Batavia's First Lady

Lucretia Jans fondly known as Cressje is devastated by the death of her three young children from diphtheria. In her grief she seeks the help of Francisco Pelsaert the commander and upper merchant and sails on Batavia to join her husband in Java. The ship is wrecked on Hootmans Abroholos off Western Australia. Pelsaert and Jacobsz the skipper set off in the longboat to find freshwater. They had already travelled a third of the way to Java so they sail on to Java to get help. The third in command the under merchant of the ship is a heretic who plans to hijack the rescue ship when it arrives and turn pirate. To achieve his aims he sets about causing the deaths of 110 men women and children. When the rescue ship arrives he and his cohorts are taken prisoner and severely punished. Ultimately though this is Cressjes story: how when Java is reached she finds out that her husband is dead. Some years later she again marries and returns to Holland.