THE STORY OF THE BATAVIA

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 4

THE STORY OF THE BATAVIA

Islands of Angry Ghosts. By Hugh Edwards. Hodder and Stoughton. 194 PP, bibliography and index. It is mare than 300 yean since the Batavia, flagship of the Dutch East India Company, was wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands, off the coast of Western Australia. The precise locality where she struck, for years the subject of speculation and debate, was not established until 1963, and then only after several years’ study, hard work and researching. There is evidence of much painstaking research in Mr Edwards’s book, which is divided into two parts. The first describes the Batavia’s voyage from Holland to BateVia in Java. A mutiny was

being plotted as the great strip lumbered across the Indian Ocean. (Incidentally, her stranding so far off her course must have been a remarkably bad piece of navigation, even for the 17th century). The disaster caused a change in the mutineers* plans, but not their abandonment It is here, perhaps, that Mr Edwards is at tris best He skilfully creates the atmosphere of intrigue, bate and suspicion aboard, and graphically describes the violence, lust and murder <m the Abrolhos Islands after the disaster.

The hardships of the castaways, wrecked on an inhospitable and barren group of islands, were accentuated by the bloody doings of the mutineers. The survivors, after weeks of terror and horror, were rescued by a relief ship from Batavia. All

tiris Mr Edwards relates in some detail and with great skill, and fascinating reading it makes.

Equally fascinating is the second part of the book, which describes the preparations, work and ultimate success of the diving expedition. Not only was the wreck of the Batavia found, and relics recovered, but Mr Edwards and his friends were able to place, from maps and descriptions, the very spots where so much blood was spilled so long ago. They even found a grave containing a skeleton with a deft skull.

In his investigation of this 17th century wreck and mutiny Mr Edwards has turned up a wealth of material. He has handled it deftly to produce an absorbing tale. The book is well illustrated, and has a handy index;