My writing technique for Wreck of the Dauntless uses “historical allegory,” in which fictional narratives, characters, and settings are inspired by actual historical figures and events. It is not new to science fiction; for example, Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” is based on the Roman Empire and "Star Trek" was inspired by the British Navy. However, my book is the first to transform the historical event that was the Batavia shipwreck of 1629 into a fictional narrative. I chose this event because I believe it to be uniquely interesting in the annals of history, and because the maritime aspect of it is transferable to an outer-space setting, basically using spaceships instead of sailing vessels.

To that end, many of the characters in my book are based on real historical figures. For example, one of the protagonists is Captain Francisco Pelzard of the Dauntless. In real life, Francisco Pelsaert was the Admiral of the Batavia expedition. The villain of my book, Jeronimus Cornelis, is a character based on the real-life historical figure of the same name, who was a senior officer and mutineer on the Batavia. Into this mix I added many fictional characters and events in order to suit the science-fiction narrative. I created a protagonist named Marty O’Rourke, who does not have a real-life counterpart in the true Batavia story. And while many pivotal events in the book have historical counterparts, others do not.

The challenge was to adapt the various plot points from a seafaring narrative into a spacefaring one. For example, in the true story, the mutineers on board the Batavia altered the ship's course in the middle of the night in order to separate the ship from her convoy, thus giving them an opportunity to seize the ship by force without interference. This was possible because the mutineers were senior officers who had access to the ship's wheel in the middle of the night. When morning came, Batavia was truly isolated on the Indian ocean. Before the mutineers could seize the ship, though, it struck a reef. Despite herculean efforts, the crew was unable to get the ship off the reef, partly because it struck during high tide.

In my book, I transformed these plot points into a science fiction setting. I did this by envisioning that the Dauntless would be connected to Earth via a communications system or "Comm." The mutineers wanted to sever this connection, so they changed the ship's course so that it entered a solar system dominated by a neutron star, whose magnetic field jammed the Comm. In the true Batavia story, the course change caused the collision with the uncharted reef, after which the passengers and crew ended up on a nearby desert island. In my story, the new course results in Dauntless being struck by an asteroid, which forces the crew to crash-land the ship on a binary asteroid system, the equivalent of a desert island in space.

I wanted to retain the narrative of the mutiny leading directly to the disaster and the shipwreck. In both cases, it was the hubris and greed of the mutineers that led them to ignore the danger of steering the ship into uncharted territory. They disregarded the risk in pursuit of personal gain, and as a result, many innocent people would suffer. In this way, I attempt to preserve a kind of historical "echo" -- the reader encounters a plot point based in reality, but in a science fiction setting. The technique aims to make the story feel more "real." The motivations of the characters feels plausible, because it is, in fact, based on something that really happened. There are many more examples of this throughout the book. For those readers who are familiar with the Batavia story, you can probably spot which is which.