Over the years, the silver bounty of 8000 ‘Daalders’ in a chest aboard the Batavia was a great lure to find the wreck. Pelsaert described the loss of this chest painfully in his diary; they had recovered 11 of the 12 chests with silver money, intended to be used as currency in the East Indies. On his return on the rescue ship Sardam, Pelsaert took 3 Indian divers with him. They collected as many as possible valuables from the wreck. In his precise script, perhaps with a seagull quill not far from the wreck, Pelsaert wrote an entry in his log:
“ . . . 12 October 1629- Before noon the weather was somewhat calmer and the sea being smooth I have gone with the divers to the Wreck, they dived up 75 reals in loose money which had fallen out of a chest; and at last they found still another chest with Money upon which lay a piece of Cannon which, through a sudden wind and the smallness of the little yawl, we had to leave with heart’s regret.” They intended to raise it later, but were unable to locate it again. They sailed without the chest, Pelsaert writing apologetically in his journals that by 12 November, divers had returned from a last trip to the wreck: “Declaring upon Manly Truth that nothing more could be found even if one remains lying here indefinitely.”
The Dutch in Batavia did not forget their lost silver so easily. Abel Tasman was sent on a second voyage to explore the Australian coast, following his brilliant exploration to the South of the continent and New Zealand in 1642. Governor van Diemen ordered the navigator to: “ . . . Further continue your course along the Land of d’Eendracht (Australia) as far as Houtman’s Abrolhos, and to come to anchor there at the most convenient place, in order to make efforts to bring up the chest with eight thousand Rix Dollars sunk from the ship Batavia in 1629 owing to a brass half cannon having fallen upon it, and which the men of the yacht Sardam dived for whitout success, and so save the same together with the said gun would be a good service done to the said Company . . .”. Tasman never sighted the low, grey islands of the Abrolhos, Pelsaert’s silver remained fathoms deep with the Batavia wreck.

The Netherlands of the 17 th century consisted of a union of 7 fairly independent provinces. Originating from small private counties and city states ruled by knights and counts, it was not long before that, that they might have fought battles with each other. Each of those provinces had its own coins, but becoming a union of provinces with a centralized government they also organized their numismatic system better. In 1602 the value of the different currencies was made equal and the coin makers had to agree to standards as set by the state. As a result they still produced coins with their own identity, but to the agreed standard. One of the coins in use was the ‘Daalder’, as found in the Batavia, a silver coin with a weight of 27 grams, or ‘a piece of eight’. This is the same weight as similar coins of other countries had and can be related to the weight system in use: 27 grams or one ounce. Due to the imperfect way of producing, the weight and therefor the silver amount was not always correct. Traders did weigh their coins often, to be certain to receive the correct value in gold or silver. In the silver chests of the Batavia, coins from many European nations could be found. Those nations were mostly small kingdoms or city states. Each with their own coins but all made to that common standard. And so the divers on the wreck found German ‘Talers’ of the same size and weight as Holland, Zeeland and Gelderland ‘Daalders’. Todays value of each coin is quite some Dollars. Or let’s say Euros, and after reading this, we can wonder if the Euro is really that modern.

When the wreck of the Batavia was found in 1963, every diver of the party was eager to find the first coins. But after 334 years in turbulent seawater no one could expect a romantic view of a chest, half open, glittering with silver.

The Australian writer Hugh Edwards describes in his book - 'Islands of Angry Ghosts' :
“.... There were some bets placed on who would find the first coins. ‘ I’ll bet anyone a quid I find the first silver coin,’ said George in a sleepy voice as we were climbing into our sleeping bags after returning from the Navy boat. The next day when we were resting after a dive, sitting in the de-Havilland boat, bucking at anchor just beyond the surf line, we thought George was joking when he broke the surface, spat out his mouthpiece and shouted, ‘ I ‘ve found the loot!’ But a minute later he reached the boat with powerful strokes and tossed something over the side that landed with heavy metallic clunk.
It looked like a big green biscuit and we knocked our heads together trying to look closer. George swung dripping over the gunwale after it and pounched with a hairy paw. Scratch, scratch, scratch went the blade of his diving knife as he levered impatiently at the emerald crust and we breathed hotly over his shoulder. The encrustation yielded reluctantly until we could see the head of a bearded man and a blurred inscription. The knife point slipped and the score-mark gleamed bright with Old World silver.”

During this first expedition about 70 coins were recovered. The chest with coins was never found as such, but later the WA Maritime Museum found about 8000 coins in encrusted clumps.

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