Batavia Road

:for|the boat|Batavia Road (boat)

Batavia Road is an anchorage in the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia. It is located at coord|28|58|S|113|58|E|scale:25000_region:AU-WA:type:waterbody|display=inline,title,Gazetteer of Australia | name = Batavia Road | id = 261380] on the eastern side of Pelsaert Island, near its southern end.Australia 1:100000 Topographic Survey, Map sheet 1640 (Edition 1): Abrolhos Special] It was discovered and named in April 1840 by John Clements Wickham, captain of HMS "Beagle". Wickham's assistant John Lort Stokes later wrote: quote|"On the south west point of the island the beams of a large vessel were discovered, and as the crew of the Zeewyk, lost in 1728 ["sic"] , reported having seen the wreck of a ship on this part, there is little doubt that the remains were those of the Batavia, Commodore Pelsart, lost in 1627. We in consequence named our temporary anchorage Batavia Road, and the whole group Pelsart Group."cite book | first = John Lort | last = Stokes | year = 1846 | title = Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 | publisher = T. and W. Boone | location = London] In fact the "Batavia" was wrecked in the Wallabi Group, 60 kilometres (40 mi) to the north. The wreckage seen by the "Beagle" was either that of the "Zeewyk", or the unidentified wreck seen by the "Zeewyk"'s crew.cite book | first = Hugh | last = Edwards | authorlink = Hugh Edwards (diver) | year = 1970 | title = The wreck on the half-moon reef | location = Adelaide | publisher = Rigby| isbn = 0851791085] The name "Batavia Road" is thus a misnomer, as are a number of other places named by Stokes, including Pelsaert Island, the Pelsaert Group, and Wreck Point. Stokes' erroneous view was accepted without question for over fifty years,cite book | first = Henrietta | last = Drake-Brockman | authorlink = Henrietta Drake-Brockman | year = 1995 | title = Voyage to disaster | edition = New edition | location = Crawley | publisher = University of Western Australia Press | isbn = 1-920694-72-2] and it has been claimed that the confusion caused set back the discovery of the "Batavia" shipwreck by over a century.

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