Kidnapping in the Pacific: or, The Adventures of Boas Ringdon

“To prevent this I passed a rope round his body when he didn’t see what I was about, and lashed him to the top.

“As the night drew on the wind dropped, and at daybreak my eyes were gladdened by the sight of the land about two miles away, while between us and it were numerous small rocks scattered about, by means of which we might make our way, even if we had to swim for it. I remembered, however, the sharks, so I determined to build a raft. Poor Bill could not help me, so I set to work by myself. I was some time putting one together to carry us both, and then, being very hungry, I thought I would try to get hold of the keg of hams and the cask of water which were stowed forward, and also that I might pick up some of the boxes of pearls. I got the hams and water, but could not find the pearls.

“I took some of the food up to Bill, but he would only touch the water.

“At last I managed to lower him on to the raft, and, afraid that the weather might again change, shoved off to make our voyage to the land. It was slow work, for I had only a long pole and a paddle. If Bill had been able to help, we should have got on much faster. At last we came to a small island. I thought to myself I’ll leave Bill here with some ham and water for food, and go back and have another search for the pearls. Bill made no objection; I don’t think even then he knew where he was. I got back with less difficulty than I expected.

“The tide had now fallen, and the after part of the vessel was clear of water. I cannot tell you how I felt when I caught sight of the boxes where I knew the pearls had been stowed in the captain’s cabin. There were a couple of large chests, and in these were several more boxes, with the captain’s money, and some other things of value. I thought to myself, if I turn out everything heavy, these boxes will float and serve to preserve my treasures, even should the raft be capsized. I accordingly, having prepared them as I proposed, put in the boxes of pearls, and having lashed them securely, lowered them on to the raft, loading it with a number of other articles, which I thought would be useful. Shoving off, I made the best of my way towards the rock where I had left poor Bill; it was time I did, for the weather was again, I feared, about to change, and heavy rain was falling. Hoping that he might have revived, I expected to see him looking out for me.

“While making good way through the water, suddenly I found my raft touch ground. The current striking against it drove it further and further on to the reef. To prevent it capsizing, I had to stand up and press my pole against the bottom. There I stood, the rain coming down faster and faster. I shouted to Bill, hoping that he might hear me, and perhaps be able to wade out to my assistance, but no answer came. I might easily have got off by casting the chest and the other articles adrift, but I could not bring myself to do that, not knowing where they and their precious contents might be carried to. At last I thought of mooring the raft, and trying to reach the rock by wading. I had a large axe which would serve as an anchor. I made a rope fast to it, and stuck it securely, as I thought, in a cleft of the coral reef. I then, with the pole in my hand, made my way towards the rock. Reaching it at last, not without difficulty, I looked about for Bill. What was my dismay not to see him! The provisions and water, and the other things I left with him were there, but he was gone. Whether he had fancied I was going to desert him, and had attempted to swim to the mainland, or in his madness had thrown himself into the sea, I could not tell. I climbed to the end of the rock nearest to the shore, shouting at the top of my voice, and still hoping to see him, but not a soul appeared on the beach. I had taken a liking to him, and I felt more unhappy than I had ever felt before, at the thoughts that he was lost. ‘It cannot be helped,’ I said to myself. ‘I’ll go back and tow the chests one by one to the rock, and so get the raft afloat, and in time reach the shore.’ At once I went back to the outer end of the rock, and began to wade towards where I had left the raft. The breeze had got up, and there was some sea on. It struck me that the water was deeper than at first. I hadn’t made many steps when, looking at the raft, I felt convinced that it was moving. I tried to hurry on, but found myself floundering in the water almost up to my neck, and had to scramble back to the rock to save my life. The raft went faster and faster. I shouted, I shrieked to it to stop; the pearls which would have made my fortune were every instant getting further from my reach. Then a wave took it and turned it right over, another struck it and dashed it against a rock, and away floated the pieces with the chests in the direction the current was making.

“On getting back to the rock I sat down and cried like a child. I felt as if I was done for. At last I got better and began to hope that the chests might be washed on shore, and that I might secure them after all.

“How was I to reach the land? there was the question. I was a bad swimmer, and if I had been a good one the chances were that I should be picked off by a shark. My only remaining hope was that the natives might not be cannibals, and that some of them coming off to fish might see me, and carry me to their island. Still perhaps some days might pass before any one might come out so far. I knew therefore that I must husband my provisions to make them last me as long as possible. Fortunately the rain had filled some hollows in the rock. I drank as much as I wanted of that, and bailed the remainder into the cask I had left with Bill.

“The day passed by and no one appeared, and not only that day but several others went by, and I was still on the rock. I had eaten up all the ham and drunk up nearly every drop of water. I had no means of striking a light, and if I had there was no fuel except my pole, and I could not live long on the raw shell fish which stuck to the rock.

“My last hour I thought was come. I lay down expecting to die, and soon dropped off into a sort of stupor. I was aroused by hearing voices, and looking up I saw a canoe with three brown girls in her, paddling up to the rock. I just lifted my head and made signs that I was very ill; they understood me, and instead of running away managed together to lift me into their canoe. One poured water down my throat, and another fed me with yam. They had been out fishing, and were returning home. They took me to their father’s hut, and fed and nursed me till I recovered. My thoughts were running on the chests with the pearls, but I could hear nothing of them, nor of poor Bill either, nor have I from that day to this.”

Chapter Four

“I was just well, and thinking what I should do, when a South Sea whaler put into a harbour close by for provisions and water. She wanted hands, and I shipped aboard her. She was not long out from Sydney, to which port she belonged.

“While I served in her I was again nearly lost. We were after a big whale which had already been struck when the creature caught the boat I was in with its flukes, stove in the bows, and turned her right over, while I and the rest of the crew were left struggling in the water. I managed to climb up on the boat’s stern, and hailed another boat which was under sail, but so eager were those in her in pursuit of the monster that they did not see for some time what had occurred. The rest of my mates had sunk before she came up, and I was taken on board so exhausted that I could not have hung on many minutes longer.

“When the cruise was up the whaler returned to Sydney, and I thought that I would stop on shore, and with the money I had saved try what I could do for a living. My cash was gone, however, before I could well look round; my old friends the crimps got most of it.

“Remembering how I had before been shipped on board a craft without knowing it, I determined that such a trick should not be played me again. Perhaps the crimps thought I was too old to be worth much and would not let me run up a score.

“I was standing one day on the quay with my hands in my pockets, when the skipper of the last sandal-wood trader I had sailed in came up to me. He knew me and I knew him, and a bigger villain I never set eyes on; still considering that my last shilling was gone, I could not be particular about my acquaintances.

”‘Boas, old ship,’ says he. ‘You know the South Sea Islands as well as most men. I want a few fellows like you for a cruise which is sure to be profitable, and you will come back in a short time with your pockets lined with gold, and be able to live at your ease, if you have a mind to do so, like a gentleman.’

“I asked him to tell me what was the object of the voyage.

”‘I don’t mind telling you the truth. If you were to ask at the Custom House you would hear we were starting on a voyage after cocoa-nut oil and sea slugs, but there’s poor profit in that compared to what we are really after. We do not call ours a slaving voyage, but our intention is to get as many natives as we can stowed away in our hold, by fair means or foul, and to run them across to Brisbane or some other port in Queensland. The order we receive from our owner is to visit the different islands, and to persuade as many natives as we can to come and work for the settlers. They want labourers, and will pay good wages, and the natives are only to be engaged for three years, and to be carried back again at the end of that time if they happen to be alive, and wish it, to their own islands.’

“I told him that was very like the sort of trade I had been engaged in some years before, when we collected natives and carried them to Peru to work in the mines, and how the French didn’t approve of our taking the people from their islands, and had captured a number of our vessels. ‘But,’ says I, ‘as I suppose that there are no mines in Queensland, the Indians will like Australia better than they did Peru, and won’t die so fast as they did there. But what does the Government say to the matter? Maybe they’ll call it slaving.’

”‘Oh we have got a regular licence from the Queensland Government,’ answered the skipper. ‘It’s all shipshape and lawful, provided we treat the natives kindly, and don’t take them unless they wish to go, and make them clearly understand the agreement they enter into.’

”‘If that’s the case, Captain Squid, I’m your man,’ says I. ‘I am not over particular; but in my old age I have taken a liking to what is lawful and right.’

”‘Very wise too,’ says the skipper, giving me a wink. ‘You will find all our proceedings perfectly lawful, and we run no risk whatever. If the natives get harder worked than they like when they reach Queensland, that’s no business of ours.’

“To make a long story short, I that evening found myself on board the ‘Pickle,’ schooner of about eighty tons. She hadn’t much room for stowage ’tween decks, but as the passage between Queensland and the islands where she was to get the natives was short, and as I supposed only a few at a time would be taken, I had no scruples on that score. At all events, it could not be anything like the middle passage between Africa and America.

“Next morning we were at sea running to the eastward, after which we stood away northward, towards the islands which extend between the line and New Caledonia. The people are all blacks, a strong, hardy race, and, as Captain Squid remarked to me, more likely to be caught, and when caught better able to work than the brown-skinned natives to the eastward, such as we used to take away to labour in the mines in South America.

“The first place we came to was the Island of Tanna, one of the southernmost of the New Hebrides. We knew that missionaries were there trying to turn the people into Christians – an odd sort of work to my mind for white people to attempt. It would not do, however, to go near where they were. We stood in, therefore, to a part of the island where they were not. Having hove-to, we sent a boat on shore to invite the people to come off with palm oil, telling them that we would pay a high price for it. The second mate, who went in command of the boat with the interpreter, was ordered to be very cautious lest the natives should attempt to cut him off.

“Having delivered his message, he returned to the schooner. To our surprise, in a short time three canoes were seen coming off with a dozen natives in them. They came alongside without fear, and told the interpreter that they were Christians, and friends of the white men. The captain invited them on board, and said that he would not only pay them well for their oil, but would, if they chose, take them to a country where they might soon become rich, and return home again in a short time. They replied that they had no desire to leave their native island, and wanted to receive payment for their oil. The captain said they should have it if they would come down below, where he had got a feast ready for them. An old man of the party advised them to remain on deck till they had received the goods they had bargained for. Some liquor on this was brought up, and they were asked to take a drop. The old man again advised them not to touch it, and took hold of his oil-jar as if he was about to lower it into his canoe. Notwithstanding what the old man said, two or three of them tasted the grog, and then, first one and then another, went down below. The old man cried out to them, and was about to lower his jar into the canoe, when, at a word from the captain, one of our people seized it, while another caught hold of him. The interpreter at the moment appearing, declared that the oil had been bought, and that he had no business to carry it away. By this time half the natives were below. The old man struggled, he was knocked down, and when his companions came to his assistance they were knocked down also. Before they could get up again their arms were pinioned, while those who were below were treated in the same way. The captain declared that the savages intended to take the vessel, that he did not believe they were Christians, and that in his own defence he was obliged to carry them off.

”‘You will understand, my lads,’ he said to us, ‘if any questions are asked when we get to Brisbane that’s the answer we must give.’

“The canoes of the savages alongside were sunk, and letting draw the foresail, we stood away along the coast, while the natives were stowed snugly below. The captain seemed highly pleased with this successful commencement of our voyage.

“A short way further on, as we saw some natives on the shore, the boat was sent in to speak to them. I went in her. As we approached the beach, two young men were seen swimming off towing a quantity of cocoa-nuts, which they told the interpreter they wished to barter for any goods we had brought. They were invited to come into the boat, but were timid, and replied that we might have the cocoa-nuts, but must hand out in return what we had to give. A few articles were accordingly held up, and they were invited to come and receive them. Fearing they might escape us, the moment they came alongside they were seized by the hair of their heads, and hauled into the boat. They cried out, saying that they were sons of a chief, and that, if we would set them free, we might have the cocoa-nuts. The mate laughed at them, and told them if they would quietly come with us we would pay them handsomely. As they began to struggle and tried to leap overboard, we had to hold them down. This being seen from the shore, the people became alarmed, and put on so threatening a manner, that we were afraid of going nearer. Having no chance of getting more natives, we returned on board with the two young men, leaving their friends raging and threatening us in vain.

“The next place we touched at we were more successful, and got nearly a dozen on board, who seemed well pleased at the thought of seeing the world, and willingly agreed to sign the paper placed before them, though I suspect they knew very little about the meaning of it. They were deadly enemies of those we had first taken. The two tribes had been accustomed to fight and eat each other, but, notwithstanding this, we turned the last comers down below to make friends with the others.

“We were standing away from the shore when two or three of the last party happened to hear how the first had been taken, and, becoming alarmed, attempted to leap overboard. Our men who had handspikes in their hands hit at them to stop them doing this. The blows, however, being somewhat heavy, two fell dead on the deck, while a third made his escape to the shore.

“It was a bad job, for we had hoped to obtain more labourers from the same place.

“We got several, however, both men and women, from the Island of Vate. Here the captain had an agent, a clever fellow, who, for a musket and tobacco, was ready to do anything. He persuaded the natives that if they would go on board the schooner, they would be carried to a magnificent country, where, after working for a few moons, they would make their fortunes, and be brought back in safety to their own island.

“The natives are almost as black as ebony, but tall and well-formed, wearing a broad wrapper of matting round their waists, and their hair gathered up into a bunch at the top of the head, and ornamented with feathers; while the women wear a curious tail, which hangs down behind them to the calves of their legs. The men also wear bands of shells round their necks and arms, and rings in their ears.

“They seemed pretty contented when they came on board. The captain, by the agent’s desire, gave each of them a present to send to their friends on shore.

”‘Mind you take good care of them, captain,’ said old Sneezer, the name we gave the black agent. ‘Be very kind, and bring them back all right.’

”‘Ay, ay, never fear,’ answered Captain Squid, and he winked at the old fellow. ‘We know how to treat people properly aboard here if they behave themselves.’

“You would have supposed by their looks that they were going on a party of pleasure, but they soon changed their note, poor wretches! before long.

“We got a good many people from the Island of Erromanga, where old Sneezer was very useful. The natives, I had heard say, had murdered some missionary fellows – Williams, and Harris, and others – and of course it was but right, the captain observed, that we should punish them, so we need not be in any way particular as to how we got hold of the savages. Old Sneezer used to go on shore in the boat, and talk to them, and persuade them to come off to us, and in this way we got about thirty or so without much difficulty. He tried to persuade one fellow he found fishing in his canoe off the leeside of the island, and as he said he did not want to leave home, Sneezer lugged him into the boat, and then sunk his canoe. He shrieked out, thinking he was going to be killed; but we told him he need not be alarmed, as we were only going to steal him. Another black fellow we found on the shore alone, but he would not come either, because he had got a wife and family at home, so Sneezer, without more ado, clapped his arms round him, and we hauled him into the boat, telling him that we were only just going to another island near at hand, for a short time, and that he would then have his liberty.

“While pulling along the coast of another island in the boat, three men came off to us in a canoe. Sneezer told them, as usual, the good luck in store for them. Two of them believed him, and agreed to come with us; the third jumped overboard. The mate struck out at him with the boat-hook, hooking him in the cheek, and hauled him on board. ‘Now, my lad, come with us,’ says he, ‘whether you like it or no.’ We soon had them on board, and stowed away below.

“We had now a full cargo; indeed, we could not well take in any more. The black with a hole in his cheek, and some others, didn’t quite like the treatment they received, and the first, making his way on deck, insisted on being put on shore again. He was at once knocked back into the hold again; he tried to get up, followed by others, some of whom had their bows and arrows, which they had been allowed to keep, it being supposed that they could do no harm with them. They began to shoot away, and a general fight took place in the hold, when the captain, thinking the blacks would gain possession of the vessel, ordered us to fire down upon them. The supercargo, who was, I’ll allow, a precious villain, afraid that some of them might be killed, and that he should lose part of his cargo, though otherwise not caring for their lives, told us to shoot them in their legs, but not to kill them. It was all dark below, so that we could not see in what direction to fire. Some cotton was therefore fastened to the end of a long stick, and lighted; and when this was held down into the hold, we could take aim. Three savages were shot, and, being hauled upon deck, were thrown overboard: two who were dead floated quietly away, but the third was alive, and we saw him striking out towards the distant shore; but he soon sank, for either a shark got hold of him or his wound prevented him swimming further.

“After this we hove up the anchor, and making sail shaped a course for Brisbane. We had to keep a sharp look out after our passengers, and make them fast whenever they came on deck, for fear they should leap overboard and drown themselves. When in sight of land we had a hard job to keep them quiet, and generally found it more convenient to make them stay below.

“Had the passage been long we should probably have lost a good many of them; but as it was, only three or four died, and we landed the rest in tolerable condition. The captain said that they had all come on board of their own free will; that if they had changed their minds since, that was no fault of his. They were soon engaged by the colonists, who wanted labour at any price. He had no difficulty, in consequence of the favourable report he made, of again getting a licence, and without loss of time we sailed on another cruise.

“We had kept more to the eastward than usual, when it came on to blow very hard, and we had to run before the gale out of our course a considerable distance, the captain being very much vexed at this loss of time. The gale had somewhat moderated, but it was still blowing hard when we caught sight of a sail which, as we neared her, proved to be a large double canoe, with twenty or more hands on board. The captain thought she would prove a good prize, as we might sink her and carry off the people, and no one be the wiser. She consisted of two large canoes, so to speak, some way apart, but united by a strong deck placed upon them. Through the deck were cut hatches, to enable the people to go below into the canoes, and above the deck was a square house with a platform on the top of it. As we drew near, intending to run her down old Sneezer advised us to let her pass, as she belonged to Fiji, and as he said the people would give us more trouble than they were worth, as they were savage fellows, and would neither work in their own islands nor in Australia, and would very likely murder their masters. We accordingly let them go, and away she flew close hauled on a wind, though the supercargo sighed, as he thought of letting so many fine-looking fellows escape us. The gale ceasing, we hauled up, and stood back for Erromanga.

“Old Sneezer was as useful to us as before. On his first visit to the shore he persuaded a dozen natives to come off, by telling them that he had plenty of pigs on board for a feast they were about to hold. Very fat pigs they were, according to his account, and plenty of tobacco, so that they might smoke from morning till night to their hearts’ content. We took them off in our own boat not to alarm the rest, by having to sink their canoe. When they got on deck they asked for the pigs and tobacco. The only answer they got was finding themselves shoved down below. They shrieked and cried out till the mate went among them with a thick stick and made them quiet.

“We were not quite so successful at the next haul. Sneezer got off six fellows as he had the former ones; but they heard the others cry out before we had them secured, and tried to escape. Three were knocked down in time, but the other three leaped overboard and swam to the shore. The captain sang out for a couple of muskets; one however was not loaded, and the other would not go off, and the men escaped. Knowing that we should get no more labourers there, we had to make sail and run to another place. After this we got several quite quietly, and they were induced to put their marks to the paper shown to them, and to believe all that Sneezer said.

“One day we pulled in to the shore a few miles south of Dillon’s Bay, where the surf ran too heavily to allow us to land, but Sneezer caught sight of four men on the shore, and hailing them, said he was their friend, and had plenty of tobacco to give them if they would come off for it. They all swam out to us, when in our eagerness we caught hold of two of them somewhat roughly, perhaps, and hauled them into the boat; the others, taking the alarm, swam back and escaped.

“You see in this trade, as in every other, we have our disappointments.

“We had heard of the skipper of a trading schooner, who somehow or other got on very well with the Erromangians by treating them kindly, I suppose, and paying them what he promised. So says Sneezer, ‘I will tell them Captain Tom has got a new vessel, and this is her, and that he wishes to see them.’