In the footsteps of the Batavia
One of the enjoyable aspects of our cruising lifestyle is taking the time to read up on the history of places we visit. Actually having the time to then visit and retrace some of those moments in history really does help to bring the stories to life. If there was ever a cracking yarn to read up on, it is the story of the Batavia; one of the most horrific maritime incidents in Australian history. After reading up and reacquainting ourselves with the harrowing and brutal turn of events, we were beyond excited to have the opportunity to visit where it all took place, nearly 400 years ago.
There are some good reference points for brushing up on the history of the Batavia. Listed below are the ones we have enjoyed:
WA Museum Shipwreck database https://www.museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/wrecks
Island of Angry Ghosts by Hugh Edwards (this book gives an in-depth account of the search for Batavia and explains why many of the names linked to the Batavia have been used to name the islands in the Southern group instead of the Northern group, where the ship was wrecked)
Batavia by Peter Fitzsimmons
If you’re lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit the islands and wreck of the Batavia, we recommend you spend the time reading up beforehand. It makes the experience so much more authentic and really does help you to grasp a better idea of what the survivors went through and had to endure, as well as on what islands different events from the story took place.
Armed with some reading and research under our belt, we were keen to explore what we could in relation to the story of the Batavia, with the ultimate goal being to dive on the wreck site. The wreck is located on Morning Reef, which is on the south west corner of the Wallabi Group and, like all good wreck sites, is therefore exposed to wind and swell. So, firstly we would need good weather and a small swell to achieve this and secondly we had to position Singularity somewhere nearby, as we would be locating the wreck and diving from the dinghy. As touched on in our last blog, the logistics of being on a yacht means that to safely achieve some of these missions we need to position ourselves to reduce our exposure to travelling across large amounts of open water. You feel quite vulnerable in a small dinghy (Bob) motoring across deep channels that are exposed to tide and sea conditions, with limited numbers of other boats and people around and no reliable phone coverage away from Singularity.
After arriving to the Wallabi Group, we initially picked our way into the lagoon at Long Island. Silverado was anchored here - however, we found it too deep (20m) and too much coral for our liking. We can’t risk dropping the anchor in that depth and then it getting snagged and unable to retrieve it. So we departed and again picked our way through the lagoon down to a mooring at a small coral island called Third Sister. Located at the bottom of the group, it was sheltered from swell, adjacent to a fun surf break, and a lot of deep, dark water. By the time we got our bearings, including a failed attempt to visit Ash and Jen on Silverado (tide low - lots of coral - picture the two of us sitting in Bob, almost high and dry with the paddles at the ready) the day was done. As soon as it was dark, we were visited by a couple of locals, in the form of six foot bronze whaler sharks who were keen for any scraps they could salvage. Note to self: No swimming off the back of the boat here!
Keen to get wet, the next day we had planned some general exploration including some ‘hunting and gathering’ and headed to the aptly named Dick Island in search of some good fish country. As previously pointed out, the Abrolhos is crazy in that it goes from 20 metres deep to 1 metre deep in a very short distance and this lagoon was exactly like this. One moment you are gazing down at plate coral, the next it is very dark and very deep.
Our freediving expeditions tend to go like this…. we try and find some semi-shallow ground (ideally where no nasties are going to surprise you from below), we get ready and then Pete goes first. If he doesn’t get eaten and gives Nic the nod, then she joins and off we go - Pete with speargun and Nic with cray loop (more as a defense mechanism than a food source!). And so it rolled at Dick Island - Pete jumped off the side and within about thirty seconds was face to face with a six foot grey nurse shark - grey nurses are pretty mellow, but still….. it checked Pete out and then disappeared over the ledge. It then came back thirty seconds later and came over for a closer look, which Pete took in his stride, but wisely decided not to spear a decent baldchin who was watching on with interest. Unable to coax Nicky into the water, we decided to go and check some ground not so close to the big drop off…..
Whilst waiting for the weather window to dive on the wreck, we left our mooring at Third Sister and travelled back up the lagoon and around the top of Long Island to a mooring off Beacon Island. From here we could stage to the wreck as well as Long Island and another shipwreck (The Hadda 1877) .
When the Batavia was wrecked on Morning Reef, survivors made their way to nearby islands, most notably Beacon Island (referred to as Batavia’s Graveyard by the survivors), which is about 1 nautical mile to the north west. As the Batavia story unfolded, the survivors spread to a number of other islands in close proximity, including the aptly named Traitors Island and Long Island (referred to as Seal Island by the survivors).
We took the opportunity to walk around Long Island which is typical for the islands in this area, minimal low vegetation, rows of broken down coral and plenty of bird life with a few seals for good measure. This island is where approximately 45 men, women and children were left to fend for themselves and were eventually slaughtered. This was also the island where some of the mutineers were executed by hanging once rescuers returned to the islands. We’d be lying if we told you we didn’t keep our eyes peeled for anything resembling human bones. The coral that made up the island, however, made it almost impossible to spot - even if there were some still lying around.
Beacon Island, which is quite small (400metres by 400 metres) is now closed to the public and all of the remnants of crayfishing from the sixties through to the late seventies have been removed. Soberingly, Beacon Island was home to most of the murders during the three month reign of the mutineers and it is a little hard to fathom that fisherman and their families were living on there - some of them keeping quiet about skulls and other remains that they found when digging drains and putting shacks in. We kept our distance, but did have an eerie, windless night on the mooring where it sounded like people calling out - a mixture of bird calls and the creaking of our mooring - but a bit chilling all the same!!
The day came where all the conditions would allow us to get onto the Batavia wreck site for a free dive. Armed with Pete’s phone, and using this to navigate via Navionics, we picked our way from inside the reef and out through some small waves to where we thought the site was. Captain Ash had given Pete some good instructions so we thought we were in the right spot. This was soon confirmed when a charter boat roared up next to us and dropped anchor - thankfully only with a couple of people onboard.
We spent the next half hour free diving on the wreck site which consists of a large sand gouge, where the ship ran aground - and where you can see the bottom of the mast where it was chopped off - to several cannons and anchors scattered across several hundred metres. This area is a sanctuary so there are plenty of fish for company, in particular, some nice big baldchin. It was very cool and we were very grateful for the opportunity to dive it. As we made our way back inside the reef, we also took time to reflect on the survivors and what it must have been like to make their way across to Beacon Island - some drowned - and others had no idea of the fate that was to behold them.
The wreck of the Hadda (1877) was only a few hundred metres from our mooring, so we managed to find that on our return to Singularity. A large iron barque, she was wrecked from the opposite direction to the Batavia, travelling from the north and ending up inside the lagoon area south east of Beacon Island. Not too much to see on this site, but good to check it out whilst we were there. The WA Museum Shipwreck database is a great source of information for all of these shipwrecks as well as general coastal history and interactions.
With more weather coming (surprise surprise…) we left Beacon Island and headed over to the anchorage between East and West Wallabi islands and the Pigeon Islands. One of the best anchorages in the Abrolhos, so we knew we could ride out the coming weather…. plus we could visit the Batavia forts on West Wallabi island.
Once settled at our new mooring, we headed straight over to West Wallabi to look at the forts that were built by the soldiers of the Batavia back in 1629. After a short dinghy ride and a walk, we were upon them, the second being quite impressive in its condition and location - one of the few places where fresh water can be found on the Abrolhos Islands. If you were in Europe it would be nothing special, but in terms of our history to see these nearly 400 year old structures up close and in context with the Batavia story was great. Let’s just say Nicky was in her element and put the old school teacher hat back on….
Pristine weather the next day and we went exploring out to the west end of West Wallabi island to check some surf spots, as well as a great dinghy explore around to Shag Bay. We hope that next time we can spend more time on that side of West Wallabi, as it was stunning.
In true Abrolhos fashion, we went from nil wind to a couple of days of close to fifty knots, although this time it was daylight which makes the whole experience a bit more palatable. Plenty of things to do from toilet fixing, making water, exercise workout, baking, reading and blog writing!