The inner roadstead of Batavia

For two hundred years Batavia (modern day Jakarta) was the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC), and it was one of their ships, the Dufyken under Willem Janzon, that made the first recorded European visit to Australia. VOC ships sailing from Batavia made numerous further discoveries in Australia and Batavia become a major resupply and safe haven for innumerable ships from other nations exploring the Pacific, including James Cook in the ENDEAVOUR who spent three months there in late 1770, about the time this work was painted.

This is a view of the Batavia roadstead giving a good idea of the activity, the arriving and departing of ships, together with the unloading and loading of their cargoes. The view includes the prominent buildings of the time with the backdrop of the famous blue mountain. The guard ship, flying its flag from the mainmast, fired a shot every morning after the reveille and at the end of the day after the tattoo, an evening shot was fired as a signal for the other ships. Sometimes more than a hundred ships were anchored at the roadstead, the majority larger and smaller ships of the Company.

If Hendrik Kobell had not jumped out the window in delirium at age 28, then today we would remember him as one of the most celebrated painters of his day. Despite his early demise, his paintings found their way into the collections of prominent collectors like Jacob de Vos and Cornelis Ploos van Amstel and he is recognised as one of the more proficient maritime painters of the time.