Review: Anatomy of a Heretic by David Mark

Synopsis: Two assassins go head-to-head on the open seas in this gripping new historical adventure from Sunday Times bestselling author David Mark.

London, 1628: Nicolaes de Pelgrom, assassin and devoted servant of George Villiers, will do whatever his master asks of him – even if that means enduring the perilous voyage to the Indies to exact a grieving widow's revenge.

Making that same journey is Jeronimus Cornelisz, a conniving apothecary determined to escape the backstreets of Amsterdam and become rich beyond imagination. Hired by a criminal mastermind to escort precious cargo to the Indies, he will kill anyone who stands in his way.

When these assassins clash, so too do their missions. One cannot succeed without killing the other. In this deadly game, who will triumph and who will die? And are they even the only players?

"London," observes George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, is "... a great midden filled with the shit and piss of liars, cowards and self-serving malcontents..."

And it is into this squalor and filth that we find Nicolaes de Pelgrom, sitting in a cell in the notorious Marshalsea Prison, lamenting the loss of one Dr Lambe, whom he had been unable to protect from being torn to pieces by an angry and violent mob. Although most Marshalsea prisoners were debtors, the prison was second in importance only to the Tower of London; and from the 14th century onwards, it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition .

However Nicolaes is no ordinary prisoner - he is not only a ward and servant of the Duke of Buckingham, but also his spy and assassin; an orphan raised up from humble beginnings in Holland and educated by the Duke, who took him into his household. Service to the Duke comes at a price - Nicolaes must don the disguise of a Dutch sailor - Wiebbe Hayes - and find a place aboard the Batavia, a ship bound for the East Indies. There he will perform the role of assassin for a grieving widow - Mariam Towerson - by hunting down those responsible for the execution of her husband, Gabriel, a merchant of the English East India Company, at Amboyna (1623).

But it is not all smooth sailing, for there is one among the crew and passengers that will create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. This is the apothecary, Jeronimus Cornelisz, who is described as pinched face, with fishscale skin; he is willowy, pale and malignant. A religious fanatic with a god-complex and member of a secret brotherhood, Cornelisz too must flee, and he seeks a place on the Batavia, ostensibly to guard a treasure, but with the idea of providing for himself a new life with new found riches. With an almost pathological need to be revered, Cornelisz uses his subtle influence on members of the crew to aid in the fulfillment of his plans. Cornelisz is not a random character plucked from their air - he is a real person, who life is explored and brought to life again throughout the pages of this book.

Other, real-life historical characters that have found their way into the narrative include Commander Francisco Pelsaert, a veteran of the Dutch East India Company and who left us with a journal of his days aboard "The Batavia".  Then there was the Skipper and Second-in-Command, Ariaen Jaconbz, whom it was speculated knew Pelsaert previously and that there was some animosity between the two men. Then there is our additional narrator, Lucretia Jansdochter, who was a passenger aboard the ship, and whose letters to her husband, provide additional context and supplement the alternating narrative of the main protagonists.

Author David Mark makes ample use of the "good versus evil" scenario between the main characters of Nicolaes and Jeronimus, which only serves to amplify the ever increasing tension that exists on the already claustrophobic environment that is "The Batavia". 

Sea travel during the 1600s was long and often unpleasant, conditions aboard were cramped and seasickness was rife. The journey itself, from the Netherlands to Java, was expected to take some one hundred and seventy days - nearly half a year!. Whatever fresh food stock on board was eaten first as this would turn rancid if left for long. A sailor of the early 17th century could expect cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay, and bad weather. The ship's officers kept strict discipline on board, flogging was the most common form of punishment.  Sailors slept wherever they could find a vacant place on decks or cargo.  Cabins and bunks were provided for officers, but sailors often slept on the deck in the bow, or below in bad weather.  Passengers too had to ensure the same conditions as the crew, with the lucky few possibly have a cabin, oft times shared with others - the expectation of privacy was non-existent.

The cramped and miserable conditions, and rigorous and brutal punishments metered out to the crew were a breeding ground for discontent, which often led to outright mutiny. Many noted captains - from Bligh to Magellan to Hudson to Pigot - faced a mutinous crew on their voyages of either discovery or warfare.

And thus it was that on 4th of June, 1629, a flagship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Batavia, was wrecked upon Morning Reef on its maiden voyage, near Beacon Island, a rocky outcrop in the northern part of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, around 37 miles (60 kilometers) off the coast of Western Australian.

State Library of NSW
Ongeluckige voyagie, 1645, by Francisco Pelsaert

What followed was a gruesome story of mass murder, torture, and rape. In all, some 115 people died following the shipwreck, many of whom were murdered violently. Beacon Island now bears the nickname “Batavia’s Graveyard” or “Murder Island.”

For those interested in reading more about the history of "The Batavia", see below:

State Library of New South Wales - Murder & Mutiny

Western Australian Museum - Batavia's History

The History Collection - The Shipwreck of The Batavia

National Museum Australia - The Wreck of The Batavia

Australian Maritime Museum - Barbarism & Brutality

ABC News (Australia) - Batavia Shipwreck

National Geographic - Batavia Graveyard

The Monthly - Bring Up The Bodies

SBS (Australia) - Batavia Revealed: Shipwreck Psycho

Australian Government (Heritage) - Batavia Shipwreck Site

Further reading:

Batavia - Peter FitzSimons

The Wreck of The Batavia - Simon Leyes

Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash