Page 192 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

The history of the portico
Archival research was carried out to detennine what
the fa~ade was intended for in the Indies. The most important document which provides this information is the journal of the voyages of Pieter van den Broecke in Asia (Coolhaas, 1963). Van den Broocke arrived in Batavia on the 19 June 1629, and, on the 7 July, records the arrival of Pelsaen in the ship's boat While Pelsaen was away effectingtherescueofthesurvivorsoftheBatavia,thecity of Batavia was attacked by an anny from Matram. Addi- tionally, on the 20 September, the Governor General Jan Pietersz. Coon died. When Pelsaenand the survivors ofthe Batavia finally arrived back at Batavia on 5 December, 1629, the war was over. All these events were recorded by Pieter van den Broocke in his journal, and he departed for the Netherlands on the 18 December. Following his return to the Netherlands, van den Broecke published, in 1634, a journal of his voyages. This featured a number of illustra- tions engraved by A. Matham, from van den Broocke's originalsketches.Oneofthesedepictsabird's-eyeviewof the castle and town of Balavia in late 1629, showing the Waterpoort or sea-gate incomplete, with scaffolding and a ladder in place (Fig. 47), This is extremely enlightening, since the scene shows the city at the time of the siege. Clearly, no one would have an unfinished gateway without a reason, and it suggests that the portico could have been destined for this gateway.
The castle has an interesting history and there are a number of plans that show the development of the city as well as the castle. In October, 1618, Coon decided to relocate the Company's headquarters from Bantam to Jacatra where it already had a stone packhouse named Nassau. Here, a new, more solid construction was built, named Mauritius. Following problems with the English, who had an establishment on the west side of the river, and the Matramese, Coen proposed to the Heeren XVII that a new castle should be built. His plan, dated 1619, survives (AlgemeenRijksarchiefVEL-II76-G79204andVerenig- ing Koloniaal Instituut, 1919: No.!) and gives the pro- posed new extensions. Another map, dating from around 1623, shows the new castle with the land-gate facing south towards the main part of the new walled city. It is clear fromthemapthatthenonh,seawardwallsofthecastleare unfmished (Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, Collectie Bodel Nijenhuis, II-10-34 and Vereniging Koloniaal Insti- lUut, 1919: No.2). By 1627, the city had expanded south- wards,ascanbeseenintheheavilyrestoredplanofthecity in the Westfries Museum at Hoorn. The old castle or fan of 1616 can be seen attached to the west side of the new castle. The four bastions Saphier (NE), Robijn (SE), Dia- mant (SW) and Paarl (NW) are joined by earth curtain walls, with the exception of the north side, between Paarl and Saphier, where there is no obvious wall, buta palisade.
Figure 46. The portico fa'tade reconstructed in the Batavia Gallery with the reconstruction team in the fore~ ground.
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