THE RECENT MASSACRE AT THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4778, 15 July 1876, Page 3

THE RECENT MASSACRE AT THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.

We had news by cable not long since of the massacre of a trader's crew at the Solomon Islands. The Sydney Morning Herald of the sth instant, to hand by the s.s. Albion, contains the following;— By the schooner Dancing Wave, which arrived in Sydney early yesterday morning, we have received intelligence of one of the most bloodthirsty massacres recovered for some time past, Mr. Richard Davis, who was formerly chief officer of the barque Sydney, has kindly furnished us with the following particulars of the event.

The Dancing Wave Bailed from Sydney on a labor cruise, her ultimate destination being Somerset. She proceeded to the Solomon Group, and had engaged a certain number of the natives of Florida Island. On the 22nd April, at 10 a.m., the labor was all on board, and Captain Harrison was taking down their names, when suddenly there was a general rising among the natives on board, and instantly the crew, with the exception of one man, were tomahawked. The captain went into the cabin and died at once. The chief officer and steward, who had taken refuge in the cabin, being badly wounded, shot themselves to avoid more torture. William Broad, the man saved, jumped overboard, and gettmg hold of the ship’s boat, escaped, and made for Savo Island. Broad, the seaman saved, was placed on board H.M.S. Sandfly, at Makera, and she at once left for the scene of the massacre. The following are the names ; of the murdered men ;—Captain A. Harrison, Mr, J. Dare, chief officer; Thomas Helher,

steward ; Sanderson, Nicholson, and Thompson, seamen. The barque Sydney left hero on the 12th February this year, and proceeded to ,St. Christoval, one of the Solomon Islands, where she remained for about four weeks, discharging coal, refitting, and making the necessary preparations for her next voyage. From St. Christoval she went to Savoa, another island of the same group, and upon approaching the island the schooner Dancing Wave was observed off the coast, to the north-east. The Sydney came to her anchorage on the evening of the 22nd of April, and at about half-past six on the morning of the 23rd, a man named William Broad, and Harry, a native of St. Christoval, came alongside in a boat, and reported themselves as members of the crew of the Dancing Wave, whose comrades had been massacred on the previous morning. Immediately upon the receipt of this information Captain Woodhouse, of the Sydney ordered a boat to be lowered and manned to give chase to the schooner, which was still perceived bearing away in the offing. At this time the sea was perfectly smooth, and there was no wind, but about 10 o’clock the breeze freshened from the northward, and the., boat, being unable to make the schooner, returned to the Sydney, when the captain ordered the vessel to be got under way, and to set off in pursuit of the Dancing Wave, the barque steering S.S.W. At about 5.30 on the morning of the 24th the schooner was observed in shore, and about four miles distant, to the westward of Wanderer’s Bay, which is situated at the extreme west end of Gauldeanar, one of the Solomon Group. Having come up with the schooner, Captain Woodhouse, accompanied by twelve of his crew (principally natives), boarded the Dancing Wave, and found that the vessel had been ransacked from stem to stem; the natives had murdered the captain and all his crew, excepting William Broad and the man Harry, and had pillaged the whole place, carrying off everything that they could lay their hands on, and destroying life as well as property. The decks and the cabin floor were all bespattered with blood and other human remains ; and in the saloon pickle and pepper bottles were found to have been emptied, and their contents cast upon the floor, mixing themselves in heterogeneous masses with the blood, &c. Near the mainmast the head of one of the native crew was found. As soon as Captain Woodhouse could make it convenient, he had the decks washed, and removed as far as possible all signs of the fearful outrages that had been perpetrated on board her. From Gauldeanar the schooner was brought to Savoa, where Captain Woodhouse appointed his chief officer, Richard Davis, to take command of her, and bring her on to Sydney as soon as he could obtain a sufficient crew. From Savoa Mr. Davis sailed to Rubiana, where he met the steamer Ripple, and from which he enlisted a couple of European men and some natives to come on to Sydney with him. He also got a couple of European men from the Sydney, which accompanied him from Savoa. From Rubiana the schooner went to Mackaria, a seaport of St. Christoval, where he refitted and obtained some of his supplies for the passage to this port. He took his departure from Micaree on Saturday, the 10th June, and called at Morto, Morau Bay, and Uge for yams, finally setting sail for this port on Thursday, the 15th June. The Dancing Wave arrived here at about 5.30 yesterday morning, after having made a smart passage from the islands. The Sydney left the Solomon Islands shortly after the Dancing Wave, so that she may be daily expected. It may not be uninteresting to our readers to know that the inhabitants of the Solomon Group are cannibals, and Mr. Davis informs us that when bartering with the natives he has always exercised the greatest possible caution, as they can never be trusted, and that at the moment at which they may appear to be on the most friendly terms, is the very moment at which they may be expected to turn round and make free use of their weapons. As an illustration of their treacherousness, he relates that last year, in the Kate Kearney, when he was chief officer of that vessel, she was at a place called Guize, and one day when they were landing a chief who had been on board the ship, the islanders suddenly turned round and murdered four out of eight of the native crew that were in the boat. The crew are said to have given no provocation whatever, and without the slightest warning they were brutally assaulted by the men on the beach. The men who had disembarked, seeing themselves molested, immediately made for the boat, at which time four of them were killed. The remaining four swam to the ship, which they reached in safety. The time at which they appear to be most treacherous is at the death of a chief, at the death of a chief’s wife, or at the launch of a canoe, when human heads are in much request for adorning their “ taboa house,” into which a female is prohibited from entering under pain of death.