Lucretia Jans, fondly known as Cressje, is devastated by the death of her three young children from diphtheria. In her grief, she seeks the help of Francisco Pelsaert, the commander and upper merchant, and sails on Batavia to join her husband in Java. The ship is wrecked on Hootman's Abroholos off Western Australia. Pelsaert and Jacobsz the skipper set off in the longboat to find freshwater. They had already travelled a third of the way to Java, so they sail on to Java to get help. The third in command, the under merchant, of the ship is a heretic who plans to hijack the rescue ship when it arrives and turn pirate. To achieve his aims, he sets about causing the deaths of 110 men, women and children. When the rescue ship arrives, he and his cohorts are taken prisoner and severely punished. Ultimately though, this is Cressje's story: how when Java is reached, she finds out that her husband is dead. Some years later, she again marries and returns to Holland.