Francisco Pelsaert

Francisco Pelsaert (first name also spelled as "François", surname also spelled as "Pelsart") (c. 1595 – September 1630) was a Dutch merchant who worked for the Dutch East Indies Company, who became most famous as the commander of the ship Batavia, which ran aground in the Houtman Abrolhos off the coast of Western Australia in June 1629.

Born in Antwerp he sailed to India in 1618, where he was posted as a junior merchant, spending seven years in Agra during which time he became a senior merchant. After a brief return to the Netherlands in 1628, he departed for Java soon after in command of the Batavia.

During the voyage from the Netherlands to Java, a company official named Jeronimus Cornelisz and the ship's skipper Ariaen Jacobsz had plotted and attempted an unsuccessful mutiny against Pelsaert.

The wreck of the Batavia took place on Morning Reef, about a mile to the south of what is now known as Beacon Island. Of the 341 passengers and crew, about 40 drowned early on while trying to reach a small island, while the rest succeeded in getting ashore. After a brief search of the island and several nearby islands, the commander realized that the islands held no natural water source, and decided to head for Batavia (Jakarta) on the island of Java to get help. He left with the ship's boat and a small party of officers and passengers.

After the departure of Pelsaert, Cornelisz finally succeeded with his mutiny by gathering a group of mutineers and taking control. Cornelisz and his men then began a reign of terror, murdering over 100 men, women and children before they finally found resistance from a group soldiers under the command of Wiebbe Hayes, who had been exiled to a neighbouring island.

In October 1629, after a 4-month absence, Pelsaert returned to the islands on the Sardam and quickly captured Cornelisz and his men, who were tried and executed. After several weeks spent trying to salvage the Batavia's goods, Pelsaert and the survivors returned to Java.

Pelsaert's health had suffered from the hardships, but nevertheless he took part in an expedition to Sumatra. He died in September 1630, soon after his return to Batavia. He does not seem to have taken his seat in the High Government at Batavia for which he had been selected as extraordinary member in 1629.

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