Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom de Bye

Story

On 16 November 1629, a Dutch ship, the Sardam, sailed into Broken Anchor Bay, at the mouth of the Hutt River, 450 kilometres north of present day Perth, W.A. The Sardam anchored & Commander Pelsaert recorded in his journal that:

‘At this good opportunity, I have ordered the two sentenced delinquents, to wit, Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom de By van Bemel, with a Champan provided with everything, to sail to this land.’

And so 24 year-old Dutch soldier Wouter Loos & 18 year-old Dutch cabin boy Jan Pelgrom de Bye became the first Europeans to take up residence in Australia.

They had been crew members on board the ill-fated Batavia. In the early hours of 4 June 1629 the Batavia had tragically run aground on Morning Reef in the Wallabi Group of the Abrolhos Islands, 60 kilometres from Geraldton. Survivors scrambled off in boats, on flotsam and by swimming to nearby islands. Confusion, mayhem, finger pointing all followed, but their first priority was to find water. Nearby islands were searched without success. Pelsaert then decided to take a yawl to the mainland. Just as they approached the coast, sailing into Broken Anchor Bay, a winter storm struck & they were nearly sunk. They rode out the storm & headed north, but still could not find water. In the end Pelsaert & his crew decided to make for Batavia [Djakarta], suffering great privation. Arriving there on 7 July, Pelsaert was given command of the Sardam to return & find the people left behind, perhaps 230 souls. By September he was back in the area but then spent three frustrating weeks desperately trying to relocate the islands where the Batavia had gone down. When he finally did he was confronted by unspeakable horrors that had taken place in his absence – 125 of the survivors murdered by a small band of cutthroats, mutineers.

The Batavia Mutiny was a plot hatched & led by the Under Merchant Jeronimus Corneliszoon. Initially he & his confederates acted secretly, tricking a body of soldiers into going to nearby West Wallabi Island, thinking they would die of thirst or starvation. With most of the soldiers out of the way, Corneliszoon & his mutineers then engaged in an orgy of rape and bloodshed. But the soldiers they had abandoned, rather than dying, prospered, having found water, birds eggs, seals & tammar wallabies on the island. The Defenders, as they became known, were then joined by a handful who managed to escape from the mutineers & warn them as to what was taking place. The mutineers subsequently launched three attacks on the Defenders who, ably led by a soldier, Webbie Hayes, stoutly resisted. The first two attacks were completely inept & resulted in the Defenders capturing Corneliszoon. The mutineers then elected 24 year-old soldier Wouter Loos, as their new leader. He now led the third, & most effective attack, in the midst of which Pelsaert, miraculously appeared in the Sardam and put down the mutiny.

The next two months were spent in salvaging what they could from the Batavia and interrogating & trying the mutineers. On 2 October seven mutineers were hanged. One of the condemned, 18 year-old cabin-boy Jan Pelgrom de Bye, pleaded for his life. Because of his age Pelsaert took pity on him & he was given a last-minute reprieve. Wouter Loos also escaped execution because of a lack of evidence, the result of his ability to resist judicial torture. Pelsaert decided instead to maroon both on the mainland, ‘in order to know once, for certain, what happens in the Land’. This was done with a view to retrieving them later so they could tell what was to be found in the great unknown of the Southland.

When fresh water was found in the Hutt River, the ‘delinquents\’ were given a flat-bottomed boat, provisions, such as yams, an assortment of trade items & sent to the shore. Pelsaert even prepared a set of instructions. A copy of this unique document still survives. Loos and de Bye were ordered to:

‘put ashore É [and] to make themselves known to the folk of this land by tokens of friendship. Whereto are being given by the Commandeur some Nurembergen [wooden toys and trifles], as well as knives, Beads, bells and small mirrors, of which you shall give to the Blacks only a few until they have grown familiar with them.

Having become known to them, if they take you into their Villages to their chief men, have courage to go with them willingly. Man\’s luck is founding strange places; if God guards you, will not suffer any damage from them, but on the contrary, because they have never seen any white men, they will offer all friendship.’

What happened to these two men in the days and weeks, possibly years, following is one of the most fascinating mysteries of our time. Some research suggests they survived & were taken in by the Nhanda people.

< Back to the Stories