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Batavia

By: Peter FitzSimons
Narrated by: Richard Aspel
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Publisher's Summary

The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in the middle of the night. While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert decides to take the longboat across 2,000 miles of open sea for help, his second-in-command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes over, quickly deciding that 250 people on a small island is unwieldy for the small number of supplies they have.

Quietly, he puts forward a plan to 40 odd mutineers how they could save themselves, kill most of the rest, and spare only a half-dozen or so women, including his personal fancy, Lucretia Jansz - one of the noted beauties of Holland - to service their sexual needs. A reign of terror begins, countered only by a previously anonymous soldier, Wiebbe Hayes, who begins to gather to him those are prepared to do what it takes to survive....

©2011 Peter FitzSimons (P)2011 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

What listeners say about Batavia

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Batavia - the worst voice ever

Good story bit long winded but the guy who read it had the most grating voice and it was very difficult to listen to, frankly I couldn't wait to finish so I could get away from that voice. Not worth the credit I spent on it - oh well😞

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing, completely amazing

If you could sum up Batavia in three words, what would they be?

Impossible to put into three words

Who was your favorite character and why?

There were so many incredible characters. It's a story of hundreds of people all with mind blowing parts to play

What does Richard Aspel bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Seriously he's an excellent narrator. Couldn't ask for better

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Don't ever watch this film. The book could never be made into a film, you'd have to cut too much out. It's like the book, "Unbroken"' one of the most incredible stories ever told. Then Angelina Jolie tries to turn a 30 hour book into a 2 hour movie. Of course 90% has to be left out and people think they know the story. DON'T BOTHER EVEN WATCHING THE MOVIE OF THIS BOOK

Any additional comments?

I can't rate this highly enough. If i could give this 10 stars I'd still feel unsatisfied.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

incredible story!

This is an incredible story, and a little piece of history that reads exactly as a high drama, thriller fiction. While there are moments when the telling of the particulars is a little repetetive, and the dramatic narrating style is a little overbearing in parts, but nevertheless, it's a story worth hearing.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

bit overwrought at times but gripping

Amazingly, few people have heard of this tragic and gruesome story. Well researched and well written, although I hated the way the author threw in the odd Dutch word. My advice is to skip the introduction as it goes on forever. Looking forward to listening to Masson.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Tim
  • 22-05-2015

Outstanding

an amazing story and as always it is tolf in a very entertaining style by PF.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just wow!!

What a story and how well written. I was so addicted that I was walking around with my earplugs in for 5 days barely speaking to anyone at home !!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Character of a man

Great dramatization of the events surrounding the shipwreck of the Batavia. Particularly apt in today's geo-political times where we see the power which individuals can wield to corrupt Otherwise good men.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Trashy pulp fiction masquerading as history

How to ruin one of Australia's greatest stories. The long-winded and defensive introduction, and the explanatory words on the cover of the book, try to sell the idea that this book is non-fiction. It is not. Rather, the listener/reader is subject to a deluge of fictional thoughts, fictional speech, and fictional actions, and other innumerable gratuitous, made-up twists and details, most of them tawdry and apparently intended to titillate (e.g., someone enters a tent while the occupants happen to be fornicating). The author claims that his fictions reasonably fill in between the known "facts" as he tries to claim some credibility for the work. But unlike actual non-fiction, the author does not specify which incidents and statements are based on the historical record, and which are completely made up. He does not, for example, follow up an objective account of the facts with his favored interpretation (clearly stated as such). Instead, the reader is barraged with an endless stream of fictional nonsense. Apparently the author does not think he is a good enough writer to present a remarkable and true story in an interesting way but must instead stoop to such low levels in order to sell the book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible

What horrors these poor people had to endure. Such an incredible story, so well written.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The evil of men

it will never cease to amaze the propensity of evil to take hold. Amazing .

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