Magical? Mystery? Cure for insomnia?

I finished it, mainly because I kept hoping that it would get better: it never did. Mainly set on a ship attempting to return from the Dutch East Indies to Amsterdam in 1634, it lurches from unbelievable to incredible and back, ad infinitum. It is a sort of detective story mashed up with horror, gore, love, deprivation, murder, magic, and mayhem. I think the heroes ended up heroes but I am not sure.