathering and started to belittle paleart and paleart's rebuking of him and his accusations of insubordination were so aggressive that Jacobs just had to sort of stew and let it fester in this sort of hatred between the two.
This deep-seated hatred for for the captain was born. So, you've got a commander and a uh ship's captain that just hate each other. Lovely. Great way to start your your your expedition.
>> Seems choice. [laughter] >> Yeah. About say, how long are they going to be out on the water again? What's the trip length?
>> Um, we'll we'll we'll get there cuz it's >> Oh, goody. Okay. All right. We'll get there. That's not the answer I was hoping for. So, I mean, honestly, it's it's going to be a long trip that they're going on. Um, because more or less, they need to go from uh and we'll I'll we'll talk about it later, too.
Essentially, they're going like they're starting a little north of Amsterdam and they need to go all the way around Africa to the Cape of Good Hope and then from the Cape of Good Hope, they need to go to more or less Indonesia.
>> So, it's a long trip. That's a lot of sailing. Yeah, >> that's a long trip. Yeah.
>> Um, the third person here is very strange to say the least, and there's some degree of modern-day questioning as to his background as it's been established for almost 400 years. Um, and before we talk about him a bit more in detail, um, Pawsum says he was, you know, a fan of the arts, uh, and then sort of gives us this quote. So, uh, we'll we'll we'll let we'll let Keroth grab the first quote.
>> All religious restrict Oh, all religions restrict pleasure. In doing so, they are contrary to the will of God who put us on earth that we might during our brief existence enjoy without hindrance everything that might give us pleasure.
Wow. Uh, Johan Simons Vanderbeek, also known as Johans's Torrentius.
>> Yeah. So Johannes Torrentius was a Dutch painter in the early part of the 1600s that specialized in still life works.
However, he was also something else, a libertine.
Uh he would question authority and the necessity of religious doctrine quite openly. Uh he was also a follower of rosacrucianism which was focused on mysticism and alchemy. But to the people of the Hague, which is a city in the Netherlands, uh this can be described in a simpler word, heresy.
He was arrested in 1627 and was tortured brutally as a Satanist and a blasphemer >> guy who has only been on a Warhammer podcast. Getting a lot of Warhammer vibes from this.
>> Couldn't help it. I just And he does seem kind of like a Sleneshi worshipper, right? Not even just the heresy part.
The the Johannes Torrentius.
>> So true.
>> It's good. I just, you know, Bricky Bricky when uh given real life history that the medium he knows is based off of.
[gasps] [laughter] [clears throat] Anyway, uh Torrentius was found guilty of blasphemy of God and forcibly expelled from the Netherlands.
Why is this important you might ask?
Well, to some people, libertines were a bit like rock stars. And a man named Geronomous Cornelius was allegedly an almost zealous fan of his. And Cornelius is sort of our third third important figure. Um, Cornelius was born in 1598 in a radical Menanite home. uh he was very well educated and at the and at the young age he would follow in his father's footsteps and become an apothecary uh which went well until about 1627.
Uh this is when things began to sort of fall apart for our good friend Cornelius.
After some sort of disagreements with his hometown in Larden regarding his business, he would move to Harlem. Not the Harlem you're thinking of, the one in the Netherlands. uh and open up shop.
Uh this is where he would meet his wife and they would have a son and this son would be placed in the care of a wet nurse and after three months this son would die. Uh the cause of death would be syphilis and the death of the baby was a big scandal.
um he would take legal action against the nurse in order to try to prove that his son contracted syphilis from her, the nurse, and not obviously his wife, because that doesn't paint a pretty picture of him and his wife, but you know, uh and the very public legal battle completely destroys his reputation in Harlem.
So, he sells off all of his assets and this is sort of when he becomes obsessed with Johannes Torrentius. Um, but as you can imagine, becoming a fan of a well-known heretic and blasphemer has its problems.
Uh, there was an issue that, you know, becoming such a vocal fan and being such a firm believer in Torrentius, he would be persecuted. He could potentially be arrested. he could just it's not a good look when when you're a huge fanboy of the libertine heretic. Uh so he decides to seek work where he would always be on the move and the VOC offered that opportunity. So out of fear of being arrested, he would hold the title of junior merchant and eventually become Pelsart's deputy.
just weird weird person to go all fanboy for.
>> It's a little It's a little strange.
Yeah, >> there's got to have been like a like similar tendencies that he kept under wraps, right? Like this there >> like, you know, just being that that kind of uh enamored by someone who is publicly disgraced is definitely Yeah. I mean, you you definitely you definitely run in exactly the same circles. You you you've got to >> Yeah. It's just not not a not well. It's one of many unwise decisions uh made by Cornelius. Let's put it that way. Now, the flagship, as said before, was the Betavia, and it was going to be carrying quite a hearty payload. Uh there were approximately 340 people on the ship, including VOCC officials, soldiers, aristocrats, and families, including yes, of course, unfortunately, children. Uh there was also a bunch of construction materials, including huge stand blocks that were meant for construction of a very opulent gateway.
Uh but the most significant thing on board this ship were some items of just phenomenal financial worth. There was artwork, there were jewels, there was trade gold, and maybe most importantly, there were 12 chests filled with silver gilder coins. Uh >> hell yeah. Nothing is going to go wrong with the 12 chests full of silver coins.
>> Yeah. In total, it was 250,000 worth of gilder, which roughly translates to about 16 million USD.
Oh, holy. Okay. God, it's honestly all the stuff around like the the East India Company is just insane. like just yeah the the the scale of it is absolutely mindblowing especially for the like the era that they're in and how long it lasted. It was I mean it sounds absolutely insane that they'd be carrying six basically $16 million but >> yeah they just sort of I mean I'm not saying that was an everyday occurrence but they they they had so much an unfathomable amount of money. They were basically just a country in their own right that could outright buy other countries. It it was crazy. And like the other thing is it's it's not like this 16 million gilder is really that well guarded either. Like they're just casually throwing this on a boat. Like there are soldiers on the boat. Sure.
But you like it's Well, I guess they do have kind of a fleet that's sort of escorting it. So anyway, but god that's just such a crazy amount of money to be like, "Yeah, just yeah, it'll be fine.
I'm sure it'll be, you know, that's an unfathomable amount of money to be putting on this ship with just a bunch of people that are looking to like escape the hardships of their own lives.
It's Anyway, on October 29th, 1628th, the Betavia and the five other ships would set sail from the island of Texel in the Netherlands and would make its way to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Uh it would arrive there on April 14th of 1629.
So just getting from Texel to the Cape of Good Hope was a good chunk of sailing.
Um it would drop anchor in Table Bay and would resupply with fresh water and drop off any sick passengers before setting sail about a week later following a trajectory known as the Brower route.
Also, if you were dropped off from the Bavia because you were sick, boy, did you dodge a bullet.
So, the Brower route during the age of sail, the Brower route was the route which all VOCC ships followed.
Essentially, it was a slight arc down from the Cape of Good Hope in order to catch a strong wind current in the southern hemisphere called the Roaring 40s before essentially being launched upward to Indonesia.
There was an issue with this route, however. How to tell if they had hit that current just right. Captains would have to be on the lookout for either the Amsterdam Amsterdam Island or St. Paul Island in order to determine when to properly shift north cuz I think the Amsterdam Island and St. Paul are literally like the halfway point between like say Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. And so once they hit that point like oh [ __ ] we better shift a little north so we don't you know bam right into Australia.
Navigating this route was exceptionally difficult and success ultimately relied on a talented captain. Fortunately, this ship had a captain and a fleet commander on it. Like we talked about, it's Pale Sergeant Jacobs, so it should be a breeze. They just hate each other.
Nothing could go wrong.
>> Should be a breeze except for the part where [laughter] where the except for the reason why it won't be a breeze.
>> Yeah. Well, to be fair, them hating each other isn't actually what's the catalyst for Well, I guess that's debatable, but you know, let's let's keep talking about it. Unfortunately for most of the crew, Francisco Palart becomes very ill and had to mostly stick to his captain after their departure from the Cape of Good Hope. This meant that Jacobs was in charge and his second in command was Cornelius.
Note how we specifically said it's unfortunate for most of the crew regarding Paleart's sickness because Jacobs, this was his opportunity. This was his perfect chance for him to enact out something he had been secretly plotting from the start. Mutiny.
>> Hell yes.
>> I was wondering I was wondering if if the big M was going to come out.
[laughter] me when I'm watching a James Bond movie >> mutiny.
So during their time >> No, no, stop. Stop right now. Curio. Not even a chuckle. Not even a chuckle.
Curio, come on, dude. I specifically aimed that for you of all people here.
[laughter] >> I I literally I inhaled as you as you said it and my lung simply stopped working. It was actually a very good joke. I really enjoyed it. I just couldn't breathe. I just re it res reset me. [laughter] >> I excuses excuses across.
>> I like how he's he's trying to he's trying to save your pride. Like no, no, don't don't worry, Bricky. You're really funny. I was just uh inhaling all funny like and I couldn't breathe and class joke, bro.
>> Listen, if if I make a wrestling joke and I hear crickets from you, DK, like something clearly something's wrong.
>> True. I Well, all right.
>> Thank you, Shai. I got a plus two and a head pad. We're back to normal. Continue with your mutiny. [laughter] >> During their time in the Cape of Good Hope, Jacobs got very drunk and took a small ship on a joy ride. And he felt from the start that he shouldn't have to answer to someone like Paleart. After the commander went to bed rest, he would vent openly to Cornelius, who encouraged him to speak as open and freely as possible.
Jacobs lamented about wanting to start a new life and felt like he was actively sitting on a carefree future in the cargo hold. Cornelius, who had lost everything at this point, agreed with him and encouraged Jacob to plan a grand strategy regarding a full takeover of the ship. But in order to do so, they needed to they needed to spark the rest of the crew, encourage them to defy the authority of Palart. even if he was bedridden and sick or anything like that cuz the captain being bedridden already kind of has an effect on the crew like oh man things are already kind of not going well but they felt they needed some form of like something irrational. He needed to do something irrational and kind of like spontaneous that sort of punished everyone to hopefully encourage people to fully commit to mutiny.
At the start of this journey, the Mary Jacobs takes interest in a noble woman by the name of Lucretchia Vandermillan.
She was heading to Betavia to see her husband uh and she had to reject Jacob's advances multiple times. She felt [snorts] so uncomfortable around him that she would actively have dinners with the commander who was sick so that Jacobs just would stop annoying her, stop coming on to her, stop hitting on her. Also, >> I but you know, they're out in the middle of the ocean and they're not going to say no because of the implication.
>> I was I was literally going to say >> yes, thank you. Okay, >> that's why she's that's why she's hanging out with the sick captain because sick captain is like, "Oh, get the [ __ ] out of here."
>> And also due to her noble status, she has her own private cabin. That's mostly inacceptable.
Uh he resented this so much did Jacobs that as you may or may not have guessed he would indeed take action against her because it meant that Palsart would act rashly to defend her honor. Rashley also because Jacobs assumed that Palear was just irrationally sick. And um Pawsum prefaces this by saying, "Guys, this ne next bit really sucks, so sorry in advance."
>> I know where this is going.
>> I don't think you actually do. Oh, [laughter] one night while walking across the ship after she checked in on Palart, uh, Lucretia would be surrounded by a group of masked men who put a bag over her head before hanging her off the side of the ship by her feet before smearing her with excrement and roughly hitting her.
>> That was not where I thought it was going.
>> Yeah. No, that was not on my bingo card.
What the >> No, I I I thought we were doing the I thought we having an issue with the big R right here. That's uh instead they get they get the treatment of monkeys where they they just throw [ __ ] at her. What?
>> Yeah. So the whole premise of this idea of what they did was for the asalants to be unrecognizable to Lucretchia so that Palart after hearing this horrible thing that was done to her was forced to do this broad punishment to the entire ship after anyone refused to come forward to claim responsibility. So it'd be like, "Oh my god, who did this? No one's claiming responsibility. fine, you're all punished. And sort of everybody turns on pale side because I didn't do anything. Why am I being punished?
One of the men involved in this was highboat swain Jean Evers, showing that the influence of Jacobs and Cornelius was easily seized upon by even those in a higher ranking. However, no action came of this. No punishment, no anything. Externally, Lucretchia was completely unable to identify her attackers. Uh, but the potential mutineers also overestimated how sick Palart was. He wasn't quite as irrationally dumbruck crazy sick as they thought. He was still pretty of sound mind, and he made it pretty damn clear in his journal that he knew exactly who did this. Um, this is a pretty short quote, so h ah, go ahead, Bricky.
>> Yippee. Okay. More especially suspected from many circumstances of which he had become aware during a sickness that the skipper had been the author of it.
>> Yeah. He knew exactly what was going on.
They were like, "Oh, yeah. No, he's so sick. We'll No, he knew. He knew.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh, in a short time, Paleart was back up and moving on the deck, but further damage was done unbeknownst to him. Instead of following the Roaring 40s on the Northern Hook, Jacobs had already steered a bit further east, meaning the ship was indeed heading directly for Australia, and you are now fully separated from the fleet.
So in the okay >> in the early morning hours of June 4th 1629 the Bavia crashed. It had hit the morning reef located near Hman Arborals off the western coast of Australia. A few attempts to dislo dislodge the ship from the reef were made but it was unsuccessful and the ship began to literally disintegrate.
The majority of passengers would make their way to what is known as Beacon Island, while about 40 people, including Palart and Jacobs, would make camp on a smaller island, which we'll call island B for now. Uh about 70 people would remain on the slowly collapsing ship, including Cornelius. Uh most of the people on this ship were unable to swim and they were also just kind of terrified of drowning. So they stayed behind on this disintegrating ship and just started drinking heavily wasting the remaining stores on the ship and just you know looting the ship as they would because well everybody's gone. I guess consequences aren't a thing.
Eventually, after 9 days, the ship finally fully gives way, forcing the remaining survivors to swim to one of the nearby islands. Apparently, Cornelius was the last person to leave the wreckage. Uh and in total over the course of the initial crash and the eventual breakup of the ship, somewhere between uh 40 to 100 people drowned on their way to shore during this entire chaotic event.
>> So that's the current island that they they landed on. That is remind me again.
Was that in Australia?
Uh yes, that's like uh on I think that's on the western coast of Australia.
>> It's damn damn blue out there.
>> Oh yeah, like uh on on the coast of Australia and like I know it's not the same thing, but on like the coast of Hawaii, the water is unbelievably blue and unbelievably clear.
>> Yeah, that's in the that's the Indian Ocean side, right? So as opposed to like Sydney and so interesting. I didn't realize it was so damn blue over there.
I know like Madagascar area and stuff and but that's you know farther out.
>> It is mesmerizingly blue when you get that like really nice like tropical bay.
It's poor, >> dude. I can't imagine I I mean, obviously it's pretty, but these like Dutch sailors coming from the Netherlands area and like having that the water up there in centralized [laughter] Europe >> going to this I I almost I feel like they would think that they're high.
>> Yeah.
>> Possibly be a real place.
>> They probably were drunk at the time.
Yeah, lot of lot of rum. a lot of Why is the rum gone? Um, >> I'm just saying uh the the the immediate thing of oh no, the ship is falling apart around us. What do we do? I don't know. We've got rum. I I'd drink some rum. I'd go for some rum.
>> I think I'd drink some rum, too.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> This is also back in the day when like, you know, there wasn't a plane going to get to see you, >> you know?
>> No, there was not. Yeah. Well, and also a lot of the people that stayed behind were just like absolut they're like, "I can't swim anyway. I'm probably going to drown if I go in that water. [ __ ] it. I guess I'll just get my ass drunk and hope for the best, right? What else are you going to do?"
Exactly.
So, Commander Palart and Jacobs were accompanied by about 48 people, including all the senior officers, except Cornelius because he stayed behind. and they knew the situation was dire when it came to food and drink. Uh, these islands were largely coral islands, meaning a lack of non-salt water, and there were virtually no animals to hunt. It was Palart's duty to ensure the safety of those on the ship.
So, he made a very difficult decision. I think this one is you, Curio.
>> That sounds about right.
At last, after having discussed it very well, and weighed up that there was no hope of getting water out of the ship, unless the ship should fall to pieces, and the water in barrels should so float to land, or that there should be a good daily rain with which we could quench our thirst. But, as all these were all very uncertain means, resolved, after long debating, as appears out of the resolution, that we should go in search of water on the islands most nearby or on the continent to keep them and us alive. That was from the journal of Commander Francisco Palart.
>> Glad to see you say it the same way I do.
But uh so yeah, he decides that he's going to take a long ship with all 48 of these men that were with him and make their way to the mainland of Australia.
That's a crowded long ship, by the way, with 48 men on it. Um but this was ultimately a failed endeavor. Uh the shore they landed on was lifeless and it was just there's no point to sticking around there. There's no point to looking for food, water there. Uh instead, Paleard had a final alternative. Uh the accidental discovery of the western coast of the continent meant that the capital of Betavia was north. He would take all 48 of his men northward in order to get supplies and aid and just he would get support that he could bring back down to the marooned passengers. Uh the only problem is he would make way for Batavia, but he would do so without notifying anyone on the other two islands that he was leaving as time was of the essence.
So, come on. Come on. Did you Did you Did you not watch James Franco's 128 hours? 27 hours. [laughter] >> Well, I I I haven't actually.
>> Well, the reason he was stuck down there for 127 hours was cuz he didn't tell anyone where he was going. [laughter] >> Uh oh, that's the one with the arm thing where he's stuck. Oh, it's that one.
Okay, gotcha. Now I know what you're talking about.
And unfortunately, this breakdown in communication would prove to be a truly fatal mistake. And we'll come back to him later. But for now, we're going to go see what the abandoned crew are doing. And the only remaining members of the higher chain of command are doing.
And that would be Geronomus, Cornelius.
And just as a peak behind the curtain, Pawsum has named this next section the rise of a madman.
>> I was hoping the rise of cannibalism, but that works, too.
[laughter] >> I thought of Rising Revengeance, but I don't know why.
>> Oh, that's good, too. I like that one.
>> That's not bad. Yeah. God, it's been so long since I played that. I need to I need to boot that up again. and me shouting from the rafters three doors down. I can't wait for them to kill each other.
>> This is This is not one of those moments where you want to hear rules of nature.
Uh either driven mad by hunger, zealatry, or both. Cornelius would take his authority as acting leader of the remaining survivors very seriously. Uh, but he also had some other plans, I guess you could say. Uh, he wanted to build a kingdom of his own, and he wanted to rule it with an iron fist. If a rescue vessel was to arrive, he wanted to hijack it so he could seize more land. Obviously, very, very sane leader stuff. Uh overall he wanted to really he wanted to live the life that Johannes Torrentius expressed was instinctual a life of excess pleasure and debauchery.
>> Can I just just >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Did we say six was it 1628 this the ship set sail?
>> Yeah. Around there. Yeah.
>> So we're we're like we're we're only a couple of decades out from like the start of the golden age of piracy. It really feels like this guy is one step ahead in that regard. [laughter] It's just like we're going to mutiny. Yeah, the mutiny didn't work. All right, the ship's the ship is is a ground. It's all going wrong. Time to build myself an empire. [ __ ] authority. It's all about me now.
>> I'm not say Okay, listen. I really like Uncharted 4. And let me say the plot of Uncharted 4 is Captain Sir Henry Avery and a bunch of pirates stealing all the stuff and making their own like pirate libertarian haven called Libertalia where they all stashed their stuff and then they stole all the stuff from the people and killed each other.
Well, I mean, >> I'm I'm just saying [laughter] there and also it was off the coast of Madagascar off the coast of Madagascar. I'm just saying it's it's I'm getting ding some guy who has only played Nathan Drake games. [laughter] >> Yeah, Bricky really pushing those reference. Bricky hears real life actual marooning mutineering and and awful stuff and he's like, you know, this would make a great Uncharted game. that that's what they're based off of.
[laughter] >> All right.
>> But there was a problem. If you don't remember from earlier, there was a heavy military presence on the Betavia and they were wellarmed. A lot of soldiers.
Uh he needed to assert full control first and that came in the form of ownership of all the remaining supplies.
A few dozen soldiers were loyal to him and he had those soldiers commandeer all the remaining food, water, and weaponry so that all of those essential supplies are all under his absolute control and are completely secured in two tents under permanent surveillance by his sort of loyalists.
But there were still some people who had a some semblance of naval authority under his watchful eye and naturally they need to be disposed of. Uh first would be a group of cabin boys, men and women, roughly 40 to 45 of them. Uh he would order them to go to Seals Island which is another kind of sort of nearby island to search for food and water. and you're not allowed to return until you find some. Uh the second group was a group of sort of the remaining soldiers that weren't actually loyal to him.
Instead, they were loyal to a soldier by the name of Vibe Hayes. W I Ebbe, I'm assuming. Vibe. Damn, he's got Vibes. Uh Hayes. Cornelius would tell them to make their way northwest to some islands on the horizon in order to find food and water. He told them to use smoke signals when they found something. And then, hey, once you find something, send up the signals and we'll send out a rescue team. We'll get you post haste and everybody comes back and we'll survive.
Hooray. But what he really hoped was that due to the distance that this island was from them and the lack of proper supplies, they're probably not going to find anything and they're going to die out there.
So now that anyone that had any chance to really oppose him or claim that they were higher rankings than him were gone, the killings would begin. So, Pawsum says, "Brace yourself for just every imaginable bad thing." Sick. And I also have a quote for Bricky. Sick. He has daily on the island run calling out, "Come now, devils with all the sacraments. Where are you? I wish that I now saw a devil. And who wants to be stabbed to death? I can do that very beautifully. Quote from ship journal describing the actions of Jan Pilgrim, Cornelius loyalist and former cabin boy.
>> Yeah.
>> The the who wants to be stabbed to death as a question is mental and I can do that very beautifully.
>> Yeah. Very >> [ __ ] itself up in the process. Who wants it? It's going to look great.
>> Yeah. So things things not not ideal after that quote. Uh Cornelius would form a council and this council would have officers. This council was also designed to sort of establish the rule of order on the islands now that he was in charge. The greatest crime as far as Cornelius was concerned was theft. He believed that theft during this horrible time was worthy of the death sentence.
Not only for the person who was stealing, but also for the purple people they were stealing for, which is wild that it's like, "Oh yeah, I was stealing from my sick mother." Well, I'm going to kill you and your mother then. It's like, okay, that's crazy. Um, but the council didn't care for this law. So, what does Cornelius do? He disbands the council and he then reestablishes it.
Except it's only his loyalists and it's only his loyalists who agree with him and will enact his will and won't argue with him about laws that he puts in place because this is what sane people do. Um this includes his second in command, a man named Jake Jacob Jacob Peters. Uh, rumors began to circulate that two men were talking uh about stealing a boat to flee. And um, you know, Cornelius does the only reasonable thing when a rumor like that circulates, he has both of the men executed.
>> Hell yeah.
>> Of course. Of course. What else you going to do?
>> It's the only reasonable thing when a rumor about two guys running away, it happens. You [ __ ] kill them.
>> Anyway, he does. Is he killing them because he's pissed off at that at that possibility or is he is he killing them because he thinks they're going to run away and steal stuff?
>> I think he's pissed off. I think he kills them because he's worried that they might run away and tell someone about what he's doing and then he's going to get like stopped. Um, but also like Shai said, he is also killing people just because he gets off on it because he kind of thinks that's the libertine. um way like his like his buddy taught him, just live live hedonistically and debaucherously and enjoy every pleasure no matter how devious and awful it is type of thing.
>> Right. Gosh.
>> That that was kind of my my sort of read on it was partially well you don't want people to find out what's going on, but mostly because he can is kind of the impression I'm getting from this guy.
>> Yeah. Well, based on the whole um you know, who wants to be stabbed to death?
>> The quote, right, really sets the table for how sane everything is here. Yeah, >> that wasn't that wasn't even him. That was his uh >> That was his cabin boy.
>> Yeah, that was his cab. His cabin boy was like, I can't wait to stab people >> as beautifully as possible. Yeah. Um, he would also send out boats with some people he did not trust on them and have them accompanied by one of his loyalists. When they got out of sight, he told his loyalist supporters to tie them up and kick them overboard, assuring that they would be drowned.
>> I was waiting for as soon as he said, "But get people that he didn't trust in boats," I was like, "This is either going to result in it. He's drilled a hole in the bottom or opened fire or you know it cannot simply be they just get in the boat and all is well. There's got to be a twist here.
>> No. As it turns out, they just had conversations. They came to an understanding. They all came back hunky dory. Yeah. No. No. That's >> Yeah. They went snorkeling.
>> Yeah. Without any gear and with rocks attached to their legs. Anyway, while this was happening, he would also prey off the vulnerabilities of those who remained on shore and would have them do his bidding.
The first of these actions was convincing the survivors that those who were sick or injured were in fact detrimental to the long-term of their survival and his followers would do almost anything blindly. Um if he was like, "Oh yeah, you know, uh the sick and injured are a detriment to him. Oh man, you know, we got to do something about him." His followers be like, "Oh yeah, sure. We'll kill them." You know, they were they became that fanatically following of his orders. And within only a few weeks, he didn't even ask to he didn't even have to ask them to do anything anymore. They would just do it on a whim. Um, he would also order the death naturally of anyone who spoke of religion or who prayed. Uh, and he would actively order his followers to, this is such a weird thing to do, but I guess they're all [ __ ] crazy anyway. He would actively order his followers to say blasphemous things as they went about their work, yelling curses, praise for the devil, and threats to intimidate anyone in the immediate area.
anyone was fair game except for certain women. And Pawsum says, "Yeah, sorry about this. We don't really have to go into great detail about it, but uh many of the women were kept [clears throat] for reasons.
>> Oh man, this is just like Jacob's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2."
>> Oh my gosh. Shut the [ __ ] up. You're right though. It is. And if yeah, Shai earlier was like, I'm surprised there hasn't been a Mass Effect reference. And who am I to disappoint, you know?
>> You know, when you said Mass Effect 2, I was like, oh man, what a crazy time for a reference. And I was like, oh no, wait, that, you know, this basically is Jacob's dad.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Listen, I was an EMT. Humor is how you cope.
>> But no, the uh but no, the um uh what is it? The that that sounds that sounds about right because it is actually like that mission in that >> it actually is. Yeah. This that sucks that it's like oh yeah that awful mission with Jacob's dad. Yeah. It absolutely has parallels to this except without the poison food.
>> I'm I'm not going to lie. I was >> it's I was waiting for it just because it was specified that there was like families on board and stuff. I was like, there's no way that amongst all of this awful and the, you know, collectively a bunch of them losing their minds and going on a killing spree, there's no way that they were like, "Yeah, but we'll leave them alone." It it just simply never works like that, does it? It just doesn't.
>> No. God, no.
>> And uh, as you can imagine, poor Lucretchia Vandermillan.
Cornelius kept her for himself.
>> Was that the one who got [ __ ] thrown at her?
>> Yeah, that's her. Yeah, that sucks.
That's a That's a bad deal.
>> Yeah, that's >> that's a bad deal.
>> That's That's Yeah. A and regarding religion, one of the um I shudder to use the term best here, but one of the best testimonies as to what happened in the ensuing weeks was by a reverend by the name of Gizbert Bastian. Uh he was on this ship with his wife and eight children and his objective once getting to the mainland was to go to a mission station. Uh one of the mutineers however took an interest in his oldest daughter and gave him an option. Either agree to have his oldest daughter betrothed to him or she would be given to the rest of the mutineers to do with as they pleased. wanting to protect the life of his daughter. Uh >> yeah, >> he agrees to the betrothing and so he's invited with his daughter to have dinner with Cornelius. The dinner unfortunately was a trick as the mutineers would kill the rest of his family unbeknownst to him. Ultimately, he and his daughter would actually survive the whole ordeal because of the arrangement because they did actually want to betro his older daughter. But naturally, the killing of his whole family except for his daughter would haunt him for the rest of his life.
>> That's awful.
>> Yeah. Yeah. No [ __ ] >> There's so many layers of just [ __ ] up in that. Yeah. like insisting on a betrayal to begin with when you're already sort of establishing your own horrific little kingdom where apparently anything goes and murder and you know everything as as bad is on the table and being like, "Yeah, but if you do that then, you know, we we we not going to take her out if she promises to marry." But then if you're going to insist on that deal, then just killing everyone else in the family, doesn't that make it Oh god, that's absolutely horrific. That's like one of the worst things I've heard so far. Jesus.
>> Mind you, he had eight children and a wife.
>> Oh [ __ ] >> They killed >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Well, yeah. Yeah, they killed >> like nine people or whatever.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say I think eight actually because it's the wife and then seven children because you know they decided to actually marry the right oldest one. That's that still sucks.
That's awful. Also, as Shai notes, since they were low on ammo and stuff, the killings were mostly beatings to death, drowning, or stabbing. And we will talk about this later. Uh the instruments that they use for stabbing, you're sitting uh on a ship, there's water everywhere. Uh there's no way to keep it tidy. Uh all the stuff they used to stab you was completely rusted over and >> dull. Well, good thing you die by the stabbing then.
>> Well, cuz if you >> several of them anyway.
>> Well, [ __ ] Yeah. I mean, like cuz if you don't, the rust is going to kill you.
>> Yeah. And they're dull, so you got to really really work it in there.
>> Fun times, huh?
>> Fun times over here. Yeah. Yeah.
This sucks.
>> Yeah, [laughter] it's your time.
>> I'm sorry. You've got to really work it in there with the context of that is absolutely wild.
>> Wild.
>> It is. It is what it is, man. I don't know what to tell you. [laughter] >> You're You're not technically wrong. I just don't like the phrasing. [laughter] >> Yes. I'm starting to get less happy with the Hamav. It is what it is around here.
>> Welcome to acceptable losses, Bricky.
Let's start let's start bringing out some isn't if we don't mind. Let's get some isn't out here.
>> I know. Uh Cornelius would notice that the survivors that he sent to Seal Island, this was the cabin boys and such, were somehow still alive. They were still out there roaming around doing stuff. And so he would send out henchmen to get them and make sure that them being alive was amended. And unfortunately his henchmen did indeed find them and massacre them in broad daylight with dull knives as we mentioned.
>> Sick.
>> You know, the the instruments of murder actually did make this substantially worse because I really didn't think about that. I assumed they still had the remaining knives and things and and all of that, but no, I imagine it would be like bludgeoned with boards from the ship and and you know, like the fists and Yeah.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I I will I will say, and this is wholly inappropriate, but I I I had the thought and now now it's it's got to get out there. Uh, in broad daylight with dull knives is an incredible album title >> that you do just so right. I was thinking band name but album titles up there. Yeah.
>> Or just or just your your your uh EP name, right? Your your single. Yeah, this is a great name for a song. Not not great for the story, but you know.
>> Oh, atrocious. Horrific, but >> in broad daylight with dull with dull knives actually goes insane. I'm not going to lie. [laughter] Yeah, >> that actually goes crazy good.
>> Also, I believe there were 45 people that were sent to the Seal Island. So, and that's men, women, cabin boys. Yuck.
>> Do we at least know that some of the people who were carrying out the the the awful atrocities, but I I feel very weird saying this. Please tell me at least some of them got done in in the process. like it wasn't completely one-sided every time. I I I know this is I know it's all real and that's a horrible thing to to to think, but I just I feel like even if it's just one of them gets a bit of their own medicine, that would it doesn't make anything better, but there's >> I'm afraid there is just a tiny bit of catharsis that could be gained from that knowledge, you know? Yeah, >> there's there's no way that this ends like this kind of insular uh zealot group turns on each other after a period of time.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> So, they they're going to have to implode at some point.
>> So, at this point, I don't know what the the Zealot sort of followers of Cornelius's casualties are, if there were any. They're not mentioned. uh because they kind of have all the power.
So at this junction in time, as far as I know, there are either very very minimal uh zealot casualties. So I I couldn't tell you if one of them got got accidentally. So, uh, but all in all, Cornelius's ultimate goal was to reduce the number of survivors to about 45 so that those remaining survivors that he chose explicitly, ick, uh, could survive as long as possible. And horrifically, Cornelius, as we have shown, was accomplishing that goal quite well. uh and he would go uncontested for months.
Those who showed any strength were killed in their sleep brutally. Uh and others would just get randomly ambushed throughout the day in broad daylight with a rusty knife. Whatever, bro. We make the rules. Uh >> I I don't mean to ask this, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I'm assuming the people he deemed as safe and those he wanted to keep around him. Was a large percentage of them women?
>> Uh I don't I I I know he definitely kept a lot of women for >> him and his men.
>> Mhm. Gotcha.
>> I don't know if he kept every woman, but he certainly kept a good portion of women for reasons.
>> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. His his personal reasons. Gotcha. Okay. Assumed so.
>> Yeah. Uh it was remarked in a journal that if there were animals on these island, then they would have nothing to fear as even the lowliest of cabin boys was now a proficient hunter and killer.
There's very little written evidence of what was actually done with those who were killed. By many accounts, people who were killed during the night were snuck onto boats and just dumped far out at sea. But there were also reports of graves being dug and people just sort of haphazardly being thrown into mass burial graves without a care.
However, smoke signals to the north would mark the beginning of the end for Cornelius.
The group of soldiers led by Vibe Hayes to an island on the horizon had landed on had landed on what is known as the West Walabi Island. This island was actually in fact full of animals and freshwater allowing the soldiers to regroup and regain their strength. Good portion of the animals on this island were actually, as you can imagine, on Walabe Island, they were walabes. But at this time period, they had no concept of what the [ __ ] a walabe was. So they just called them bouncing cats.
Uh they would send up smoke signals as was agreed and they would wait all while cooking food, drinking water. They were they were great. They had no idea of the horrors that were taking place to the south and they were just, "Oh yeah, cooking some walabe meat, having a drink of water. We're great. Everything's going to be fine. We can make it."
Cornelius would see the smoke signals as a dire sign. The soldiers survived and they have resources.
Worst of all, they were further north, meaning that if aid was to arrive, it gets to the soldiers first. But as far as he was concerned, that's a problem.
But they don't know what's happening here yet. Nobody Nobody's told them that I'm off my [ __ ] gourd in the worst way possible. So maybe I can strike a deal with them and we'll all just reunite and we'll all just join forces and nobody will think I'm crazy.
Unbeknownst to Cornelius, however, some survivors had actually managed to come and deer a little uh rowboat or some sort of ship, and they had fled the island, and they had already reached Hayes. And they would tell Hayes and the soldiers of all the horrific things that were going on. And Hayes would have his men begin to fashion weapons out of the debris that washed up from the ships, from rocks, from the coral, whatever they could get their hands on. They knew after hearing the stories of Cornelius, they would have to get weapons and they'd have to be ready. They'd make a small fort out of limestone and would take alternating shifts in case Cornelius in the night tried to pull some shady shenanigans.
and Cornelius would first attempt to persuade Hayes to join together. Come on, man. You know, come join me. We're all fine here. But of course, Hayes knows what's going on. And so, this plan fails immediately. No way. Not doing that. Send the messenger back. Um, he also attempted to send a boy out uh with a note to the soldiers, not Hayes. He sent this boy with a note implying that Hayes was planning to kill all of the soldiers out there, but the soldiers were like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Cornelius, we know what you're up to."
So, they tear up the note, send the boy back, tell him, "Hey, go tell Cornelius to [ __ ] himself."
>> So, I like the idea of that letter arriving and like a small group of soldiers clustering around reading it and one of them just going, >> "No, [ __ ] off." And just tearing it off.
It's like, [laughter] "No, [ __ ] off.
>> [gasps] >> So naturally, Cornelius has to regroup.
He would send an armed attack force. Uh Cornelius sends an armed attack force to attempt to crush Hayes and his men since he still believed Cornelius still believed that Hayes and all those soldiers, they're unarmed. We I didn't send them out with any weapons. They didn't get any weapons from me. But he doesn't know that Hayes men have all-fashioned weapons. They've got spears. They've got swords and stuff.
They've got all these weapons. So, this attack just fails miserably. Um, though Cornelius's men had guns, Hayes men's were still able to regain their strength thanks to the abundance of food and water. And this sort of gives them the edge um to defeat the forces of Cornelius. And Cornelius is obviously not thrilled about this. He is enraged that his men with guns can't beat Hayes with a bunch of makeshift [ __ ] stuff from debris, rocks, coral, and the broken up ship. Come on. What are you doing? So, Cornelius would attempt once again to settle things personally. Goes there himself, but when he arrives, naturally, Cornelius and his men are ambushed.
uh they would tie up Cornelius, tie up his men, and Cornelius's reign of terror comes to a close. This time frame wise is about mid to late September of 1629.
The remaining >> god, [laughter] >> thank God. But it's not even over yet.
The remaining mutineers would attempt to regroup and would select someone named Wter LE. Sounds like Waterloo. Anyway, uh as their leader, LSE was one of the men responsible for the massacre of the Reverend's family, just for a note. Uh and he would attempt one final assault on Hayes Fort. And this assault was actually shockingly the closest they came to actually overtaking Haye's men because they it was almost successful actually because the mutineers were just like, "Oh, [ __ ] it. We're just going to rush them with musketss. What are they going to do? They've got scraps." So they just bumrush Hayes with Musk gets a fire in and just go all out. Just a full force rush. But Hayes men would prevail.
Almost lost, but they prevail. And as the final assault was concluding, as the final mutineers were being put down, a ship would be seen on the horizon.
Against all odds, the commander had returned.
Oh [ __ ] >> Yeah, he's finally back. And we have another quote. I think this is Curios or is this Bricky? Whatever. One of you read this one.
>> Uh, do you want to flip a coin?
>> I'll I'll do it. It's fine.
>> Okay.
[laughter] I don't have a coin. I sprang ashore and at the same time we saw a very small yaw with four men rowing around the northerly point. One of them named Webb Hayes sprang ashore and ran towards me calling from afar, "Welcome, but go back aboard immediately for there is a party of scoundrels on the island near the wreck with two sloops who have the intention to seize the yacht."
>> I'm loving the use of the word scoundrels there. It does the same thing. I was thinking the same thing. I was like, "Right, cuz scoundrel back then probably had a bigger effect than it does now where it's kind of goofy."
Yeah, [laughter] it it truly is what it is. I that is what they are and that is what they would absolutely do. Yeah. Yeah.
Commander Pelart and his men successfully did sail to Betavia and arrived roughly 33 days after they left in that overcrowded longboat. Despite not finding any water or any islands along the way, they suffered no casualties. Actually upon arrival paleart in indicted two individuals for what occurred. The boat swain Jan Evers and skipper Aryan Jacobs. Jan was executed for negligence due to his supposed involvement in the mutiny and as one of the masterminds while Jacobs was arrested for more negligence. Uh that was all they could really pin him for since they didn't actually have like concrete proof yet of what Jacobs had actually done.
But boy were they about to get some. So the governor general of Bavia named Jen Peterun Cohen uh would actually give Palart command of the ship the Sar Dam.
That's the ship that he came in on which was incomparable size to the Betavia.
His task was not only to rescue the survivors, but also to salvage as much of the riches on the ship as possible.
Actually, knowing how companies work, that was probably mainly what they were concerned about. They were like, "Uh, survivors." Yeah, sure. But, um, also, how [clears throat] about the treasure?
If you can get those uh silver gildings as well, that' be really chest would be real nice if >> if you can get some of that 16 million survivors. Oh.
Yeah. Uh them too, sure. But uh >> wow, 16 million survivors.
So many. Incredible. But like how about that money?
>> Yeah. How about that cash though?
Anyway, it would take Paleart about a month to get back to the general area of the wreckage and another few weeks before he would find the actual islands.
After encountering Web WB Hayes, the remaining mutineers would actually attempt to seize the Sar Dam, but it was a fruitless effort. Obviously, all of them were captured and the interrogations would begin. Instead of bringing all of the mutineers back to Batavia, Palart wanted to make an example out of the traitors beforehand.
The journals about the interrogations that the commander kept are extensive and highly detailed. Throughout, Cornelius is described as a godless villain with innate corruptness, and those who followed his orders ranged in age from around 50 to under the age of 18.
uh a very good portion of the criminals would fold relatively easy as um if you didn't know torture of prisoners was very much legal during this time in the Netherlands. So criminals are afolden.
The timeline the timeline of it jumping from those sort of like, oh, you know, we'll do these really secretive murders, you know, we'll just we'll try and hide it a little bit and be a little less obvious to things of just like, yeah, we're going to massacre people out in the open because we don't give a [ __ ] Um, apparently that transition happened just shy of 20 days. They went from, oh, let's keep it hidden to, "Fuck it, we murder in the open." God damn. That that's that's it's just so soon. It's just so early to go straight into literally, you know, in broad daylight with dull knives. Like what the what the [ __ ] >> Yeah.
>> Got a lot of time to think on that island. Not much to do.
>> Yeah. And Cornelius was crazy. He wanted that sort of weird debaucherous um just indulge yourself lifestyle. So yeah, that's not great. As mentioned above, Cornelius would order people to take individuals he felt were a potential hazard to his reign deep out to sea before tying them up and drowning them. Um, but eventually these murders to remove threats were far more visible.
Uh, you know, under the guise of looking for seabirds, his men would take people out over a ridge, stabbing them to death. And then eventually, again, after like 20 days, they were just like, you know what? like ah seabirds I don't care listen hey you I don't like you stab stab stab stab stab right in the face so it's not just it's just not great even though the traitors had an extensive stash of weapons the items used to commit these horrific acts as we noted were notably very dull due to repeated usage meaning most of those who were attacked were hit dozens of times before They fell.
>> Yeah, [laughter] >> the sounds, man. Y got >> just a god.
>> Yep. And again, as we mentioned, though it doesn't need to be said, the assault of women was unfortunately exceptionally common and all the men under Cornelius actively participated in it. Uh, the surviving.
>> You know, I'm not a big fan of this Cornelius guy.
>> No, >> you know, he was a lot he was a lot funnier when he was shouting about the devil.
>> Yeah. Well, I was his cabin boy.
>> Was he also shouting about the devil?
>> You know, he probably was.
>> They were all kind of shouting about the devil a little bit.
>> Yeah, he probably was.
>> Very much a group activity that >> Yeah. uh the surviving women would testify and accuse those who committed the crimes, but they ultimately didn't have to because virtually every single man would admit to it and who they assaulted by name. Uh the women who were killed, oh boy, this is also this is also a sorry in advance from Pawsum. Uh the women who were killed also got a relatively or actually a very unfortunate rare treatment. Most of them, hey, they weren't stabbed with rusty dull knives, you know, they were just strangled.
Doesn't make it any better, but it's an unfortunate note.
>> You're fool, >> right?
>> Yeah, >> that's Yeah, I I would I think I would call that worse. Yeah, that's that's Yeah, that that's worse than Yeah. Yep.
Yep. That's that actually strangled is pretty bad, but I feel like >> Yeah. Getting stabbed 12 times with a rusty knife. Not great either. I mean, I don't think >> it'll take you It'll take you a while to bleed out, too fading in your brain. H >> Yeah. And and imagine there's just some like incompetent mutineer that like stabbed you a bunch of times with a rusty knife and he just missed all the important organs. And not only you're bleeding out, but now you've got all that rusty junk inside you, too.
>> You know, I'm going to go with a I'm going to go with a with a a D minus for both. Um, you know, uh, peer review requirement.
>> Yeah. Yeah. You know, no peer review needed. I think we can just throw them all in the bin.
>> Yeah, that's that's fair. That's fair.
>> Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Sh. It takes a while to be strangled as you watch your killer in the eye. That's love for that. True. They'll um the the stabbing also takes a while. I think I don't like either of the options.
>> No, no. If it was up to me, neither one.
Uh check, please. And uh Possum said they won't leave in all the specifics of the more horrific murders, particularly the ones against pregnant women and, you know, youthful individuals. But >> yeah, don't love that. Glad you left those out, Pawsome. Thanks for that.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Mhm.
>> No, don't don't need that. You can keep the pediatrics out of that.
>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. But one of the notable recorded interrogations was with one of Cornelius's loyalist soldiers, a man named Jan Hendris. He immediately confessed that he had murdered at least 17 people under the direct orders of Cornelius and assisted in even more. Palart would ask what the motive was and he would say that it was the plan for ages now. Jacobs, Cornelius, and and Jan openly talked about seizing the Betavia before it crashed. They wanted to kill Palart and everyone else, leaving about 120 that they liked the most, but the catastrophic nature of the crash threw off the entire plan. Paleart would go out to capture the remaining mutineers, and as soon as they saw him, they would seesaw resistance and lay down their arms, knowing that it was just feudal to fight it. After determining the full extent of the crimes, Palart would deem it time to dole out final judgment on those who had committed treason.
And the next section is called revenge for the dead. And this is your quote, Bricky.
Geronomous Cornelius of Harlem, apothecary and late under merchant of the ship Batavia on Monday being the 1st of October as he has requested to be baptized shall be taken to Seals Island to a place made ready for it in order to exercise justice. and there firstly to cut off both his hands and after shall be punished to the gallows with the cord till death shall follow the confiscation of all of his money gold, silver, monthly wages and all claims which here in India he may have against the profits of the general East India Company are Lord Masters.
>> Yeah. So you know Cornelius is is Yeah.
In his final moments of life, Cornelius would blame >> Sorry, I was Oh, yeah. Go ahead. I was not prepared for the artwork that just appeared.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Just appeared in the chat.
>> Apparently, it is it is appar uh for like traders and stuff that you cut off their hands before you, you know, lead them to the gallows as it were. I was I was going to ask about that cuz the the taking off of their hands and then you know hanging them until they're dead. I was like is is one of those not a bit superfluous you know when the other one's about to happen but you know I mean it is pretty awful stuff. I'm going I'm I'm struggling to, you know, muster a huge amount of empathy/sympathy to be honest, >> if I'm not mistaken, because I I was kind of curious about like why why would you cut off their hands before hanging them type of thing. And um what I found was like apparently they wanted to make it look as just grizzly and awful as possible to make it like a hey, are you thinking of doing something similar?
This is what's going to happen. And I think sometimes they took the hands and they like um they nailed them to the gallows as well to be like, "Hey, >> you know, look out. This was the the hangman's hand as it were, right?"
>> Yeah.
>> So, in his final moments of life, Cornelius would blame everyone but himself for the crimes he committed. To him, it was as if he didn't kill anyone at all. Like, and if you want to be super duper ultra technical about it, technically he never killed a single person during this whole thing. The closest he came to personally was he attempted to poison a child and failed at it. Child didn't even die. However, when it came to him ordering others to do these terrible crimes, he would refuse to confess to a single thing.
This is despite the fact that almost every single person who was interrogated stated very clearly that it was him who ordered everything either indirectly or directly. So, as we said in the quote, he would have both of his hands cut off and he would be hanged. Paleart would state that it took him it it seemed like it took him longer than usual to die, which was fitting because he died as stubborn as he lived. And also, [ __ ] that guy. Uh, the more egregious criminals would also be hung after only one hand was chopped off. And the lesser criminals would indeed be taken back to Betavia.
Two people, however, would have a unique fate. Wowerterl, the star of the terrifying quote from earlier. Uh, oh, no. Woo. And the star of our terrifying quote from earlier, Jan Pilgrim. Due to their youthful status, they weren't actually to be executed. Instead, they would be brought by boat to Western Australia. Some believe it was somewhere around the mouth of the Hut River. They would be given a few supplies, a little boat, and some trade goods, and given the task of make yourselves known to the folk of this land. And technically, they would indeed be the first Europeans to actively settle permanently in Australia, though realistically they would never be seen again because they would die out there because, you know, you've been stranded. Enjoy.
That is such a crazy punishment. That's like I don't Here's this, as far as we know, sort of untouched land where we have never set foot or at least never settled. Here, here's here's two of our worst people. Like, it's just just wild.
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Uh but I mean, they're just kids. You can't just hang kids from the gallows. We'll we'll punish them some other way, I guess. Although, [ __ ] [ __ ] them. Um, after an extensive search that took place over a few weeks, 10 out of the 12 chests of treasure were recovered and taken aboard the Sardam and they made their way back to Betavia.
I have no idea how much of like how much of the 16 million that actually is. I'm going to say they got like 10 million back or so. Um, out of the original presumed 332 passengers that had left the Cape of Good Hope, anyone want to take a guess at how many successfully made it to the original destination?
>> Can I go with zero?
>> No, you cannot.
>> Damn.
I'm I'm gonna Oh god. My gut feeling is that the the number is lower than whatever I say, but I'm I'm kind of it would it be optimistic to say like 150 made it >> a little.
>> That is that is optimistic.
>> A little uh so out of the >> Yeah. Out of the original presumed 332, only 122 successfully made it to the original destination, which did include the Reverend, his daughter, and Lucretia made it. So, you know, though some had died on their own again, cuz there were a bunch of people that did at the beginning when the ship sort of uh was going down, they did uh die by accidental drowning.
Obviously, there was some starvation because supplies were running out. So there is a rough estimate of like uh it could be as high as oh no actually it's a rough estimate of 125 people were actively killed at either the behest of Cornelius or just you know disaster situation drowning starvation. So yeah 125 people were killed in this voyage.
So that and it was not it was not like it wasn't like years was it? It was it was it was not long enough for that number of people. I mean really it shouldn't be long enough for any number of people cuz you know >> you should should be just going off on one and murdering a bunch of a bunch of randoms. But >> I want to say since Palear left I believe it took him 33 days did we say for him to come back.
>> So >> yeah that's >> Yeah. Like how many how many a I'm bad at maths, but that seems like a a lot of people a day to >> Well, there was a massacre in broad daylight with dull knives of at least 50 people.
>> Yeah, that's that's true.
>> And that's one day in one day they they they almost got half of the casualties on the list.
>> God. So, [laughter] you know, I mean, if Cornelius had his way, that number would have been like, "Oh, yeah, only 45 people successfully made it." [ __ ] >> Okay, five months in total.
That's still That's still horrific.
>> Rough. Rough. Uh, also, Pawsum says, "I say rough estimate because there's conflicting numbers everywhere based on contradictory manifests and stuff." And uh for a while the VOCC's official death tally was uh 115 uh 96 men and boys who were employees of the VOCC, 12 women and seven children.
Um at the end of his journals, Palart would say over 120 when referring to the number of people murdered. Uh but due to lack of bodies for almost 400 years of deterioration and watery graves and and bodies that'll never be found out there, uh a true and exact number likely will never actually be determined.
So Cornelius Cornelius's men who were brought back with the Sardam were put on trial. Five of them were hung, hanged.
Uh several were keelhauled and a few of them were dropped from the yard arm. Uh Cornelius's second in command, Jacob Peters, suffered the most aggressive fate where he was sentenced to be broken on the Catherine wheel.
>> Ah, the wheel.
>> The wheel.
>> Yeah.
>> Is dropped off the yard arm thing like the walk in the plank?
>> More or less. Yeah.
>> Gotcha.
>> Yeah. except it's literally from the yard arm instead of like a plank, but it's basically the same thing, >> right?
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, yeah. Keel halt isn't exactly a joke either. Getting dragged under the the ship's >> Yeah. No, I mean that that's also terrible, too. But like the the wheel is, for lack of a better word, iconic.
>> Yeah. un well ke the word keel hauling is like it shows up in a lot of like she she shanty songs and stuff and it's like oh hah it's from that's thing from that song and it's like oh what is ke hauling and it's like oh god >> that's not good >> yeah true very true that being said the wheel >> yeah like the wheel is is old school compared to kale holding like breaking it out after >> they were they were like they're like [ __ ] all right bring the wheel back from 500 years ago. Let's [laughter] get let's let's do some let's go medieval on the show. While you're back there, get the bullsh [laughter] >> crazy. As for the skipper Jacobs, he would refuse to confess and actually successfully escaped execution. Uh it's not exactly clear what happened to him, but it is likely that he died in prison.
Uh Webb Hayes was hailed as a great hero and he was immediately promoted to sergeant for his bravery and leadership.
All the men under his command would be promoted to corporal and he would serve an illustrious career. As for Commander Palart, however, his fate was actually not very pleasant either. It was determined that he exercised a notable lack of authority during the events that unfolded and he would be held partially responsible for the actions of those under him. Despite this, he would continue his career and would partake in a brief expedition to Sumatra. He would be offered a seat in high govern government in Betavia, but he would never take said seat because in less than a year after executing Cornelius, Palart would die in September of 1630.
The VOCC would claim most of his earnings due to earning discrepancies because it was believed that he acquired a large sum of goods during his career at the VOC under the table and a tiny sum would be passed to his elderly mother who was the only person he had in his life. However, in death, the story of the mutiny would become wellknown. His journals would be published in 1647 and they would become exceptionally popular at the time, keeping the tale of the mutiny alive for generations to come.
As for the Batavia itself, the exact location of it remained a mystery for quite some time. It wasn't until 1950 uh that it was determined that the ship was likely wrecked somewhere around the Walabe Islands. The wreck itself would first be spotted by a lobster man in 1963 entirely by accident and an extensive and dangerous archaeological effort would take place to try and uncover it.
Uh due to the high wind intensity and the unpredictable currents in the area, the process of excavating the ship or what was left of it since it was already deteriorating when it hit took about 4 years. Eventually, a good portion of the ship would be excavated along with any sort of remaining supplies and other artifacts, and various pieces are actually on display in museums across Western Australia, I think, to this day, except obviously the anchors, which remain on site to this day. Those anchors are still sitting out there. In the late 2010s, archaeologists would begin to properly unearth skeletons across the islands. And of course, mass graves would be found on Beacon Island, which as we mentioned earlier was the primary island in this group where the majority of the passengers first landed.
As mentioned earlier also however time had not been kind and recovery of the bodies had been exceptionally difficult considering hundreds of years of erosion among other things. And as expected the skeletal remains showed in many instances extreme damage with blunt tools. In total somewhere around 25 bodies have been definitively unearthed.
The second prominent island which Commander Palart landed on initially, if you remember, we just called that island B. Didn't really have a name for it.
Well, it now does have a more significant name that now has a dual meaning. After Palart and his men left and seemingly abandoned the crew without explanation, the survivors on Beacon Island felt genuinely betrayed by his actions. even looking at that island that the commander landed on just oh god [ __ ] traitor. So they opted to call the land that paleart first stepped on traitors island a name that remains to this day. And to end this episode, Pawsum wanted to include the last paragraph of the book Batavia's Graveyard, which was apparently an incredible aid for Pawsum when it came to writing this. It's a remarkably well-done book by the historian Mike Dash, presented in a narrative non-fiction style that includes extensive quotes from the various journals and exceptional details on the events that honestly Pawsum probably could not jam into just one episode today. But here is the final quote of the episode to round us out.
Uh K curio or is this Bricky? I think it's Curio.
>> This is a Kirath one.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Nearly 400 years have passed since then, but the islands have hardly changed in all that time. Visions of the past persist in places such as these. At dusk on October evening, with a full moon sailing in the sky, it is still possible to glimpse Geronomous Cornelius in the shadows on Seals Island. His body hangs there, swinging in the southwest wind that first brought him to the archipelago. The noose's knot is tight under his ear, and the head has snapped grotesques to one side. The rope groans and caks its way across the gallows tree, but the noise it makes cannot be heard. It is drowned out by the ceaseless shrieking of the mutton birds.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the horror of the Bavia.
>> That did you have fun?
>> Uh, that sucks. That just all round horrible. like that. Also with when we when we talked about the the terror and like the the more historical side of that story that was kind of like it felt like a cursed expedition just because of how many things went wrong. The the Bavaria feels like the curse was like a couple of guys. They were the curse.
Like no matter what happened, it feels like something would have been awful.
Like whether the mutiny happened as originally planned or it ended up being shipwrecked somewhere else, no matter what, they were going to go off on one.
And that's absolutely horrifying. That's awful.
>> Actually, it was the fact that they went um like if the ship hadn't derailed, that's what they would have liked.
Actually, their whole plan was to kill Palart, take the Betavia, and do this thing anyway.
Yeah. Yeah.
>> Yeah. It was it was going to be bad no matter what happened. Didn't matter where they landed.
In fact, their preference would have been not to have, you know, shipwrecked at all. But, you know, they're incompetent. Didn't catch the right wind. Didn't head up to Indonesia. Oops.
Crashed in Australia. And yuck.
Yeah.
>> I mean, this really is just like, oh, I'm a I'm a real [ __ ] And also, we're lost.
So, [ __ ] it.
>> Yes. [ __ ] it. Indulgence. Why not? Like, yeah.
>> Yeah. Like, I'm going to indulge in all the horrible things that that are bad and like I'm going to kill everyone.
Like, >> they really went quick into just murder.
>> They sure did.
>> The the downward spiral into everyone must die is absolutely horrific in how quick that was. God damn.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. And is is God that that that gift that Shai sent I hope this hurts. Um it I think it was literally yesterday that the script was sent to me and it I I I didn't know what the Bavia was. It was just a script that said the horror of the Batavia followed by Shai posting that gift and I was like oh no.
>> Oh god Jesus. [laughter] What the what is this?
>> That really sucks.
>> Yeah that really sucks. Can you tell why this sucks so much compared to say Titanic? Yeah, cuz the Titanic is just an unfortunate accident. This was going to happen no matter what. This awful, awful.
>> I feel like if somebody beat Cornelius to death early on, maybe things would have gone a little bit better. But >> true.
>> Alas, they did not.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. No, I mean, I'm actually surprised. You know, all they did was cut off his hands and and hang him. Why?
Why didn't he get the wheel?
>> They didn't bring out the wheel for him.
You know, if Cornelius had made it to Betavia, they might have done something like that to him. But um Palar wanted to make an example of him, so he gave him the gallows treatment on the islands before taking everyone back to Batavia.
He didn't have a wheel. He didn't have a wheel for which to break him on. They they were probably also like, "This guy apparently somehow convinced multiple people to commit mass murder. Do we want him in the brrig talking to people? I I don't think we want that. I, you know, he needs to be made an example of anyway, but also he he's got to at least be slightly good at convincing other people to do stuff or they wouldn't have, you know, murdered the [ __ ] out of a bunch of civilians in his name. So, it but it must have been an element of we have got to get rid of this guy. He is basically Satan and we cannot have him on the ship with us. Not again. No.
Let's do him here and then just >> Yeah.
>> Hopefully he will rot quickly and we can forget he ever existed.
>> As as much as he probably deserved to suffer, it might have been like a situation of he cannot be afforded to live any longer. Let's make do with what we have and just kill this [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] Uh we're not taking him to Arkham. [ __ ] you, Batman. [laughter] [gasps] Something like that. So yeah, awful. disgusting. Wow. Just hate it.
Oh, yeah. It's just it's just it's not good at all. Um and it was funny when I was first reading the script and I was telling Shai this, it was like, "Oh, this doesn't seem like obviously this sucks, but like a we've we've heard some way worse stuff on acceptable losses." And then like there's this little switch that flipped in my brain that was like, "But that was fictional.
>> This happened. This is like real life.
This Oh no. Oh. Oh no. And suddenly everything just got a lot worse. And it's just like, oh, people, this was an actual guy that was alive and did this.
And these are actual things where people were actually killed. And like, oh no.
Absolutely atrocious. Horrible.
>> I mean, how how glad are you that we that we brought you back for this one then, Bricky? How? [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it's cool. Hey, Ricky, come back for an episode of Acceptable Losses, where everyone beats each other to death. [laughter] >> Hey, that's that's just how the podcast goes, man. That's what we do here on Acceptable Losses. And >> Oh, man. The last time I got here, I got I got the Reaper war. This This is different. [laughter] >> Oh, well. Hey, that's Well, you know, I Well, um yeah, get [ __ ] on, I guess. I don't know what to tell you, man.
[laughter] I don't know. I You know, actually, I do know what to tell. Did you enjoy this episode? Do you maybe want to support future episodes just like this where we make where we give Bricky an existential crisis? Heading over to patreon.com/acceptable losses where you can get a litany of bonus episodes if you join. If you just start following, you get a free episode on threads, I think. Right, Curio?
Threads.
>> So, you should check it out.
patreon.com/acceptable losses. I did this in reverse order. So, now Curio has to tell you about the merch.
>> Oh, damn it. I thought I got away with it. I You >> and the outro. [laughter] >> You've let Ricky say goodbye to everybody. Oh, this is all on you, Curio.
>> We've got merch. There's a link in the description. It's excellent. It's fantastic. We've got the you like sci-fi right t-shirt which is an absolute f I say an absolute favorite. It's all class. Got the wall scroll. We got the coin. You might want to be a weeb for Lincoln. You should check it out as again link in the description or you can go to walk8 and uh and Bricky any I was going to say any last words. That's not that feels inappropriate given what we just >> Oh no.
DK and Kira's going to beat me to death.
Put me on the wheel. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] Heat.
[music] >> [music] >> Heat [music] up here.
[music] [music] >> [music]
Related Videos
The 1950s changed everything.
thesongthestoryofficial
962 views•2026-06-16
The Roots of the Seven Years' War – The Silesian Question
STTStepsThroughime
478 views•2026-06-17
FDR's Historic First Flight (1943) ️
BygoneNarrative
14K views•2026-06-14
What Admiral Ugaki Wrote After Watching The Musashi Go Down
WW2Stories1234
2K views•2026-06-17
The Nigerian Leader Who Became the Face of Independence
DiscoverBeyondMedia
559 views•2026-06-16
The WW2 “Potato Battle” That Became U.S. Navy Legend
KilroyWasHereUSA
2K views•2026-06-15
Kaspar Hauser: The Boy Who Appeared From Nowhere | History's Greatest Mystery
ECHOESofMIDNIGHTstyle24
324 views•2026-06-15
The Final Hours of Hitler
Hidden_Archives101
316 views•2026-06-14
