SKETCH OF THE NOTORIOUS CAPTAIN HAYES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4910, 16 December 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

SKETCH OF THE NOTORIOUS CAPTAIN HAYES.

{Hawaiian Gazette, November 15.) This somewhat celebrated ocean rover is reported to have been last week at Kawaihae, in the yacht Lotus, of San Francisco, bound to the Navigator Islands. We shall not probably have the pleasure of entertaining him in Honolulu, but a few facts in regard to his romantic career will interest our readers. His last escapade at Manilla and Guam surpasses all his former exploits. The last we heard of him, before he turned up at San Francisco, the Spaniards had him in prison, with evidence enough to have guaranteed the garrote of any ordinary man. But Captain Hayes was equal to the occasion, and suddenly and - mysteriously appears on the other side of the stage, ready for another raid on his fellowmen. His first appearance at these islands was in the fall of 1858, when he and his first officer were put ashore from the ship Orestes. He was at that time accompanied by his wife, whoisnow living with his children at the Navigator Islands. In all his travels he is said to be accompanied by a female companion of some kind or other, whom he picks up and drops as the fancy takes him. He left Honolulu in the early part of 1859 for San Francisco, and some two months afterwards he appeared at Kahului, on Maui, in command of a brig, bound to New Caledonia, and while negotiating for a load of cattle, he was taken in charge by the late Mr. Treadway, then sheriff of Maui, for ;violating the revenue laws by entering a closed port. The captain was highly indignant with his first officer for telling him that it was not necessary to enter at the Lahaina | Custom House, treated the sheriff with distinguished consideration, invited him to dine with him, and requested him to do him the favor to pilot the vessel to Lahaina. Mr. Treadway blandly consented, the brig was got under way, but when clear of the land, the captain, dropping his suavity, informed him that his destination was New Caledonia, and; that he could have a passage there for a consideration, or he could go ashore in his boat which was alongside. The sheriff was always fond of a good joke, but he was obliged to acknowledge that thiswas beingAarcd with a vengeance. But there was no alternative, and he had to leave, and witness his late prisoner triumphantly shaping his course for the setting sun. The next mail from the Coast brought the necessary papers to the United States Consul here, authorising him to arrest Captain Hayes and seize the brig. Jt appears that he had landed in San Francisco with a capital of fifty dollars, which he had borrowed when in Honolulu of the Rev. Dr. Damon. With this money for a basis of credit he bought the brig, fitted her for sea, stole somebody’s wife, shipped a crew, and went to sea, paying for nothing but his water.. We next hear of this vessel sinking off Wallace's island, and of a part of the crew landing on the island by means of a raft, while Hayes with his passengers made their way in the boat to the Navigator islands. He now disappears for some time, but finally is heard from at Batavia in a bark chartered for Europe with a load of coffee. The Dutch East India Company, however, becoming acquainted with some of his past history, was glad to pay him the charter money and get the coffee ashore again. His next voyage was from Hongkong to Melbourne, with a load of Chinese passengers. After being out some time he was informed by a ship which he spoke that he would have to pay fifty dollars per head on the Chinamen before he could land them. He kept on the oven tenor of his way, however, until he arrived off Melbourne, when he choked both hia pumps, started all his fresh water in the hold, and set his colors half-mast, union down, as if. in sore distress. Two steamers soon came to his assistance and offered to tow him into port, but the captain’s humanity pvercame all selfish feelings, and he replied, “Save these people, and let the ship sink. If she is afloat when you return we will try and get her in.” The Chinamen wore landed, the steamers paying the head-money, but when they returned for Hayes, he was not to be found. Hia next cargo of Chinese were landed without trouble, as he had them all made British subjects previous to starting. We now lose sight of him again, not being able to learn anything of his doings or whereabouts, except that he occasionally dawned upon Tahiti like a comet, and disappeared

again as mysteriously as he came. Presently he commences his career as a trader among the South Sea Islands, and alter raiding and robbing stations for a couple of years, we find him under arrest at ITpolo, in charge of the British, Consul. Just then the renowned Captain Ben. Pease arrived in the brig Leonora. Captain Hayes’ chronometers required rating, and he obtained permission to take them on board the Leonora for that purpose. The next morning the brig was gone with Hayes as a passenger, and presently turned up at Shanghai. Before she had been ten days in port, Pease was in prison, and Hayes was owner of the brig. He fitted her for sea, as usual, only paying one bill, which, in this case, was for a spare mainyard, and set off down the China coast, levying upon its villages for means to carry out his speculations in the Pacific.

He next appeared at Bankok, in Siam, with a cargo of rice, which he purchased in the following characteristic manner. He was chartered in Saigon to take a cargo of rice to Hongkong and way ports. At one of these by-ports the owner went ashiore to make a sale of rice, while Hayes kept the vessel outside to save expense. The owner turned one corner of a street and the first officer the other, the ' latter immediately going back on board the ship, which left, leaving the owner to wonder what it all meant. Bankok was soon reached, and the cargo of rice sold at a good figure. The Leonora was newly coppered, and a complete outfit taken on board for the trade of the Pacific. The mail Steamer was entering the port, with the owner of the rice on board, as Hayes was leaving. This gentleman had never met Hayes hut once when he chartered the vessel. We next hear of the IJ.S.S. Naragansett, Captain Meade, as being engaged in searching for him on account of his many alleged irregularities. He was found at Upolo, arrested, and taken on hoard the man-of-war, where he had no difficulty in winning the hearts of both men and officers in a very short time, and after three days’ detention ho was liberated, there being no evidence against him, and all were firmly convinced that he was a much injured and most worthy man. Insinuating to Capt. Meade that he was in want of some sails, he was supplied with all he required, and the gentlemanly pirate departed with the best wishes of captain and officers. The schooner Giovani Apiani, now in this harbor, was once owned by Hayes, who obtained possession of her in the following manner : —She belonged to a Frenchman whom Hayes met at one of the islands in the South Pacific, and with whom he made a bargain for an interest in the schooner, in consideration of a certain sum of money and a share in some of the stations belonging to Hayes. One fine day as they were sailing smoothly past an island, whose beauties the Frenchman was admiring, he was gently touched behind the ear, and as he turned his head _ a blow between the eyes “ put him to sleep,” as he subsequently expressed it, to wake on shore, and the schooner out of sight. In a moment of inconsistent faith in human nature, Hayes entrusted Captain Pinkham with the schooner and he never saw her more.

Hayes, by the loss of his brig at Strong’s Island, felt obliged to play the pious dodge, and actually succeeded in persuading the missionaries that he was converted from the error of his ways. How he got possession of the schooner which took him from thence to Guam, we do not know ; but after his arrival there he was captured while bathing, and it was generally believed that his romantic career had come to an end, but •he resumed the religious role, this time as a Eomau Catholic, and bamboozled the clergy of Manilla as effectually as he had. the American missionaries.