Francisco Pelsaert was the captain of the Batavia, a Dutch ship that was carrying silver and gold to trade for assorted spices. These spices would be returned to the Dutch East Indies which were running this little expedition. Francisco's ship was also carrying passengers as well as the crew and cargo. The Batavia would set sail in a few hours as soon as the passengers boarded the vessel and the crew was set to sail. A young sailor ran up to Francisco calling his name.
"Francisco, Francisco." He exclaimed out of breathe. There has been a murder upon the vessel. A crewman found him this morning on the docks."
"Who was it?" Francisco queried.
"Jacobsz found him this morning at the docks with blood and stuff all over him."
"No you idiot!" Francisco yelled. "Who was it that died."
"Oh," the sailor said. "sorry. It was Johannes van der Beeck. The painter fella."
"Crap! Now I gotta find a new crewman. Do you know of someone?"
"Well there was this fella who asked yesterday. He needed to leave the place and said that he had experience with sailing. He would be of great use."
"Well. What was his name?" Francisco asked.
"Jeronimus, Jeronimus Cornelisz."
YOU ARE READING
The Batavia
Proză scurtăThis is based around a true story but I have added my own twist to the story. Please don't tell me that I have gotten some of the facts wrong. I have done this on purpose to make my book stand out from the rest. If every book was based on the truth...