In the antipodean winter of 1629, the Dutch East Indiaman 'Batavia' was wrecked on the desolate cays of the Houtman Abrolhos, an island chain lying beyond the sea horizon of what is now Western Australia.One year later her merchant commander, Francisco Pelsaert, lies dying in a mildewed room outside the walls of Batavia Castle (modern-day Jakarta), the stigma of shipwreck and bloody mutiny foreclosing on his legacy. With only a servant-carer and the occasional visitor to relieve hi...