KIDNAPPING IN THE SOUTH SEAS

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1180, 10 May 1872, Page 3

KIDNAPPING IN THE SOUTH SEAS

Under the heading, " One Reason Why the Murders 'of White Men by the South Sea Island Natives are Much More Frequent Now than Heretofore," the mate of the barque Forward sends the following communication to the Sydney Morning Herald:— In the month of April, 1871, having occasion to fill up fresh water, previous to a long whaling cruise, we proceeded to Havannah Harbor, in. the island of Sandwich, one of the New Hebrides group, ior • that purpose ; and while so engaged two labor (?) vessels arrived and anchored near us. One, a cutter, belonging to some people in Tanna — name unknown — and having four armed Tanna men on board, for the expressed purpose of " mancatching;" the other, a fore-and-aft schooner, belonging to Tahiti, having on board 72 "niggers," and also a French Government official, to see that those " niggers" were properly hired, well fed, and Kindly treated. Whether they were "properly hired" or not, the following account of the capture of thirteen of them, by an actor in the affair, will at once show. I will relate this, as nearly as possible, in the words of my informant. He is a Frenchman, who had formerly sailed under me as third officer, and through drunkenness and refusal to obey an immediate order on board another ship, was left ashore on the island of Sandwich, a, short time previous to our arrival there. Hearing that I was chief mate of the whaling barque just come to anchor, he paid me a visit ; and when in conversation I asked, " What is the matter with your hand" (it was bound up)} He replied, "Oh, one of the niggers bit me when I was securing him." "What," said I, "do yon take them by force ?" " Oh, any way," said he ; "we get them how we can ;" and pointing to the schooner, he eaid, " I will tell you how we got 13 of them aboard there. The cutter I belonged to and that schooner were mated in getting niggers outside — that is, when cruising amongst the islands —in the proportion of two to the schooner and, one to us, as she had two boats and crews to our one. One day two canoes came off to us containing thirteen men, for the purpose of trading. We accidentally (intentionally) ran (them down, and broke their canoes, picking up the men, of course, and promising to land them. The captain of the schooner then said, ,' Look out, boys, and when I hoist a white flag secure them.' We then induced six of them to ( go into the cabin, to see it, and locked them in there. This done, up went the white flag, and we rushed on and secured the others, all but one. This man j fighting desperately, we found it necessary to shoot him twice, each time through the abdomen. He then fell on deck as if dead, and was thrown overboard. The cool water, however, revived him, and he struck out for the shore, bleeding profusely, but swimming strongly. The cap- i tain, fearing he might reach the Bhore ' even in his wounded state, despatched a boat and three men after him. One of thed), a Maori, coolly ran his knife into his breast two or three times, and sank him. The boat then returned to the schooner. During this time, those in the cabin, finding themselves entrapped, sought means of egress in vain. They, hower, found an American axe and some pieces of spears, bows and arrows, &c, which had been hung up in the cabin as curiosities. With the axe they commenced to cut through the deck and break everything about them. The cap-tain,-hearing the noise, opened the door, and rushed into the cabin, pistol in hand. As he did so, one of the natives, struck him in the forehead with a part of an old spear, inflicting a painful wound, which the captain returned by putting a bullet through his jaws. They were then secured and put in irons, and are now on board." Such is- the account given me by ■ ■ , and which is here stated without the slightest exaggeration. Hence we arrive at some idea why the chief mate of the Adventurer, Bishop Patteson, and others lately killed, have been sacrificed at islands perfectly friendly some short time ago. It is not the men engaged in such- abominable practices who have to fear. They go fully armed and prepared. It is the peaceful legitimate trader and unsuspecting whaleman, seeking recruits at islands where they have been kindly dealt with by the natives in times past, who pay the penalty with their lives ot the atrocities committed by their civilised (?) brethren on the untutored savage. Can any thinking man blame the savage for retaliating? I trow not.— (Signed) Hejtky Edmonds, mate, barque Forward.