THE ESPERANZA TRAGEDY IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 4, Issue 174, 27 November 1880, Page 3

THE ESPERANZA TRAGEDY IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

[A/'/hiv/ -Mnil, (klahtr Hl.] The following details of the capture and burning of the schooner Ksperanza, and horrible maswiro of the ship's company at the S ihim-iu Islands, are collated from notes by the late Captain Ferguson. and forwarded to us n-r (la/elle a few days before his death. This will no.lonbt, be read with melancholy interest:"Captain .Tain is .\r ickintosh.e immHiding the schooner Esparaftfci,left Rubiana on the With May. and arrive I at f'„,. langhangara on the same day. Arrived there, he. at the solicitation of the natives, anchored his wss-d in Ariel Cove, the natives of which place liavO, at various times, received kindnesses from (taptain Fergus on, and his traders, of which the Esporauza, was one. Jlailey, the chief of the island, informed Captain Mackintosh that lie and his people had a lot of copra ready cooked, but that, as it was a long way from the beaeli.it would take them a day or two to get it down. Poor Mackintosh never suspecting a Imp, willingly consented to wait; never dreaming that the wily savage was only begging for time for the purpose of perfecting Ws scheme of slaughter. From day to day the natives made excuses for the non-appearance of the copra : but on the fourth day a largo number of natives went off to the ship, and stated that the copra was lying on the bench, and that he (Captain Mackintosh i hud bettor send a boat for it. This be at once did, sending in it two Tana 2d two Lord Howfi ii!en.thus weakening ms force on the vessel by four men. Scarcely had the boat reached the shore when the loud fierce, 'death yell' was raised by the savages on b >ard tin! vessel: the signal was repeated on shoiv, and immediately a simultaneous attack was made upon'the vessel and the boat : a few moments of frftilo struggling against 'the overwhelming numbers of savages that surrounded them on every side—<perc!i.inec a half-brc.athed prayer to I roil me agonizing moment of thought of wife au'd child then hopelessly bound and held by dozens 'of fiends iii human form '.hey were slaughtered like sheep j in the shambles. All but one were killed ere they had lime to realize even the ■possibility id' being killed at ail-that one was (ienrge Kldsou, and he. a romi" ■and powerful man. full of health and •strength, fonghl bravely and fiercely for dear life. There were no firearms on deck, and his object was to got to the cabin were they were. (irandly he ■fought his way'to the hatchway', ami reaching down bis hand, succeeded in seizing a revolver. Life nod liberty were Very near him then, lie tired (.vice when suddenly he was seized from Ikuiud, and his arms pinioned. Still he struggled for his life, undaunted bv the terrible olds against hi,,,, and kicked and threw i:is toes from side to si.'. but j

niiw came Ih" climax to this ltiiri'ililt! s ii'. A native succeeded ill seizing his head.and twisted it around: his eyes' met Close of his tierce I'm'. liul iinlv I'm' a

msiuul -a mo ii mt iir.iit! nuil Ihn'sav.tg", nose with liis leoth. ami liil mill luii! ii vKwiinvil: it w mMonlv sh.iek y.iurr.'.i leis: within slim-l half-h >ur fi-.nii time in inciieoment hi' tho attack, tli ■ sira;'m lull nought lull tho dead In rn.itil.it.-. ami the ship to gut and Icirii. Po.ir Mackintosh hii.l, through his honesty, steadiness, mul genial ipialities jnsl been promoted from being lirst mat • of tin- s.s. liippln to the command of ih" K p ir.inz i, in which p isitioii ho would hive, in the cniU'.S" lII' il few lllOllllls, through his wellkiiowu kimluuss of disposition, mill t:ict in dealing with ih" natives, earn'd much for his young bride, pining for Tii-s return in far-away Sydney ; just as everything wiw beginning In prosper with him, jtist at ih" tiui" that hi l could reas uiably hupp, ami count upon a speedv return to those he loved, ho was .silvagolv butchered. Both li Mryn ICl.silon and iinfl'iiey, tho two white men that were murdered with him, wore single men, mill lions a good character through the islands. There were also six Tjiiril Howe natives ami two Tana, men belonging to the ship murdered a! the Mime time. The Ksporanza was owned liy .Messrs. Oowliushaw, of Sydney, and Captain Ferguson. The loss, irrespective of the valuable lives sacrificed, niav he lie put down at full £2000; indirectly, tho loss will be far greater, as the firm have no vessel handy to take the plaee of the one that is gone. The following message was sent to Captain Ferguson, soon after the murder, by ITailev:—

'The Iluilcy, big_ fellow king, belong Ooolangbungnra, big follow lighting man; mo spenk you ; me ki ki (have oaten) ten, one (eleven) follow man belong s-hooner Kspcrun/.a ; uie take him altogether twulo belong that ship—musket, powder, bund, tobacco, plenty ; me lake him everything; me niaku big fire, ami that fellow ship lie llnish.' Me then went on to say that be bad heard that a mau-of-war would bo certain to punish him for what ho bad done. At this threat he laughs, stating that if ten men-of-war wore to come ho ■would light them the morn the better, as he would then lie enabled to obtain more heads to hang side by side with those ho hail already got in bis ' Taboo ' house; he could see no reason why be should be afraid of white men, 'for,' lie says, ' Lnndoo, kine of Rnbiana, took two Kehoonmn—thfl Pearl and the Marion Ronnie,-the Florida natives took two - -the Liiviiiiu find the Dancing Wave,— the Treasury Wanders have taken three ■whalers." Lord Howe Islanders have taken four, his neighbours at Uanyutali have cn]il lived many whale boats and slaughtered their crews, and the Sinibo men ki11,,,!

Captain Blake. Ho has heard of all these, but in no case did the authors receive any punishment from the \thito men. Why, then, shonlil he not do the same ? On his island there are but few encoannUs, so that he cannot buy from the white men tohaeco, knives, tomhnwks &c.: bat though ho cannot buy, yot Inami his people understand hnw to fight,' so that he intends to supply himself by Force. 1 He then states that, 'ho has heard that Captain Ferguson wishes to punish him hy-and-hy.' Ho pompously asks him to he quick about it, for if he isn't lie will got, frightened like a woman, and not try to c|n ho all. Ho has fought many people, and taken many heads, they are in hi* Tab) > bouso, and ho looks at them with pride. For lie knows that men are afraid of him—hu has heard of the manner in which Kurdish mon-of-war light, they fire their big guns, they make a fearful voice, but they only break eotoanlit trees down, smash rooks, tear the ground, and perhaps knock down a house or two, but they don't kill any men; then why should he be afraid of them 'i lie finishes up with 'While man all same woman, he no savoy fight, suppose woman plenty cross, he make hiin plenty noise, suppose man-of-war lie come light me, he make him plenty noise, but he all the same woman, he no savoy light, all same black man.' This was the *mi her' boastful message which Captain Ferguson received from Jiailev. The message was sent to him by liailey as he heard that he T'uptain Ferguson) was at Rubiana. There is, however, in this savage's cranium a thorough knowledge of our ways and habils; not only that, but he is posted up in every case where the whiles have been beaten' hv the blacks in the Solomon Islands ; he evidently feels perfectly secure in his iniquity ; for well, not only be, but every other nigger in the group, knows lhat the white trailers in these islands dare not take the law into their own bauds, consequently, as this impression lakes firmer root in their mind and spreads from Irilw to tribe, ' whitu skull ' hunting will no? improbably become an instilntion anion jst them. Iliniiaiiitarians and other sympathisers with the poor benighted heathens will bo glad to learn that this cruel and treacherous massacre, was no! the result of any swash-buckler i i .t.il-bran lm!ilu ri -vsl. in m tradm., Ihu Uliforliinale men i'ell victims to their over-confidence in natives that have 1 n kindly treated fnr« period of twelveyears by white men. In this case no extenuating c.in tstiiuces, such as kidnapping. or its more mysterious ni.ii am' lguous form 'labour-getting,' has a.s yet extended toCoolangbangara. That the whole affair was premeditated, there can be no doubt; the putting oil from day to day the arrival of the copra, and the cunning manner in which they succeeded in dividing the snip's force, plaiulv show that Hailev. whatever he nine be, knows how to eariv out his blood v plans ton slice ssflll to'- j mination—and proljablv as far as English !