The Mysteries of the Batavia

The Batavia is housed at the Western Australian Museum’s Shipwreck Galleries, and can tell us a lot about seafaring and shipbuilding in the 17th Century.

The Batavia is unique. It sank in 1629, right off the Western Australian coast in the Houtman-Abrolhos archipelago. It was the first Dutch East India ship to be lost along this rugged coastline.

The Batavia is the only remaining example of an early 17th Century Dutch East India Company ship. The ship was lifted off the seabed and went through extensive conservation so that it could be researched and displayed to the public.