Replica of the Batavia

The Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). She was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and had 24 cast-iron cannons. The Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors. A twentieth century replica of the ship is also called the Batavia.

A replica of the Batavia was built at the Bataviawerf in Lelystad in the Netherlands. The project lasted from 1985 to 7 April 1995, and was conducted as an employment project for young people under master-shipbuilder Willem Vos. The shipyard is currently reconstructing another 17th century ship, which, in contrast to the merchant ship Batavia, the new replica is a man-of-war, the Zeven Provinciën; Michiel de Ruyters' flagship.

This Batavia replica was built with traditional materials, such as oak and hemp and using the tools and methods of the time of construction of the original ship. For the design, good use was made of the remains of the original ship in Fremantle (and of the Vasa in Stockholm) as well as historical sources, like 17th century building descriptions (actual building plans were not made at the time) and prints and paintings by artists (who at the time generally painted fairly true to nature) of similar ships.

On 25 September 1999, the new Batavia was transported to Australia by barge and moored at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney. In 2000, the Batavia was the flagship for the Dutch Olympic Team during the 2000 Olympic Games.

On 12 June 2001, the ship returned to Bataviawerf in Lelystad and is currently on display to visitors.