The Pelsaert Group is the southernmost of the three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos

Houtman Abrolhos

The Houtman Abrolhos is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. Nominally located at , it lies about eighty kilometres west of Geraldton, Western Australia...

 island chain. Nominally located at 28°54′S 113°54′E, it consists of a number of islands, the largest of which are Gun Island

Gun Island

Gun Island is one of the larger islands in the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos. It is nominally located at , about 4 km north and east of Half Moon Reef and is a flat limestone outcrop of about by in size...

, Middle Island, and Pelsaert Island. The group is named after a Dutch "opperkoopman" who stranded nearby with the VOC-ship "Batavia

Batavia (ship)

Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company . It was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and armed with 24 cast iron cannons and a number of bronze guns. Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and was made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors...

" in 1629. The group contains the most southerly true coral reefs in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

. The group is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

, identified as such by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.

A great many ships have been wreck

Shipwreck

A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

ed in the Pelsaert Group. The most notable wreck is the Zeewijk

Zeewijk

The Zeewijk was an 18th century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company that was shipwrecked at the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia, on 9 June 1727. The survivors built a second ship, the Sloepie, enabling 82 out of the initial crew of 208 to reach their initial...

, which was wrecked on the Half Moon Reef in 1727, the survivors staying on Gun Island

Gun Island

Gun Island is one of the larger islands in the Pelsaert Group of the Houtman Abrolhos. It is nominally located at , about 4 km north and east of Half Moon Reef and is a flat limestone outcrop of about by in size...

 for some time afterwards. Other wrecks include the Ocean Queen, wrecked on the Half Moon Reef in 1842; the Ben Ledi, wrecked off Pelsaert Island in 1879; and the Windsor

Windsor (ship)

The Windsor was a ship wrecked on Long Reef near Sydney, Australia in 1816.The Windsor was a sloop of 22 tons owned and under the command of Henry Major. The Windsor left the Hawkesbury and headed for Sydney when it was blown well off shore by a gale. It is probable that it was this gale that...

, wrecked on the Half Moon Reef in 1908.