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Batavia
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 17 hrs
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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....
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What listeners say about Batavia
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Karen
- 25-02-2016
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
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- T James
- 27-02-2017
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
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- Lauren
- 17-07-2016
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
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Overall
- Jillian Staton
- 26-04-2016
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
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- 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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- Anonymous User
- 09-12-2017
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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- Digby Bamford
- 02-01-2019
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
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- Jacob Nottage
- 20-03-2024
a brilliant retelling of the timeless story
worth the listen - a horrifying story of bloodthirsty mutineers and the triumph of good over evil.
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- T. Little
- 11-02-2024
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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- Jonathan Hadley
- 04-02-2024
Incredible
What horrors these poor people had to endure. Such an incredible story, so well written.
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