Wiebbe Hayes

Wiebbe Hayes (born about 1608) was a colonial soldier from Winschoten, Netherlands. Hayes became a national hero after he led a group of soldiers, sailors and other survivors of the shipwreck of the Batavia against the murderous mutineers led by Jeronimus Cornelisz at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (Wallabi Group), off the Western Australian coastline in 1629.

Little is known about Wiebbe Hayes's background and early life. It is surmised that he was of Frisian descent, as he is known to have come from the small town of Winschoten in the Groningen Province of The Netherlands. Because Hayes could read and write, it is believed he had at least some basic formal education, and thus it is inferred that he was probably from a respectable, but impoverished family.

In October 1628, Hayes boarded the Batavia along with about 70 other soldiers at the rank of Private. Employed by the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC), the soldiers were off to the Dutch East Indies for five years of garrison duty at Batavia (present-day Jakarta). Most of the soldiers were young men in their late teens or early twenties. Hayes, at the time of the shipwreck, was thought to be about 21.

On the night of 3 June 1629, the Batavia was running under full sail when the look-out thought he saw breaking whitewater over shallows. He warned the skipper, Ariaen Jacobsz, who decided not to change course, believing that it was a reflection of the moon. Shortly afterwards, the Batavia ran aground at full speed on a coral reef near the Wallabi Group of islands. Attempts to refloat her failed, and she subsequently broke up.

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