_Woeful diurnal annotations [of Commander PELSAERT] touching the loss of
our ship Batavia, run aground on the Abrolhos, or rocks of Fredrick
Houtman, situated in 28Ω degrees S. Lat., at 9 miles' distance from the
Southland._
On the fourth of June [1619], it being Whitmonday, with a light, clear
full moon, about two hours before daybreak...I felt the ship's rudder
strike the rocks with a violent horrible shock. Upon which the ship's
course was forthwith checked by the rocks...I rushed on deck, and found
all the sails atop; the wind south-west; our course during the night had
been north-east by north, and we were now lying amidst thick foam. Still,
at the moment, the breakers round the ship were not violent, but shortly
after the sea was heard to run upon us with great vehemence on all
sides...
[When] day broke, we found ourselves surrounded by cliffs and shoals...
I saw no land that I thought would remain above water at high tide,
except an island, which by estimation was fully three miles from the
ship. I therefore sent the skipper to two small islets or cliffs, in
order to ascertain whether our men and part of our cargo could be landed
there. About 9 o'clock the skipper returned, informing me that it was
well-nigh impossible to get through the rocks and cliffs, the pinnace
running aground in one place, and the water being several fathom deep in
another. As far as he could judge, the islands would remain above water
at high tide. Therefore, moved by the loud lamentations raised on board
by women, children, sick people, and faint-hearted men, we thought it
best first to land the greater part of our people...
[On June 5] at their earnest instances to move me, it was determined, as
shown by the resolution, that we should try to find fresh water in the
neighbouring islands, or on the mainland coast in order to save their
lives and our own; and that, if no water should be found, we should in
that case at the mercy of God with the pinnace continue our voyage to
Batavia, there to make known our calamitous and unheard-of disasters...
{Page 56}
This day the 6th do...[we] set sail in the pinnace, and on this day
touched at two separate islands, where we found at best some brackish
water, which had collected in the cavities of the rocks on the beach
after the rain, but it was largely mixed with seawater. On the 7th do. we
remained here, in order to repair our pinnace with a plank, for we found
that without this it would have been impossible to reach the mainland...
On the 8th do. in the morning we set sail from this island for the
mainland...
At noon we were in 28° 13' Lat., and shortly after sighted the mainland,
which we estimated to lie 6 miles north by west of our ship. The wind
blew from the west, and we sounded 25 and 30 fathom about 3 o'clock in
the afternoon. During the night we kept off the land, and after midnight
shaped our course for it again.
In the morning of the 9th we were still about 3 miles from the land, the
wind being mainly north-west with some rain; in the last 24 hours we
covered 4 or 5 miles by estimation, course held north by west. The land
here extends chiefly north by west and south by east. It is a barren,
rocky coast without trees, about the height of Dover in England.
We here saw a small inlet, and some low land with dunes, which we meant
to touch at, but on nearer approach we found a heavy sea and violent
breakers on the shore, while at the same time the swell from the west
suddenly began to run towards the land so strongly and so high, that we
could hardly keep off it, the less so as the storm always rose in
violence.
On the 10th do. we kept holding off and on for twenty-four hours owing to
the strong wind, while the storm from the north-west, which stood on the
boat we had taken with us, forced us to cut the same adrift and to throw
overboard a part of the bread we had with us, together with other things
that were in the way, since we could not keep the water out of our
pinnace.
During the night we were in great peril of foundering owing to the
violent gale and the hollow seas. We could not keep off the land, because
we did not venture to carry sail, and so were wholly at the mercy of wind
and waves, while it kept raining the whole night.
On the 1lth do. in the morning the weather began somewhat to abate, the
wind turning to west-south-west, upon which we held our course to
northward, but the sea was still very rough.
On the 12th do. at noon we were in Lat. 27°; we ran close along the land
with a south-east wind, but could find no means to get near the land with
the pinnace, owing to the violent surf; we found the coast falling off
very steeply, without any foreland or inlets, such as other lands are
found to have: in short it seemed to us a barren, accursed earth without
leafage or grass.
On the 13th do. at noon we were in Lat. 25° 40'; we found ourselves
drifting very rapidly northward, having rounded the point where the land
extends mainly N.N.E. and S.S.W. During the last 24 hours our course was
chiefly north. The coast was steep, consisting of red rock, without
foreland, of the same height almost everywhere, and impossible to touch
at owing to the breakers.
On the 14th do. in the morning there was a faint breeze, but during the
day it fell a dead calm. At noon we were in Lat. 24°; course held N.,
with a S.E. wind; during the whole of the day the current carried us
northward against our will, for we {Page 57} were running along the land
with small sail. In the afternoon we saw smoke rising up from the land;
we accordingly rowed to shore in order to land if possible, with our
spirits somewhat raised, for I concluded that if there were men, there
must be water too. Coming near the shore, I found it to be a steeply
rising coast, full of rocks and stones, with the surf running violently;
nevertheless 6 of our men swam ashore, and we remained at anchor with the
pinnace in 25 fathom outside the surf. The men now searched for water
everywhere until nightfall, without, however, finding any; they also saw
four men coming up to them, creeping on all fours, but when our men all
of a sudden emerged from a depression of the ground, and approached them,
they sprang to their feet, and ran off in full career, all which we could
distinctly see from the pinnace. They were black men, stark naked,
without the least covering. In the evening our men swam on board again,
all of them grievously wounded by the rocks on which they been dashed by
the breakers. We therefore weighed anchor again to seek a better place
for landing, and ran on during the night with small sail close along the
shore, but out of the reach of the surf.
On the 15th do. in the morning we were near a point of the coast off
which a large reef extended about a mile in length, we ran in between the
land and this reef, which we estimated to be in 23° Lat., and thus sailed
along the coast, along which there was another reef, inside which the
water seemed to be very smooth and still; we did our best to get inside
this second reef, but did not find an opening before noon, when we saw a
passage where there was no surf, we ran into it, but found it to be full
of stones, and sometimes no more than one or two feet deep.
This coast had a foreshore covered with dunes about a mile in width,
before you come to the higher part. We therefore began to dig in divers
places, but the water proved to be salt; some of us went to the higher
land, where by good luck we found in a rock a number of cavities, in
which a quantity of rain-water had collected. It also seemed that a short
time before there had been natives there, for we found some crab-shells
lying about and here and there fire-ashes. Here we somewhat quenched our
cruel thirst, which almost prevented us from dragging ourselves along,
for since the loss of our ship we had had no more than one or two
mutchkins daily, without any wine or other drink. Besides quenching our
own thirst, we here gathered about 80 cans of water, and remained there
for the night.
On the 16th do. in the morning we continued our exploration in order to
find out whether there were more water-pits in the mountains, but our
search was fruitless, for it seemed not to have rained there for a long
time past, and we found no traces of running water, the higher ground
being again very barren and unpromising, without any trees, shrubs or
grass, but with plenty of high ant-hills in all directions. These
ant~hills consisted of earth thrown up, and from afar somewhat resembled
huts for the abode of men.
We also found such multitudes of flies here, which perched on our mouths
and crept into our eyes, that we could not keep them off our persons. We
likewise saw 8 blacks here, each of them carrying a stick in his hand;
they came within a musketshot's distance of us, but when we went up to
them, they ran off, and we could not get them to stop, that we might come
near them. Towards noon, when we found there was no more water to be had,
we set sail again, and passed through another opening of the reef a
little more to northward. We were here in 22° 17' Lat. I intended to run
on to Jacop Remessens river, but the wind went round to North-east, so
that we could not keep near the land, and seeing that we were now more
than {Page 58} 100 miles from those we had left behind on the
island-rocks, and that up to now we had not found water enough to assist
them all, but only so much as would afford two mutchkins daily to
ourselves, we were compelled to resolve to do our best in order with
God's help to continue our voyage to Batavia as expeditiously as
possible, that the Hon. Lord Governor-general might order measures to be
taken for the succour of those we had left behind...
On the 7 th do. [of July] we arrived in the road-stead of Batavia at
nightfall.
God be thanked and praised.