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Greta van der Rol
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To Die a Dry Death: The true story of the Batavia shipwreck Paperback – March 4, 2015

by Greta van der Rol (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 59
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Surviving the shipwreck was the easy part 1629. Shipwrecked on an uncharted reef thirty miles off the coast of Australia, two hundred men, women and children scramble ashore on tiny, hostile islands. There is no fresh water and the only food is what they can salvage from the wreck, or harvest from the sea. The ship’s officers set out in an open boat on a two-thousand-mile journey across uncharted ocean to seek help. But there's not enough food and water for everyone on the islands to last until a rescue ship arrives. One man will stop at nothing to ensure that he is among the survivors. But adversity throws up heroes. Soon there's war between two groups, both determined to be there to greet that rescue ship when it arrives. If it arrives. The terrifying true story of the Batavia shipwreck. Contains graphic violence.
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  1. Print length
    380 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    March 4, 2015
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.85 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1508723419
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1508723417
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Greta van der Rol was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Perth, Western Australia, where she went to university to complete a BA(Hons) in history, in between spending time on Perth's wonderful beaches. With that background, it's hardly surprising that she developed an abiding, almost obsessive, interest in the Dutch wrecks along the Western Australian coast, dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth century. She always promised herself that, one day, she'd write a story about one of those wrecks. The result was To Die a Dry Death. When she isn't slaving over a hot computer, Greta takes photos, cooks, and generally enjoys life near the beach in Queensland. To find out more about Greta and her books please visit her website at http: //gretavanderrol.net/

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 4th edition (March 4, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 380 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1508723419
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1508723417
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.85 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 59

About the author

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Greta van der Rol

Greta van der Rol

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Greta van der Rol was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and she has lived in various places across Australia. She has a background in history, having obtained an Honours degree in the subject, and also holds a teaching diploma. Greta worked in IT until her retirement and has been using her passion for history and storytelling to craft captivating science fiction space operas that blend romance, adventure, and suspense.

In addition to her space operas, she has written two paranormal stories and one historical fiction novel. In her free time, Greta takes photos of nature and dabbles in digital art. She combines her background, experiences, and talents to express herself in a variety of mediums, always finding new ways to share her gifts with the world.

Follow her at https://ko-fi.com/gretavanderrol to keep in touch

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
59 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

M. Muir
5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling, compelling, disconcerting, unforgettable and true.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2015
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Having read Mike Dash’s account of ‘Batavia’s Graveyard” the background story was not new to me, therefore I did not expect to be blown away by this retelling. But the dramatization of events in this narrative non-fiction is remarkable. Van der Rol brings to life one of the bloodiest mutinies in history, an event that has left an indelible stain on land later to be recognized as part of Australia.
“To Die a Dry Death” is a masterful retelling of the events surrounding the shipwreck of a Dutch East India Company ship in 1629 and the subsequent wholesale slaughter of men, women and children that took place at the hands one man – Jeronimus Cornelisz.
This is not a history you would chose to read if you have a weak stomach. It is both disturbing and true.
For readers of history prepared to encounter the dark side of humanity, this is a masterful must-read.
If I could give this book 6 stars out of 5 I would.
(Read on Kindle)
3 people found this helpful
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Horseman
4.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant surprise
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2013
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First e book experience and I am happy to say the story is a good one although the first chapter or two took a wee bit of time to start rolling. Having been a fanatic sailor I was drawn to the sailing flavor of the plot along with the intrigue after the shipwreck. Character development and dialog is quite good. Overall an entertaining and suspenseful ride.
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C. Davis
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting historical novel
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2019
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The character development is rather weak. Events and locations are hard to follow. But overall I enjoyed the book and I intend to read more about the Batavia.
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gerrierose
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2016
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I was truly captivated!
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Geoffsbestbooks
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating shipwreck story
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2016
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This is a fascinating story based on fact but brought to life with characters. The author has researched this thoroughly and told a gruesome story that is quite believable. I didn't enjoy the graphic details given to the sex scenes as it's unnecessary. This is a great read if you like historical fiction.
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scooter
3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing great.
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2016
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It was okay. Nothing great.
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W. J. S. Kirton
5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly brilliant in every way.
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2011
This book was written by someone who is now a friend, but I read and made notes on it long before I got to know her. Now that it's appeared in a new edition with a fascinating addendum describing its genesis, it's time to turn the notes into a proper review. Friendship is never an issue in my appreciation (or otherwise) of books and, in this case, it's completely irrelevant. Which is very convenient because I'm about to enthuse about it.

It's a fictionalisation of an actual event - a mutiny far more dramatic than that of the Bounty. An online search will give you plenty of articles on the story of the Dutch East India Company's ship the Batavia, which, on her maiden voyage in 1629 ran aground on a reef in the uncharted ocean off Western Australia. The survivors, including women and children, found themselves on islands where food and water were scarce. The ship's captain, the company's representative and some of the crew set sail in a longboat for the port which gave the ship its name (today known as Jakarta). Their intention was to alert the company to the event and return to rescue those left behind and retrieve the valuable cargo. What happened on the islands is the stuff of nightmares.

And it's these nightmares - with the imaginative reconstruction of the whole episode, its characters, their motives and the outcomes - which are chronicled in the pages of this tremendous page-turner of a book. So thorough is the author's research and so sensitive and skilful her handling of it all that it really does read as a chronicle rather than as fiction. The characters are given individual life, their conversations carry the immediacy of the events through which they're living, and the extremes they endure and inflict on one another are conveyed in balanced, modulated prose which remains clear and restrained even when describing unspeakable cruelties and barbarism.

As well as fighting thirst, hunger and the elements, those left on the islands are subjected to internal strife between soldiers and sailors, men and women, Dutch, French and Germans, all pawns in a power struggle which is a microcosm of the 17th century's mores. If the sea has been cruel, those who lust for power and control surpass it many times over. The ingredients for an action-packed adventure are already there but it's the confidence with which they're handled, interpreted and realised that lets us share the intensity of all its horrors. We're dealing with a specific culture and its sensibilities but the rawness of its humanity transcends them to give the whole an authenticity and a visceral realism which we live with the victims. For the reader, this is time travel.

The evocation of the main characters gives the story its urgency, its insistence; the shipwreck itself is high drama and conveyed with extraordinarily detailed realism. The debate about whether priority should be given to salvaging the company's property or the people on board is not an abstraction but an aspect of the writer's characterisation of those at the centre of the narrative. And, at the same time, the author deftly uses narrative `tricks', such as when she conveys the horrific crimes being perpetrated in a hospital tent not by direct observation but through half-perceived shadows and stifled noises.

The journey on the long boat is intercut with the progressive barbarities being enacted among the survivors to sustain the novel's pace and the different factions within those two separate strands add to the narrative's density. In fact, it's legitimate to talk not of the book's narrative but of its narratives.

The story ends with a very clever twist. (At first, I used a different adjective there but it might have been a spoiler so I changed it.) Before that, though, we experience the basest expressions of the worst in human nature. There is honour, courage, love, compassion but there's also an increasingly intense experience of horror. This is Lord of the Flies multiplied several times and in its adult manifestation. It betrays the uneasy coexistence of civilisation and savagery, the corrosive contagion of violence. In fact, horror becomes a pastime.

This, of course, is a novel, a fictional account of a historical incident and, in a note at the end, the author suggests further reading. But it's hard to believe any book could come closer to conveying the essence of this astonishing series of events. If ever there was a five star read, this is it.
2 people found this helpful
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Ezza Terrick
4.0 out of 5 stars Well researched
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2015
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A dramatisation of several good sources brought together. Which is what we needed considering 17-century writers sometimes don't get into detail. The tragic story of Batavia must have only added to the early reputation and mystique of the great south land.
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Top reviews from other countries

Sheoke
2.0 out of 5 stars Batavia Meets Mills & Boon
Reviewed in Australia on August 8, 2022
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This story was just ok but it’s characters seemed more like cardboard cutouts. The sense of horror of this shocking episode in Australian history is not grasped at all but is presented in a very dry 2-dimensional way. It’s certainly better than Peter Fitzsimons ridiculous Boy’s Own version with its inventions and stupid childish jokes, but to suggest that Lucretia Janz had the hots for Cornelisz but later regretted it goes beyond the pale - stilted dialogue straight out of the worst of Mills & Boon romance books. Once again it was as if the women kept for “common service” were having a good time rather than being repeatedly subjected to a terrible ordeal of being raped for weeks on end by multiple men (giggles, really?). And the repetitions! How often does the word “scoundrels” have to be repeated before we get the idea? And the expression “stood with his hands on his hips” was used no less than six times by halfway through the book. In the hands of a more accomplished writer I could have rated this more highly than 2 stars. If you prefer a more compelling and chilling fictionalised version I highly recommend The Company by Arabella Edge. For the gold standard factual version, Mike Dash’s Batavia’s Graveyard is unsurpassed in my opinion. Recommended for 16 year olds.
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Fredrik Nath (author)
5.0 out of 5 stars The devil's among you - you just didn't know it.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2014
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A true story, it tells of the shipwreck of the Batavia and the fate of the abandoned survivors on three islands and the rise of one ruthless evil man.
Excellent prose, detailed narrative and riveting introspection make this book and excellent, gripping read.
In essence it is a tale of a power struggle and a nightmare of what might happen should wicked, violent men come to the fore, but maybe that's where the realism comes in. Anyone might be driven by hunger and thirst to take control of other weaker people. In the end, this story had to be told because it mirrors real life.
The author has researched meticulously but has used those hard facts by getting into the character's minds, exploring and delving deep in a gripping page-turning novel.
A harrowing and thought-provoking story that gets into your head and stays there long after you turn the last page.

Highly recommended.
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in Australia on February 20, 2016
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Two dimensional characters. Use of old Dutch names distracting.
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