Batavia: Betrayal Shipwreck Murder Sexual Slavery Courage: A Spine-Chilling Chapter in Australian History by Peter FitzSimons

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed inside page, now covered with blank ex libris bookplate sticker. Interior and binding are still excellent. Large format hardcover.

The Shipwreck of the Batavia combines in just one tale the birth of the world's first corporation, the brutality of colonisation, the battle of good vs evil, the derring-do of sea-faring adventure, mutiny, ship-wreck, love, lust, blood-lust, a petty fascist dictatorship, criminality, a reign of terror, murders most foul, sexual slavery, natural nobility, survival, retribution, rescue, first contact with native peoples and so much more.

While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert decides to take the long boat across 2000 miles of open sea for help, his second-in-command, Jeronimus Cornelisz, takes over, quickly deciding that 250 people on a small island is unwieldy for the small number of supplies they have. Quietly, he puts forward a plan to 40-odd mutineers on how they could save themselves, kill most of the rest and spare only a half-dozen or so women, including his personal fancy, Lucretia Jansz, one of the noted beauties of Holland, to service their sexual needs.

A reign of terror begins, countered only by a previously anonymous soldier Wiebbe Hayes, who begins to gather to him those are prepared to do what it takes to survive . . . hoping against hope that the Commandeur will soon be coming back to them with the rescue yacht.

It all happened long ago, and for a very good reason Peter FitzSimons has long maintained that this is "far and away the greatest story in Australia's history, if not the world's." FitzSimons' unique writing style has made him the country's best-selling non-fiction writer over the last ten years, and he is the perfect man to bring this bloody, chilling, stunning tale to life.