Batavia's Graveyard

By Mike Dash,

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

Book description

From the bestselling author of Tulipomania comes Batavia’s Graveyard, the spellbinding true story of mutiny, shipwreck, murder, and survival.

It was the autumn of 1628, and the Batavia, the Dutch East India Company’s flagship, was loaded with a king’s ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Batavia's Graveyard as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

If ever there was a mutiny that road roughshod over the romantic assumptions that mutineers were the ‘better angels’ of these events, then the mutiny on the Batavia is it. In 1628 the largest ship owned by the Dutch East India Company during the Golden Age of the Netherlands is shipwrecked and taken over by Jeronimus Cornelisz and his gang of mutineers. They then establish a dystopian world on a deserted island and systematically murder many of those who survive before the last survivors are rescued. You need a strong stomach to read this, but it is an important warning…

Australia’s most famous and murderous event in history involving a shipwreck, a mutinous and bloodthirsty crew, an incompetent captain, and a story that defies belief. I stumbled across this book and almost didn’t read it because it was way out of my comfort zone, but it was a truly compelling (and disturbing) read. So much so that I wrote a sequel and published it as an e-book! This story will haunt your dreams.

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