Wiebbe Hayes - Shipwreck

Shipwreck

On the night of 3 June 1629, the Batavia was running under full sail when the look-out thought he saw breaking whitewater over shallows. He warned the skipper, Adriaen Jacobsz, who decided not to change course, believing that it was a reflection of the moon. Shortly afterwards, the Batavia ran aground at full speed on a coral reef near the Wallabi Group of islands. Attempts to refloat her failed, and she subsequently broke up.

It was at this point that Hayes was noticed by the VOC head-merchant Francisco Pelsaert. As sailors and soldiers helped in the process of ferrying people to the nearby islands, Hayes was there helping passengers down, passing supplies, offering soothing words, directing commands and doing whatever was needed to be done to accomplish the hazardous tasks as safely as possible.

Francisco Pelsaert and the ship skipper, Adriaen Jacobsz, realised that there was only one chance of rescue for the survivors. Thus four days after the shipwreck, they – along with about 40 others – sailed in an open boat for Java in order to get help. With Pelsaert and Jacobsz gone, the VOC under-merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz was the most senior official. Cornelisz had been plotting a mutiny prior to the shipwreck, and had planned along with his co-conspirators to use the Batavia for piracy. Following the shipwreck, Cornelisz and his supporters now plotted instead to seize control of the rescue ship when it arrived. Before this could be done, however, he needed to neutralize those in the ship's company who potentially stood in his way.

At some point early in the shipwreck, a hardy and loyal group of soldiers had spontaneously gathered around Wiebbe Hayes. Hayes was an ordinary soldier, but during the events and hardships they had just experienced, he must have shown uncommon qualities of natural leadership and courage, which had earned him the respect and trust of his comrades. Records show that Hayes had stepped out of obscurity to become a rallying point for many survivors. After Pelsaert departed for help, Hayes and the other soldiers constructed shelters and set up a small piece of sail in such a fashion that it both provided shelter from the wind and collected whatever rain might fall, funnelling it down into a waiting barrel. Hayes also organised a systematic search for water on the island.

The Hayes's leadership qualities did not go unnoticed by Cornelisz and his followers. Arguing that the survivors lacked space and resources at Beacon Island, Cornelisz hand-picked Hayes, along with about 20 other men including a number of soldiers, to explore for fresh water on two large nearby islands, now known as West and East Wallabi Islands. Cornelisz persuaded Hayes and his associates to leave behind their weapons before conducting their search. He assumed the men would not find water, and that they would either die of thirst or return unarmed and unsuspecting to Beacon Island, whereupon they could be easily disposed of.

With his potential opponents out of the way, Cornelisz and his followers subsequently began a reign of terror on the island, raping, murdering and terrorizing the helpless passengers and crew who were not part of their conspiracy.