Mike Dash: Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
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Author: Mike Dash
Number of Pages: 512 pages
Published Date: 27 May 2003
Publisher: Random House USA Inc
Publication Country: New York, United States
Language: English
ISBN: 9780609807163
Download Link: Click Here
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In 1628 the Dutch East India Company loaded the Batavia, the flagship of its fleet, with a king s ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to Java; the ship itself was a tangible symbol of the world s richest and most powerful monopoly. The company also sent along a new employee to guard its treasure. He was Jeronimus Corneliszoon, a disgraced and bankrupt man with great charisma and dangerously heretical ideas. With the help of a few disgruntled sailors, he hatched a plot to seize the ship and her riches. The mutiny might have succeeded, but in the dark morning hours of June 3, 1629, the Batavia smashed through a coral reef and ran aground on a small chain of islands near Australia. The captain and skipper escaped the wreck, and in a tiny lifeboat they set sail for Java some 1,500 miles north to summon help. More than 250 frightened survivors waded ashore, thankful to be alive. Unfortunately, Jeronimus and the mutineers had survived too, and the nightmare was only beginning."