Batavia's Graveyard : The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny

Rating:
Summary: Ships of wood - Men of Steel
Review: This is an excellent book about the wreck of the Dutch merchant ship, Batavia. The ship ran aground off the coast of Australia while sailing for the Indies; casting the survivors upon a rough, desolate collection of tiny islands, which were little more than rocky outcroppings. As if this weren't bad enough, among the survivors was a fellow named Jeromimus Corneliszoon. Sad for the men, women and children who had survived the wreck, the isolation and hardship of the situation brought Corneliszoon's psychopathy to full flower. The heart of the book chronicles his erratic, blood-drenched reign over the band of castaways.

The strength of this book lies primarily in the author's description of the fascinating spice trade of the 16th century. The vast fortunes and incredible dangers and hardships of this world provide a vivid back ground for the events of the book, and the author does a great job of bringing them to life. The Dutch, who presently have a rather benign and pleasant international image, were the masters of this adamantine world, and they ruled with a machine-like ruthlessness. I was not fully aware what was involved for an individual to be "broken on the wheel" or even "keel-hauled." The sailors who, for their own desperate reasons, risked themselves in the 16th century merchant profession knew what it meant, and knew the masters of the Dutch East India Company would dispense these and other punishments without qualm or conscience.

It was a brutal business requiring brutal men, and the author takes care and skill in describing the characters of the spice trade. Men like the incredible, iron-souled Jan Coen, Governor-General of Batavia (the Island in the Indies, not the Ship) seem to leap at you off the page in icy aggressiveness.

The only weakness I found in the book was, oddly, the author's description of the central events. Mr. Dash as taken a factual, cool retelling of the horrible slaughter of the castaways. Perhaps the author didn't want to be accused of "novelizing" the events, but I found the telling a bit chilly and unsatisfying. Perhaps, too, I had hoped for too much. The situation was one so rife with dramatic potential; I had anticipated scenes from Shakespeare. The writer of history, however, must stick to primary sources and journal accounts, after all, and must be very wary of dramatically enhancing events.

The strengths far outshine the slight weaknesses, though, and the book really kept me turning pages. I recommend it. - Mykal Banta


Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This is one of the most exhilarating historical books I've ever read. Every nuance of this account is fascinating in it own right, and taken as a whole, it is stunning, horrifying, and unforgettable. The amount of research that went into writing this fantastic book is mind boggling. And the result reads as cleanly as the best literature and more thrilling than the greatest fiction. The book begins with the words, "Everything in this book is true." And trust me, there are many times that you can hardly believe that. This is some really bizarre and astonishing stuff. When factual tales like this have been documented, it amazes me that Hollywood recycles the same old cliché stories over and over. This would make one hell of a movie!

Rating:
Summary: A new standard for narrative nonfiction
Review: This remarkable work by Mike Dash sets a new standard for narrative nonfiction. As one reads it, one has the sense of being told the story by a particularly gifted speaker; it held my attention to the extent that at times I really could not put it down.

One of the oddest aspects of the tale of Jeronimus Cornelisz, his mad accomplices and their victims is the way that the tale's inherent interest is almost inversely proportional to the events' historical significance. No one particularly well-known was on the ship, and its loss did not create lasting financial difficulty for the VOC. Yet this anecdotic event in history was so bizarre it retains the power to fascinate, and to do so for the duration of a fairly good-sized hardback book. Mike Dash proves to be especially skillful at interweaving related historical threads that teach the reader a good deal about contemporary life in the Netherlands. From disquisitions on the differences between physicians, apothecaries and surgeons, to an explanation of the bloody history of the Anabaptists, Dash carefully adds in a plethora of details that far from being extraneous, make even the endnotes interesting reading, as another reviewer has noted. I really cannot think of a single criticism of this work; I was not previously familiar with either the story of the Batavia or the work of this author, but now feel fortunate to have come across this book.

Rating:
Summary: Truth is even better than fiction!
Review: What an awesome book! I bought it because I love Dutch history and my fiancé loves maritime history, and any book we can both enjoy is well worth the money. Enjoy it we did - even the copious and some might say exhaustive notes at the end, which take up the last 1/3 of the book.

My one complaint is that the narrative jumps around quite a bit, from the voyage of the Batavia, back to Holland, then to the shipwreck, then back to Holland, then to the East Indies, then back to the islands... You get the idea. Along those lines, a character list would have been enormously helpful, to keep track of the various Jacops, Jans, and Pieters as we jump back and forth in time and location.

Those quibbles aside, it's no surprise to me that movie rights have already been sold. A lot of attention has been paid to Corneliszoon, the psychopathic mutineer, but there are just as many quiet heroes in this story who will move you with their bravery. From the young maid who volunteers to swim a mile back to the sinking ship to get more drinking water, to the soldier who organizes a resistance to the murderous cronies of Cornelisz, the story of the Batavia is filled with both monsters and heroes, acts of courage and acts of savagery - and all of it true.