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The Worst Shipwreck Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of
The Worst Shipwreck Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of
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0:00
The axe crashes down with brutal force,
0:02
dropping a crew member onto the hot
0:04
sand. Bloody, dazed, and gasping for
0:07
life, his killer, a man he once called a
0:09
shipmate, doesn't stop. The blows keep
0:12
coming, relentless and savage. Once he's
0:15
sure the man is dead, the lifeless
0:16
corpse is dragged by the arms and dumped
0:18
into a shallow grave. Just one of nine
0:21
already filled. Each one holds the
0:23
remains of a Dutch East India Company
0:25
sailor. Victims of a massacre that is
0:27
only just beginning. The one thing they
0:29
all have in common is taking an ill-
0:31
fated voyage aboard the Betavia, a Dutch
0:34
merchant ship bound for Jakarta. What
0:36
followed was one of the most brutal and
0:37
disturbing events to ever occur on the
0:39
seven seas. How did a routine voyage led
0:42
by an experienced commander spiral into
0:44
an island soaked in blood, filled with
0:46
killers, victims, and chaos, and a wreck
0:49
that wouldn't be discovered until
0:51
1963. It all started in Tessle in the
0:54
Netherlands on the 29th of October 1628.
0:57
Founded in6002, the Dutch East India
0:59
Company quickly became a powerhouse of
1:01
maritime trade, fueling the Netherlands
1:03
global empire with a steady flowing of
1:06
foreign goods and riches. The sheer
1:08
amount of money they were making from
1:09
trade was staggering, leading to the
1:11
Dutch expression, "Jesus Christ is good,
1:14
but trade is better." Dutch ship rights
1:16
were at the time considered some of the
1:18
finest in the world. So, if you needed
1:19
goods shipped, it made sense to put your
1:21
trust in a Dutch East India Company ship
1:24
to do it. Commissioned under the Dutch
1:26
East India shipping charter in 1626. It
1:28
was completed just over 18 months later.
1:30
By 1628, the Bavia was ready for its
1:33
maiden voyage, sailing from Tessle in
1:35
the Netherlands to the Dutch colonies in
1:37
Indonesia, then known as the Dutch East
1:39
Indies. Once there, it would trade vast
1:41
amounts of silver and gold for valuable
1:43
spices that couldn't be grown in a Dutch
1:46
climate. The ship was massive, 150 ft
1:48
long, built from over 700 trees, and
1:51
weighing in at 600 tons. It could carry
1:54
hundreds of passengers and served as the
1:56
flagship of a nine ship fleet bound for
1:58
the East Indies. In its cargo hold were
2:01
12 chests filled with silver and gold
2:03
trading coins, crates of food, precious
2:05
clothing dyes, and even a rare engraved
2:08
gem known as the Constantine Cameo once
2:11
owned by the famed painter Peter Paul
2:13
Rubin. To just say the ship and its
2:15
contents were valuable would be a
2:17
ludicrous understatement. Every Dutch
2:19
fleet had a senior merchant as a
2:21
commander, who would dictate the paths
2:23
of all the ships involved. Each
2:24
individual ship had a skipper, also
2:26
known as a captain, whose job it was to
2:28
perform the mechanical actions of
2:30
actually running a ship like this. And
2:32
on a flagship like the Betavia, the
2:34
commander and the skipper would be
2:35
sailing together. Planners at the
2:37
company requested the ships take the
2:38
Brower route, a legendarily treacherous
2:41
17th century trading route treated as
2:43
standard by the Dutch East India
2:45
Company. They would sail around the Cape
2:47
of Good Hope in South Africa and catch
2:49
the roaring 40s winds to propel their
2:51
sails toward the Indonesian island of
2:53
Java. It wasn't an easy route, but with
2:55
an experienced commander, it could still
2:57
be conquered. Luckily, an experienced
2:59
commander was exactly what the company
3:01
had in Francisco Pelzart, who had been
3:03
with them as a junior merchant since
3:05
1618. He had climbed up the ranks to
3:08
senior merchant over the course of his
3:10
service in India. He was considered a
3:12
sturdy, reliable company man, the kind
3:14
of sailor who doesn't ask questions and
3:16
gets things done. But like all men of
3:18
the sea, he wasn't without his roguish
3:19
side. Commander Pelart had amassed a
3:21
tidy sum of the company's goods and
3:23
money in secret. It was an act of
3:25
embezzlement that would go unnoticed by
3:27
the company and would give him some
3:29
secret wealth to enjoy in his
3:31
retirement. Completing the Betavia job
3:33
would likely only win him more
3:35
recognition and riches. Although Pelzart
3:37
would be a solid commander for the
3:38
dangerous voyage ahead, trouble began
3:40
when the company hired the ship's
3:42
skipper, Arian Yakos, he had a
3:44
reputation not just for drinking
3:46
heavily, even by sailor standards. But
3:48
there was already bad blood between him
3:50
and Pelsart from their brushes in Dutch
3:52
Serat earlier in their careers. They
3:55
were hanging out with a group of their
3:56
fellow merchants when Yakobs had one
3:58
drink too many and started hurling petty
4:00
jabs at Pelsart and his colleagues. This
4:02
was the kind of attack to his pride that
4:04
Pelzer wouldn't take lying down.
4:06
Instead, he flew into a rage and
4:08
publicly dismantled Yakobs with his
4:10
harsh words, going as far as giving him
4:12
an official reprimand for
4:14
insubordination. Yakobs was left furious
4:16
and humiliated in front of all of his
4:18
fellow merchants. To the company and the
4:20
rest of the crew, it seemed like the
4:21
commander and the skipper could set
4:23
their differences aside, at least
4:25
professionally, for the sake of the
4:26
voyage. No one in the higher ranks
4:28
really cared if the two men had a bar
4:30
fight in Jakarta afterward. So long as
4:32
the spice trade went off without a
4:34
hitch. With a crew hired and installed
4:36
and the cargo safely stowed, they set
4:38
off toward Africa. The journey that
4:40
would take months to complete, but would
4:42
end in all of them being paid handsomely
4:44
for their work. Of course, with no way
4:46
of judging longitude at the time, there
4:49
was always an inherent risk attached to
4:50
the Brower route. If you overshot the
4:53
turn north toward Java, you would end up
4:54
in Australia instead. Through the
4:56
expertise of Pelert and Yakobs, that was
4:59
an outcome they had all thought they'd
5:00
be able to avoid. The Betavia was
5:02
wellprepared for the long journey ahead.
5:04
It carried months worth of provisions,
5:06
medical supplies, and a contingent of
5:09
armed soldiers led by Sergeant Viva
5:11
Hayes. On board were 24 cast iron
5:13
cannons ready to defend against pirate
5:15
attacks. In total, the ship held 341
5:18
passengers, 180 sailors, 100
5:21
mercenaries, and a group of wealthy
5:23
civilians hoping to start a new life in
5:24
the Dutch colonies. But in the belly of
5:26
the ship, a cancer was starting to
5:28
spread. And that cancer's name was
5:30
Uranomous Cornelius. While the feud
5:33
between Commander Pelisart and the
5:34
drunken skipper was sure to cause its
5:36
fair share of problems during the
5:37
voyage, junior merchant Cornelius was a
5:40
very different kind of evil, it's long
5:42
been theorized that he was planning the
5:44
catastrophe that would befall the Bavia
5:46
from before he even got to set foot on
5:48
the ship. To truly grasp what happened
5:50
aboard the Betavia, you have to step
5:52
inside the mind of Uranimus Cornelius.
5:55
And according to many modern historians
5:56
and writers, that mind was deeply
5:58
disturbed, possibly diseased. Some
6:01
believe Cornelius suffered from a mix of
6:02
psychopathy and advanced syphilis, a
6:05
condition known to trigger erratic,
6:06
delusional, and even violent behavior.
6:09
Cornelius had a strange and
6:10
controversial life in the Netherlands,
6:12
long before the doomed ship ever left
6:14
the harbor. He and his wife had
6:16
experienced a personal tragedy after
6:17
their baby passed away from hereditary
6:20
syphilis. According to one of its
6:21
nurses, Cornelius attempted to sue the
6:24
nurse to prove the child contracted
6:25
syphilis from its mother and not him.
6:28
Cornelius had once opened an apothecary
6:30
in Harlem, hoping to build a prosperous
6:32
life. He was also an admirer of Johannes
6:34
Vanderbeek, a controversial painter and
6:37
philosopher considered a heretic by many
6:39
for his openly atheistic views.
6:41
Cornelius agreed with Vanderbeek. He
6:43
didn't believe in God and he saw those
6:45
who followed divine law over personal
6:47
gains as fools. He swore that he'd never
6:50
make that mistake. From that point on,
6:52
his pleasure would rule all. But things
6:54
still weren't looking great for
6:56
Cornelius. By 1628, his apothecary went
6:59
bust, saddling him with debt. His
7:01
heretical beliefs might have put him in
7:02
legal jeopardy if he remained in the
7:04
Netherlands. He needed money, and he
7:06
needed a way out. So, working for the
7:08
Dutch East India Company on a ship that
7:10
was traveling halfway around the world
7:12
seemed like the perfect combination.
7:14
Despite his fear of water, he left with
7:16
all the others in October of that year.
7:18
Put in charge of managing cargo and the
7:21
ship's commercial interests. That was
7:23
when he started to hatch his diabolical
7:25
plan. While all the other sailors were
7:27
working hard to earn their keep,
7:29
Cornelius was trying to get by doing as
7:31
little work as possible, mainly hanging
7:33
back in the cabin and plotting. He
7:35
didn't want to follow the rules and
7:36
spend the rest of his life as a junior
7:38
merchant, struggling to get by. He was
7:40
on a ship full of silver and gold, ripe
7:42
for the taking. If he could find a way
7:44
to turn his situation to his advantage,
7:46
he'd be able to make off as a wealthy
7:48
pirate. But there was a problem.
7:51
Corporal Viva Hayes and his soldiers.
7:53
There was no way Cornelius could
7:55
personally stop a gang of heavily armed,
7:57
trained fighters that were loyal to the
7:59
company signing their pay slips. If
8:00
Cornelius wanted to take over the ship,
8:03
the only way to do it would be by
8:05
staging a full mutiny. Cornelius noticed
8:07
the animosity between the commander and
8:09
the skipper. Soon he started
8:11
sweet-talking Yakobs, playing on his
8:13
resentments and promising him a cut of
8:15
the goods if he helped overthrow the
8:16
commander. Like a pearl forming around a
8:19
grain of sand, a mutiny plan was
8:21
beginning to coalesce around them. The
8:23
ship stopped at the Cape of Good Hope to
8:25
resupply, and some good luck came the
8:27
way of the head of the mutineers. A
8:29
storm struck, separating the Bavia from
8:31
the rest of the fleet. This meant if
8:33
anything went wrong on board,
8:34
reinforcements wouldn't arrive in any
8:36
time to stop it. Now Cornelius just
8:39
needed to drive the wedge in further.
8:41
Meanwhile, Yakovs was off on a drunken
8:43
spree, earning him more contempt from
8:45
his commander and deepening the rift
8:47
that was already between him. Under
8:48
Cornelius's instructions, Yakobs
8:50
diverted the ship while the commander
8:52
was bedridden with sickness. He also
8:54
started spreading rumors that the
8:55
commander was deliberately trying to
8:57
steer them off course from the rest of
8:58
the group. This planted a seed of doubt
9:01
that added a few more recruits to the
9:03
mutiny effort, but they still needed
9:05
much more if they were going to pull the
9:07
heist off. Cornelius's second plot
9:09
really illustrates how loathsome he was.
9:11
The plan was to orchestrate an attack
9:13
against one of the women on the ship,
9:15
27-year-old Lucricia, the daughter of a
9:18
wealthy merchant who was tagging along
9:19
with her husband. After the assault,
9:21
Cornelius assumed that the commander
9:23
would punish everyone on the ship for
9:25
their indiscretion, which would make
9:27
them all resent him more. This would
9:29
make them even more sympathetic to
9:31
joining the mutiny. But the plan fell
9:33
apart when Lucricia was able to identify
9:35
only one of her attackers. Rather than
9:37
moving toward collective punishment,
9:38
Commander Pelart decided that he would
9:40
deal with the people responsible the
9:42
next time they made landfall. Still,
9:44
there was no shortage of reasons for
9:46
tension aboard the Betavia. Death rates
9:48
on those voyages could reach one in four
9:50
thanks to scurvy, malnutrition, and
9:52
tropical diseases picked up during
9:54
resupply stops on the grueling 8-month
9:56
journey. Conditions on board were
9:58
filthy, cramped, and only added to the
10:00
volatile atmosphere. On June 4th, 1629,
10:03
around 2 hours before dawn, all hell
10:06
truly broke loose. Some theories state
10:08
that Cornelius manipulated his loyal
10:10
skipper into running the ship ground.
10:12
Others maintain that it was just bad
10:14
navigation that kicked the ship toward
10:16
Western Australia rather than Java. The
10:18
truth is, we will never know, but either
10:21
way, the result was the same. The
10:23
Betavia struck a hidden reef near the
10:25
Hman Abberholes Islands, 37 mi off the
10:28
Australian coast, ripping out the bottom
10:30
of the ship. And then chaos took over.
10:33
As the commander said of the incident in
10:34
his very own journal, I said, "Skipper,
10:37
what have you done?" That through your
10:38
reckless carelessness, you have run this
10:41
noose round our necks. What began as a
10:44
disciplined crew of sailors and
10:45
mercenaries quickly unraveled into every
10:47
man for himself. As the ship broke
10:49
apart, men hurled off the wrecked ship
10:52
and swam for their lives against
10:53
swirling tides. At least 40 people on
10:55
the ship weren't lucky enough to make it
10:57
all the way to what's now known as
10:58
Beacon Island. Many of the people who
11:00
manned the ship never even learned how
11:03
to swim, and so they were swept away by
11:05
the strong currents and drowned.
11:07
Uranomous Cornelius and around 40 others
11:09
stayed aboard the half-sken ship,
11:11
surrounded by crates of alcohol and the
11:14
treasure he so desperately wanted for
11:15
himself. One by one, the survivors were
11:18
fed to the surrounding islands of the
11:19
archipelago. Most to Beacon Island, the
11:22
rest scattered across the smaller
11:24
islands nearby. The commander Yakovs and
11:26
the rest of the officers went to a
11:28
smaller island which would later be
11:30
named Traers Island by the rest because
11:32
Commander Pelert effectively left them
11:34
all high and dry. After finding that
11:37
there was no food or water on the Baron
11:38
Islands, Pelert and Yakubs took action.
11:41
They commandeered a long boat, gathered
11:43
a small group of officers and sailors
11:45
and civilians, and set out on a
11:47
desperate journey to Jakarta, over 1,000
11:50
m away, leaving the rest behind to fend
11:52
for themselves. 9 days after the wreck,
11:54
the Betavia finally broke apart, forcing
11:57
the last of its occupants to abandon
11:59
ship and scramble for dry land. Among
12:01
them was Cornelius, who swam to Beacon
12:03
Island, where he found a group of
12:05
terrified, starving survivors waiting
12:07
for help. To him, it was the opportunity
12:10
he had been waiting for. With a senior
12:12
merchant and skipper rowing their way to
12:13
Jakarta, he was able to pull rank as the
12:16
junior merchant. He positioned himself
12:18
as a wise leader who could pull them out
12:20
of this tragedy if only they would
12:22
follow his every command. And the
12:23
survivors were just about afraid and
12:25
desperate enough to do it, especially
12:27
with the help of the mutineers who were
12:29
already sympathetic to his greedy cause.
12:32
In his first act as de facto lord of
12:34
Beacon Island, he had the weapons and
12:36
food consolidated and put under his
12:38
control. He was the leader after all. It
12:40
only made sense. This meant that not
12:42
only did he have a gang of violent
12:43
mutineers doing his bidding, they were
12:45
also now armed. Cornelius had two
12:48
potential plans now. One, he would spend
12:50
his remaining days on the island lording
12:52
over everyone else and living out a life
12:54
of complete pleasure in defiance of all
12:56
gods and masters, just like Vanderbek
12:58
said. But if Pelar and Yakobs returned
13:00
with a rescue ship, he would kill them
13:02
and sail away with his treasures. But
13:04
there was still one problem. The same
13:05
problem that he'd had back on the ship.
13:07
Viva Hayes and the mercenaries working
13:09
under him. But as it turned out,
13:11
Cornelius had a plan for that, too. He
13:13
sent the men to the barren wasteland of
13:15
West Walabe Island to search for fresh
13:17
water. If they succeeded, he told them
13:19
to signal back with smoke. Of course, he
13:21
never expected them to actually find
13:22
water. The plan was just for the
13:24
soldiers to die of thirst out there.
13:26
While Cornelius kicked the next phase of
13:28
his plan into action, the slaughter. His
13:31
plans to orchestrate a mass murder
13:32
across the island had two aims. One, he
13:35
needed to make sure that anyone who was
13:37
still loyal to the commander or the
13:38
company was dead. This was essential for
13:41
removing any threats to his new rule.
13:43
The second purpose, in the event that
13:44
the commander did come back, was that
13:46
with fewer people, their supplies would
13:48
last longer, and this meant they had a
13:50
longer window to survive while waiting
13:52
for the commander to deliver their ride
13:54
out of there. By Cornelius's
13:56
calculations, including his most loyal
13:58
mutineers, the ideal number of survivors
14:00
left would be around 75 out of almost
14:03
200. In other words, for the plans to
14:05
work, they would need to murder a lot of
14:07
people. What would follow was 3 and 1/2
14:09
months of pure hell. As Cornelius and
14:11
his loyalists ruled Beacon Island with
14:13
absolute ferocity, they figured out
14:15
different ways to covertly murder people
14:18
without ever causing a full-scale panic
14:20
among the rest. having split off some of
14:21
the survivors to a nearby island. He had
14:24
his men corner and murder them first.
14:26
Some managed to escape on rafts to West
14:28
Walabe Island, only to die of thirst
14:30
with Hayes and the other soldiers.
14:32
Anyone who seemed strong enough that
14:34
they might be able to challenge his
14:35
authority, they were snuck up on and had
14:37
their throats cut. Others were sent to
14:39
nearby Long Island. Told that they were
14:41
helping search for water or supplies.
14:43
But once ashore, they were abandoned,
14:45
left to die slowly under the brutal sun
14:48
with no food or water. Some never even
14:50
made it that far. They were taken out to
14:52
sea in small boats and tossed overboard.
14:54
One by one, they disappeared beneath the
14:57
waves. And when enough were killed that
14:59
Cornelius couldn't even be bothered to
15:00
hide what he was doing anymore, he had
15:02
his men openly slaughter people in their
15:04
camps. Centuries later, archaeologists
15:06
would uncover shallow graves scattered
15:08
across the islands filled with shattered
15:11
skeletons. In some cases, they found
15:13
mass burial pits where men, women, and
15:15
children had been tossed in together,
15:17
then hastily covered once the killing
15:19
was done. According to the Australian
15:21
National Maritime Museum, some prisoners
15:23
were forced to kill each other in order
15:25
to prove their loyalty to Cornelius and
15:27
save their own lives. But this was an
15:29
agreement he didn't always honor. A
15:32
strange and eerie detail amongst all of
15:34
this was that despite all the killings
15:36
he ordered, Cornelius never once
15:38
personally murdered another person
15:39
during the whole ordeal. He much more
15:42
enjoyed just sitting back and watching
15:44
his murders be carried out. He was,
15:46
however, a much more active participant
15:48
in the taking of female prisoners on the
15:50
island to act as comfort women for the
15:52
violent mutineers. Naturally, he
15:54
personally took Lreeans, who he already
15:56
conspired to assault on the ship months
15:58
earlier, as his own, forbidding any of
16:01
his minions from touching her. As the
16:03
madness of power took him, he even
16:05
started referring to himself as Captain
16:07
General. He wore all of the commander's
16:09
fine clothes that he had his men loot
16:11
from the rotting remains of the ship
16:13
just in case he didn't seem quite
16:14
unbearable enough before. But in all of
16:17
this arrogance, Cornelius had forgotten
16:18
a crucial fact. Professional soldiers
16:21
are known for being resourceful. While
16:23
out on the island, Corporal Hayes and
16:25
his men had discovered a vast population
16:27
of small walabes, which they were able
16:29
to kill for meat. From there, they were
16:31
able to track down water on the far
16:32
reaches of the island so they didn't die
16:34
of thirst either. And this is where the
16:36
mutineers's worst nightmare happened.
16:38
The survivors of the first island
16:40
massacre were able to rendevous with
16:42
Corporal Hayes and the rest of the
16:44
surviving soldiers. They told him that
16:46
Cornelius had seemingly gone mad and
16:48
that he was slaughtering everyone. It
16:49
didn't take long for Hayes to realize
16:51
he'd been sent out there to die and
16:53
Cornelius had been behind everything all
16:55
along. But they weren't just going to
16:57
lay back and let Cornelius play out his
16:59
dreams of being an island god at their
17:02
expense. They were going to take
17:03
advantage of this one thing that they
17:05
had, the element of surprise, and fight
17:07
back, even if it killed them. Cornelius
17:10
was going down. Meanwhile, 33 days after
17:13
setting off, Commander Pelert, Yakobs,
17:15
and the 46 others on the longboat
17:17
miraculously made it to the Dutch East
17:19
Indies without any loss of life. That
17:22
wouldn't last for long, however, as the
17:24
authorities, led by Governor General Yan
17:26
Peterson Cohen, executed some of the
17:28
people on board for gross negligence.
17:30
Yakovs was thrown into a dungeon for his
17:32
incompetence. And Commander Pelert
17:35
received a good finger wagging for all
17:36
the money he just lost. But they also
17:39
provided him with another ship, Sardam,
17:41
a fast-moving vessel typically meant for
17:43
sending emergency messages as a rescue
17:45
vessel, and crewed it with new
17:47
personnel. He set off back for Beacon
17:49
Island, having no idea of the absolute
17:51
nightmare that was waiting for him. And
17:53
worse still for the people in the war
17:55
for Beacon Island, it would take 7 weeks
17:57
for Sardam to get there. Back on the
17:59
islands, Cornelius had discovered that
18:01
there was water on West Walabi Island, a
18:03
crucial resource as his own supplies
18:05
were running dangerously low. Meanwhile,
18:07
Hayes and his men were building
18:08
fortifications out of reef coral to
18:10
defend their island, as well as
18:12
juryrigging makeshift weapons from ship
18:14
debris, jungle commando style. Seemed
18:16
like a confrontation between the two
18:18
forces was inevitable. The superior
18:20
numbers and weapons of the mutineers
18:22
versus the superior training and tactics
18:23
of the Hazemen. The mutineers launched a
18:26
series of attacks on Seals Island, where
18:28
Hayes and his soldiers had dug in. But
18:30
each assault ended in brutal defeat.
18:32
After two failed attempts, Captain
18:34
General Cornelius, his grip on sanity
18:36
likely slipping, made a bold move. He
18:38
approached the enemy camp himself,
18:40
flanked by a group of his men, claiming
18:42
that he wanted to negotiate a peace
18:44
treaty with Corporal Hayes. Instead,
18:45
Hayes turned the tables, routing the
18:48
invasion force and capturing Cornelius
18:50
along with the additional win of
18:51
overpowering and killing three of the
18:53
mutineers. Back on Beacon Island, the
18:55
rest of the mutineers were in a panic,
18:57
having lost their leader. With Cornelius
18:59
behind enemy lines, one of his most
19:00
devoted henchmen, Valter Lewis, stepped
19:03
up to the plate as a temporary leader of
19:05
those that remained. They sent forth an
19:07
extraordinarily vicious attack on the
19:09
soldiers after that, managing to kill
19:11
three of Hayes's men in the process. The
19:13
death toll just kept on rising and
19:14
rising as the mutineers pulled out the
19:16
big guns, literally. While their enemies
19:19
were using weapons made out of the
19:20
ship's debris and rocks found around the
19:22
island, Cornelius's men were using
19:24
musketss that had been saved for killing
19:26
anyone who arrived on the rescue ship.
19:28
Even with their survival instincts,
19:30
resourcefulness, and close combat
19:31
tactics, it looked like the tide had
19:33
turned. Soon, the mutineers would finish
19:35
off the remaining soldiers and rescue
19:37
their deranged leader. After disposing
19:39
of any rescue party that arrived, they
19:41
could sail away into the sunset with all
19:43
the gold and silver they could ever
19:44
want. Or at least that's what would have
19:46
happened if the Sardom captained by
19:48
Francisco Pelart with a crew of 25 men
19:51
had not appeared on the horizon.
19:53
However, Pelsart was coming back to
19:55
absolute chaos. He had no way of knowing
19:57
who was the leader of the mutiny here,
19:59
Cornelius or Corporal Hayes. The
20:01
narrative that he believed would depend
20:03
entirely on who got to him first. The
20:05
mutineers and the soldiers both sent a
20:07
raft out each. They rode as if it was a
20:09
matter of life and death, and it was.
20:11
Whoever arrived first would seal the
20:13
fate of the other. The soldiers got to
20:15
Pelert first, warning him about how
20:17
Cornelius was the warped mind behind the
20:19
mutiny. His men had long range weapons,
20:21
and they were planning to kill the
20:23
rescue party to escape without
20:24
consequences. Delivering this message
20:26
saved all of their lives. Working
20:28
together, Pelsart's rescue team and
20:30
Corporal Hayes's remaining soldiers
20:32
overpowered Cornelius and his mutineers.
20:34
A makeshift prison was built on Beacon
20:36
Island, and the rebels were locked away.
20:38
70 innocent survivors were loaded onto
20:41
the rescue ship and taken to the nearest
20:43
friendly settlement. After three and a
20:45
half months of horror, they received
20:46
food, water, and treatment for their
20:48
wounds, both physical and psychological,
20:51
that they had endured under Cornelius's
20:53
reign of terror. Of the 341 people who
20:55
boarded the Betavia in the Netherlands,
20:57
only 122 survived, but the scars left
21:00
behind stretched far wider than the body
21:03
count. Commander Francisco Pelart,
21:05
though he survived, never really
21:06
recovered from the incident. His
21:08
reputation was in tatters after having
21:10
allowed the mutiny to ever take place.
21:12
He did what he could to salvage the
21:14
goods lost on the Bavia, but it was all
21:16
for nothing as he died the next year in
21:19
1630. Arian Yakovs, the bitter drunken
21:22
skipper, never saw freedom again. He
21:24
died alone in that small dark dungeon.
21:26
His fate sealed far from the chaos he
21:28
helped set in motion. As for the
21:30
mutineers, justice was swift and brutal.
21:33
Uranomous Cornelius and his chief
21:35
henchmen faced the consequences for
21:37
their crimes against humanity. After
21:38
being captured, they were tortured by
21:40
the Dutch authorities into confessing
21:42
the full extent of their rampage before
21:44
being sentenced to death. Each one of
21:46
the mutineers under Cornelius had one of
21:48
their hands chopped off. Cornelius, as
21:50
the leader of the mutiny, had both of
21:51
his hands removed. They were all then
21:53
hanged, likely a much quicker death than
21:56
any of their victims faced. But this did
21:58
make them the first six Europeans to be
22:00
legally executed in Australia. Many of
22:03
the lower tier mutineers were also later
22:05
executed and two of them voter loose and
22:08
a cabin boy were marooned on the island
22:10
as punishment and never heard from
22:12
again. It was a voyage filled with hope.
22:14
The promise of trade, new beginnings,
22:17
and for some a better life. But one
22:19
man's greed and madness turned that
22:21
promise into a nightmare, transforming a
22:23
journey of dreams into one of maritime
22:25
history's darkest horrors. What do you
22:27
think was the most disturbing part of
22:29
the Bavia story? Was it Cornelius's
22:31
descent into madness or how close the
22:33
mutineers came to getting away with it?
22:35
Drop your thoughts in the comments
22:36
below. Now check out creepy reason
22:39
nobody talks about the deadliest ship
22:41
disaster in history or watch this
22:43
instead.
