Guus Bosman

This book is a reprint of the original manuscript of the commander of the ship Batavia, which perished on the cliffs before Australia in 1629. It is a project by the Linschoten-Vereeniging, a society that aims to republish original Dutch-language manuscripts related to (ocean) travel.

It was an interesting book to read. The bloody story of the Batavia was mostly new for me. The book consists of two parts: a thorough introduction and summary of the affair, as well as the transcription of the commander of the ship, Francisco Pelsaert. The latter is kept in the original 17th century Dutch, which took a while to get used to but is ultimately quite readable. The summary in the beginning is very helpful, since the manuscript and other documents are not placed chronologically.

The story of the Batavia is quite sad, and the manuscript is explicit in the bloodiness of the whole business.

Harm and Marijke gave me this book when I visited the Netherlands in 2010.