logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2023
26m 46s

Batavia: The Worst Shipwreck in History

History Hit
About this episode

In 1628, a Dutch East India flagship called Batavia set sail from the Netherlands, never to reach her destination. Eight months into the voyage, the ship was wrecked on coral reef off the western coast of Australia. What then befell her surviving crew and passengers was horrifying and tragic. It has been described as “one of the worst horror stories in maritime history.” 


In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to author Jess Kidd. Her recent novel about Batavia, The Night Ship - based on her extensive research of sources and archives - has been named a Sunday Times’ Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year. 


This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 


For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >


If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
Henry VIII on Screen: The Historians' Verdict
King Henry VIII is best known for his tempestuous marriages and his penchant for cutting off people’s heads. But where does fiction meet fact?In this special episode, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by a panel of experts to discuss Henry on screen and what those portrayals ... Show More
1h 5m
Oct 6
The Last Plantagenets in Tudor England
Direct descendants of the Plantagenets were once at the very heart of Tudor politics, yet their story is often overlooked. From Margaret Pole, niece of Edward IV and Richard III, to her son Cardinal Reginald Pole, the family’s fortunes mirrored the turbulent shift from Plantagene ... Show More
50m 39s
Oct 2
Fig Leaves & A Grumpy Jesus: Renaissance to Baroque Art
Have you ever wandered through a museum and thought: Why is the Virgin Mary always dressed in blue? Did they really use eggs in egg tempera—and did it make those paintings smell weird? And why, for some reason, does baby Jesus sometimes look like a tiny grumpy old man?Professor S ... Show More
48m 4s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2023
Wreck, Scandal & Mutiny on HMS Wager
In 1740, the Royal Navy ship The Wager set sail for the Pacific to take part in the War of Jenkins' Ear. The unfortunate ship was separated from the fleet and, after pulverising storms and outbreaks of scurvy, ended up sinking near a small island off the coast of Chile. Dan is jo ... Show More
27m 1s
Apr 2014
The Wreck of the Batavia
The story of the Batavia is a perfect storm of nautical carnage: There's a shipwreck, a mutiny and a massacre. This first of two parts deals with the the first part of the voyage, the shipwreck and the rescue mission. Read the show notes here. Learn more about your ad-choices at ... Show More
23m 51s
Nov 2020
The Search for History’s Lost Slave Ships
On the bottom of the world’s oceans lie historic treasures—the lost wrecks of ships that carried enslaved people from Africa to the Americas. Only a handful have been identified so far, but National Geographic explorer and Storytelling Fellow Tara Roberts is documenting the effor ... Show More
26m 14s
Dec 2022
Life in Tudor England
What was life really like in Tudor England? This was a society where monarchy was under strain, the church was in crisis and contending with war, rebellion, plague and poverty was a fact of daily life. Yet it was also an age rich in ideas and ideals, where women asserted their ag ... Show More
49m 46s
Dec 2022
Banned History
How much did Britain and its allies know about the Holocaust? Could the Bengal Famine of 1943 have been helped? And was Elizabeth I really the Virgin Queen?  Lynsey Calver is a history teacher, and in this episode, she helps us to fill in some of the gaps on the history curriculu ... Show More
34m 12s
Oct 2022
The Grisly Deaths of Kings & Queens
Did Henry VIII really have syphilis? Who died from a red hot poker up the bum? And which king was taken down by a school of fish? To learn about the often gruesome ways that our royals have met their doom, Kate gets Betwixt the Sheets with Suzie Edge, TikTok historian and author ... Show More
47m 4s
Dec 2022
A Short History of The World
How can you condense the history of the world into a book? Well-celebrated historian Simon Sebag Montefiore does just that in his new epic. He takes Dan on an exhilarating journey through the families that have shaped our world: the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughal ... Show More
28m 57s
Feb 2023
Birth of Cornwall
In the fifth century, Western Europe began remaking itself in the turmoil that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire. In south-west Britain, old tribal authorities and identities reasserted themselves and a ruling elite led a vibrant and outward-looking kingdom - today’s Corn ... Show More
35m 33s
Apr 2023
Sutton Hoo
Centuries ago, an Anglo-Saxon noble was buried within a 90-foot ship in a mound at Sutton Hoo. It serves as the richest burial ever found in northern Europe to date. Discovered in 1939, not much survived of the original ship. However, an imprint of the ship remains on the earth.  ... Show More
32m 20s