PAST CRIMESmurder the other survivors. At first, the murders were done in secret, at night
or on fishing trips. The soldiers were sent to another island–he had some
official authority to do so as undermerchant for the expedition. Then the
killings began in earnest.
When Pelsaert returned with the rescue ships, he found that 125 people had
been murdered. Some had managed to escape and join the soldiers on the
neighbouring island, and with their help, Pelsaert attacked the mutineers and
captured Cornelisz, initiated a trial, and executed many of the murderers along
with their leader.
Archaeologists from the Western Australia Maritime Museum began to
investigate findings of skeletons on the island. Earlier finds had included a
teenage girl with a head wound, and two men who had been hit with a sword
and an axe. A mass grave was excavated which held the remains of three
adults and three children, one of whom was a small infant the bones and un
erupted teeth from a ninemonthold baby were found in the bottom of the pit.
The archaeologists have attempted to identify these victims. It was known
that one woman, Maijken Cardoes, was nursing an infant. Her body was found
Figure 25. The massacre of the survivors of the‘Batavia’(after an illustration
from the 1647Ongeluckige voyagie, van't schip Batavia–author unknown)