Jeronimus Cornelisz

Jeronimus Cornelisz was a Dutch East India Company’s merchant known as a leader of the mutiny that broke out after the wreck of the merchant ship Batavia near the coast of Australia in 1629.

Born in Leeuwarden, Cornelisz was educated at the Latin School at Dokkum and followed the family trade by becoming an apothecary. Around 1627 he left his native city and moved to the larger Haarlem where he opened an apothecary shop. That same year his family was affected by a private misfortune. Their three months old son was infected by syphilis through wet nurse and died. Soon afterwards his shop failed and he was driven off the edge of bankruptcy.

The solution for his financial situation Cornelisz found in joining the Dutch East India Company. In 1628 he was embarked as a merchant on the ship Batavia sailing to the east. When the ship wrecked on remote islands off the coast of Australia, Cornelisz was appointed a commander of the surviving crew while captain Pelsaert went for a help. However, it was not long before Cornelisz established a brutal personal rule which lasted until the arrival of aid. His plan of seizing ship and establish himself as a pirate in the Indian Ocean was thwarted. He was tried and executed on the islands for all the crimes committed.