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The Conversation
The Conversation
Anthony Clarke, Research Fellow, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University

Tiny crystals from a 17th-century shipwreck hold secrets of a global supply chain at the dawn of capitalism

Stern section of the Batavia hull and gateway replica. Vunz/Wikimedia

Few episodes occupy a darker place in maritime history than the wreck of the Batavia.

Wrecked off the mid-west coast of Western Australia in June 1629, 159 years before the First Fleet entered Sydney Harbour, the disaster offers a stark alternative to romanticised tales of exploration.

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