As it was very hot below, the captain had ordered chairs and a small
table to be brought on deck, and he, with Captain Rounds, Dr Cockle,
and Mr Griffiths, took their seats, while Mr Harvey, Horner, and I
stood within earshot to hear the account our visitor had promised to
give.
"I came in here about two months ago for the first time this voyage to
obtain provisions and water," began Captain Rounds, "and as none of us
understood the language of the people, I shipped a couple of natives who
spoke English very fairly to act as interpreters. Besides having been
to sea on board other whalers, they were, I thought, likely to prove
useful hands. Everything went on in a satisfactory way while I lay
here. The natives who came on board behaved themselves well, and King
George, their chief, seemed a very decent sort of fellow, and was as
honest in his dealings as I could expect. I had made it a rule when I
came out to these parts never to trust many of my people ashore at a
time among the heathen natives without having some of the principal
natives on board as hostages, or so well-behaved and friendly did these
appear that I should otherwise not have hesitated to let half my crew
land at a time, feeling confident that they would be well treated. Thus
it was that I every evening at sundown fired off my guns, and kept a
strict watch during the night. I did this, not from any fear of being
attacked, but that I considered it prudent to keep to the rule I had
laid down, and to maintain discipline on board. You'll see that I was
fortunate in doing so. I parted on good terms with King George and his
people without having any reason to alter the favourable opinion I had
formed of them, taking the two native interpreters with me. From the
way I treated them they became very friendly and much attached to me.
We had been at sea for some time, and had caught three or four whales,
each of which cost us, perhaps, more than the usual trouble to take.
The two natives, who go by the names of Jackey and Tubbs, seemed very
much struck by the exertions we had to make to secure the whales, and
one day they came to me and said that they could put me up to the means
of filling the ship with perfect ease if I would follow their advice. I
asked them what they meant. They then told me that a ship lay sunk in
their harbour loaded with casks of oil, and that they knew the exact
spot where she went down. I then learnt from them the following
particulars.
"You, Hawkins, well knew Barber, who commanded the _Harriet_, of London,
as you sailed together as mates with old Captain Newton in the
_Felicity_. I met Barber when I first came out to the Pacific, and was
wondering that I had never since heard of him or the _Harriet_. The
natives now told me that about a year ago she had put into this harbour,
there being no other vessels here at the time. You remember what a
good-natured, yet somewhat careless fellow he was. The natives came in
numbers on board his ship, and appeared to be on the most friendly terms
with him and his crew. They at length, one day, invited his men to go
ashore, and he consequently allowed the greater number of them to land.
This sort of thing continued while he lay in the harbour. King George
and most of his though they came down to visit the ship when she first
arrived, were, at that time, living in another part of the island, and
the people just here did pretty much as they liked.
"Barber, with a boat's crew, only remained on board, when, on going on
deck in the morning, he caught sight of three of his men running down
towards the beach as fast as they could go, with a posse of natives
after them. Presently they were overtaken. First one was struck down
by the club of a savage, and directly afterwards the other two shared
the same fate. The natives, on reaching the shore, jumped into their
canoes, a whole fleet of which came paddling off towards the ship. The
crew, on seeing this, I suspect, took fright, thinking that they should
all be murdered, as their mates on shore had been. Captain Barber
himself would, I am certain, have stopped to defend his ship, but
probably fearing that it would be of no use to make the attempt while
his crew were so faint-hearted, he ordered the boat to be lowered with
such provisions and water as could be hastily thrown into her. They had
scarcely left the side of the ship before the savages were up to her.
They pursued the boat for some distance, but at length gave up the
chase, eager to get back and secure their prize. They then set to work
to plunder the vessel of everything they considered of value. They
stripped her of her sails and rigging, and all the iron-work they could
get at, managing even to carry away her topmasts, jib-boom, and yards.
Having done this, they towed the vessel higher up the harbour and
scuttled her.
"When King George, who had known Captain Barber and some of his people--
for he had been down at the harbour when the ship first arrived--heard
of the massacre he was very indignant, and Jackey and Tubbs told me that
he killed no less than thirty of those who had taken part in it with his
own hand. Whether this was actually the case or not I could not make
out; but, after cross-questioning the two natives, I came to the
conclusion that he himself had no hand in the massacre, and was entirely
ignorant of it till afterwards. What has become of poor Barber and his
boat's crew I am anxious to ascertain; but he would have had a fearfully
long passage to make to any other island, and I'm afraid that he and his
companions must have perished from hunger and thirst before they could
have reached any friendly shore.
"Having fallen in shortly after I heard this with the _Lydia_ and
_Pearl_, I communicated the intelligence to them, and we determined to
put in here to ascertain the truth of the story.
"Now you have come we shall be sufficiently strong-handed both to defend
ourselves from the natives, and to recover the _Harriet's_ cargo if we
cannot raise her."
Captain Hawkins at once entered into Captain Rounds' views, and they
agreed the next morning with their brother captains to set to work.
Captain Rounds, who was a very ingenious man, had a diving-bell
constructed out of a cask, with pipes to lead the air into it.
Proceeding with the boats, we found the ship sunk in six fathoms of
water at a spot Jackey and Tubbs pointed out. They willingly agreed to
descend in the diving-bell, and Brown and another man also went down in
it. It was then found that the ship had been set on fire, but she had
sunk before the flames had reached the cargo. It was calculated that
there were one thousand six hundred barrels of oil in her.
Her figure-head and other articles were got up, thus clearly identifying
her as the unfortunate _Harriet_.
The captains proposed raising her, and dividing the oil between them;
but after a great deal of consultation it was considered that they had
better give up the plan, as it would have occupied a long time, and
caused a difficulty on their arrival at home as to whether they had a
right to possess themselves of it. Thus the results of many a hard
month's labour were lost.
King George watched our proceedings with much interest, generally
hovering about the boats in his canoe while we were at work. Perhaps he
thought from the first that we should not succeed, though I think we
should have done so had it been desirable to make the attempt. As soon
as the undertaking was abandoned, the other vessels, which had only come
in for water and provisions, sailed, and we were left alone in the
harbour. The king, who did not appear to be at all offended by the way
Captain Hawkins had treated him on his first visit, at once came on
board, and appeared to be excessively friendly. He spoke English
remarkably well, having learned it on board a whaler in his youth, and
kept it up by frequently talking to runaway sailors who had remained at
the island. He invited the captain to go ashore and visit him in his
palace, the name we gave to the great hut in which he lived.
"With great pleasure, king," answered the captain: "but fair play's a
jewel, you know. If I go to visit you, your brother here will remain on
board to keep my mates company till I return."
The captain told Mr Griffiths to keep a strict watch on the king's
brother, and not to allow him to leave the cabin lest he might slip
overboard and swim on shore.
We called the young savage Charlie, though that was not his real name.
Charlie, who spoke a little English, seemed perfectly content; and when
the king and the captain went on shore, descended to the cabin without
the slightest hesitation. As the stern-windows, through which Charlie
might have squeezed himself if he had had a mind, were left open for the
sake of the air, Mr Griffiths told me to remain in the cabin whenever
he was on deck. At night he was locked up in the state-room. I don't
know that the captain was very well pleased at having the savage
sleeping in his bed.
Next morning the captain came back, saying that he had been hospitably
treated. In the afternoon, as Charlie wished to return, and as the
doctor and several men were on shore, the captain sent me, with Miles
Soper and Brown, to bring the king off, that he might take his brother's
place.
We pulled up a long narrow creek for several miles, till we arrived at
the royal residence, which was a large hut with a framework of poles and
roofed over with matting. Near it were other huts, and a number of
natives were employed in different ways, some pounding kava between two
large stones, when the root, thus thoroughly bruised, was thrown into
water. This is a much pleasanter way of preparing the beverage than by
employing the women to chew it, as is done in Samoa.
The king was away when we arrived, and we had thus plenty of time to
walk about the village and look around us. Some natives were engaged in
cooking fish and yams. This was done by putting them into a hole on the
top of some hot stones and leaves, and then covering them up with more
hot stones, leaves, and earth at the top of all. We soon had an
opportunity of tasting them, and I can answer for their being most
delicious.
As the king didn't appear we walked some little distance into the
country, for we knew that we were perfectly safe while the king's
brother remained as a hostage. Going into a hut we found a young woman
about to light a fire. I watched the process. She first took half of
the log that had been split in two and laid it down with the split side
upwards; then taking a small piece of hard wood about a foot long and
pointed at one end, she sat down astride of the log and commenced
rubbing the sharp point of the stick up and down the grain of the large
piece, thus making a groove, and shoving the shavings which she worked
out to the farther end, till at length they ignited, when immediately
catching up some dry leaves which lay handy, and blowing gently, she
soon obtained a blaze. I tried the experiment under her directions and
succeeded very well. Though simple and easy as is this method of
obtaining fire, I have never seen it tried in any other place.
On our return to the village we found the king, who invited us to feast
on the fish and yams which I had seen cooking. We were now joined by
the captain and Dr Cockle, with the second mate and several men, and I
was directed to go back with the king, who had to take his brother's
place on board.
His majesty preferred going alone in his own canoe. I sat in the bows
with a long pole to keep the bow off the rocks as we went down the
creek, and he placed himself astern with a paddle in his hand. He
giving the canoe a shove from the bank, away we went. I was highly
amused at the thought of carrying off the king as a prisoner. He,
however, seemed to take it as a matter of course, and chatted and
laughed as we glided along. Presently he asked--
"You young Englishman ever been here before? I think I know your face."
"When was it your majesty fancied that you saw me?" I inquired.
"Let me see," he said, holding his paddle in the air for a moment; "were
you ever aboard the ship that my rascally people sent to the bottom out
there?" and he pointed to where the _Harriet_ lay.
"No," I answered, a dreadful thought coming into my mind. "Was the
person you fancy I am killed with the rest of the crew?"
"I think not. If I think so, I no ask you," he answered. "I see him
with the captain when he visit the shore, and each time I go on board
the ship. When I come down to the harbour I took great fancy to him,
and asked captain to let him stay with me, but he and captain say no.
He want to go home to see father and mother, brother and sister. When I
found the men killed I remembered him, but no find him 'mong them. Dat
all I know, but me think that he was with captain when they got away in
the boat."
At first, on hearing what the king said, I was almost in despair, for I
was very sure that he was speaking of my brother Jack, as I thought that
by this time I should have grown very like him, as I often heard my
mother say that I was so when I was at the age at which he went to sea.
How he had got on board the _Harriet_ I could not tell, any more than I
could what had become of her boat. Still there was a possibility of his
having escaped. I had no wish to return on shore with "Prince Charlie"
after I had handed the king over to the care of Mr Griffiths, as I
wanted to talk about the matter to Jim. As may be supposed, we did talk
about it for many an hour. I was now eager to be out of the harbour, in
the hopes that we might visit some other islands at which Jack might be
found. Jim was as sanguine as ever that he would be found. When I told
Mr Griffiths he looked very grave.
"It is possible, my lad," he said, "and nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to find him at last; but you know what is likely to have
been the fate of the poor fellows in a boat, with a scanty supply of
provisions and a long voyage to the nearest land. Just look at the
chart. We are away from all civilised countries, with the wildest
savages on each side of us."
Next day, when the captain and the rest of the party came on board, and
as soon as our royal visitor had taken his departure, I was very glad to
hear the order given to get under way. The breeze being fair we stood
out of the harbour.
We were soon at our old work again. My patience was sorely tried. If I
had not been actively engaged I don't know what I should have done.
My idea was that the captain would at once sail in search of the missing
boat, but he had no idea of the sort in his head. He either was
convinced that she was lost, or considered that it was his business to
fill up his ship as soon as possible, and not to waste time in looking
for those who might never be found.
We had caught several whales, when the time came for returning to the
Japan fishing ground, as it's called, some distance off the east coast
of those islands. My hope of finding Jack decreased, but didn't die
away altogether.
Jim kept me up. "We don't know in what direction the boat went," he
observed. "She may have steered to the northward, and we are as likely
to fall in with him the way we're going as anywhere else."
I often consulted the chart. To the northward of Strong's Island I saw
the Caroline group, consisting of a vast number of coral islands, and
north-west of them, again, the Ladrone Islands, the principal of which,
Guam, is inhabited by Spaniards. Knowing this, Captain Barber may have
attempted to reach it, and one day, to my satisfaction, I heard from the
doctor that Captain Hawkins intended to call there before returning
home.
We were now leaving those islands I have mentioned to the southward. We
were very successful on the Japan ground, and nearly completed our
cargo, at least the lower hold was full.
At length, one calm day, a large whale was seen spouting at some
distance from the ship. Four boats were lowered. The captain, the two
mates, and Brown went in them, Miles Soper going as the chief mate's
boat-steerer. His boat was the first up, and in a short time Soper put
two irons into the whale, which almost instantly turned over on its
back, threw its lower jaw open, and nipped her clean in two.
Wonderful to relate, the men all got clear, and Mr Griffiths, standing
up on half of the boat, plunged his lance right down the whale's throat,
and then jumped off and swam with the other men to the next boat coming
up. The captain's boat now fastened to the whale, which, turning as
before on its back, treated her in the way it had the first. When we
who were on board saw this, we began to lower the spare boats as fast as
we could. While we were thus employed, the doctor, who was looking on,
exclaimed--
"There's a third boat caught!"
And we saw that the second mate's boat, which had got up, had been
nipped by the whale. Brown's boat, the fourth, now pulled gallantly up,
watching every movement of the monster, if necessary to get out of its
way; but the wound it had received had already weakened it, and though
it made at his boat he escaped, and succeeded in plunging several
harpoons and lances into its body.
Meanwhile the crews of the other boats which had been destroyed had been
hanging on to them, and though the sea was swarming with sharks it was a
remarkable fact that not one of the men was lost. Sharks rarely bite
people when a whale is bleeding, but keep following the track of the
blood. Brown took some of the men on board, and we in the spare boats,
leaving only the doctor and two hands to take care of the ship, pulled
quickly up and rescued the remainder.
We soon had the whale alongside; it was the largest we had caught--
nearly a hundred feet in length; but we got very little oil out of it,
for, having been fastened to previously, there was a huge swelling on
its back as big as a tun butt, which was, no doubt, the cause of the
blubber being so thin. We had still some spare space, and the crew were
eager to catch the additional whales required to complete our cargo,
that we might at length direct our course homeward. Although I should
have before been the most eager of any to return to England, yet now,
with the idea that had taken hold of me that Jack was somewhere in the
neighbourhood, I was anxious to remain until I had found him. Jim
shared my feelings, but I didn't suppose anybody else did.
We remained a week or more, however, after killing the last huge whale
which had cost us so much trouble, without seeing another, when the
captain determined to steer for the Ladrone Islands. As we had now been
some months without obtaining fresh provisions, we first directed our
course for the Bonins, some degrees to the eastward of the coast of
Japan. We understood that there were wild pigs, if not goats and sheep,
on them. At all events, that fish could be caught in abundance off the
shore. In a few days we sighted them, and ran under the lee of one of
the group called South Island. Here the ship was hove-to, and a boat
lowered, in which Mr Griffiths, the doctor, Horner, Jim and I, Brown
and Miles Soper and Coal, with two other men, went. We took with us
besides fishing-lines the whaling gear and a couple of muskets, three or
four casks to fill with water, and provisions for the day, for we didn't
intend to get back to the ship till evening.
Mr Griffiths, who had been there before, took the boat inside a high
reef of rocks, where he had, he said, caught a number of fish.
Our first object was to obtain bait. Miles Soper and Coal undertook to
swim on shore with baskets and catch some crabs, for which the fish in
these seas seem to have a special fondness. We pulled in as close as we
could to land them, and in a short time they filled their baskets, and
shouted to us to return and take them off. We now dropped our kedge
anchor just inside the surf, in between two and three fathoms of water,
which was so clear that we could see the fish as they swam about, darted
at the bait, and swallowed the hooks.
We quickly hauled in a number of magnificent fish. We were so eager at
the sport that we didn't consider how rapidly the time passed, while the
doctor was more occupied with admiring the variously-coloured coral, the
richly-tinted seaweeds, and the curiously-shaped fish of all the hues of
the rainbow, swimming in and out among the trees of their marine
gardens.
At last Mr Griffiths, pulling out his watch, exclaimed, "Hulloa! How
time has gone by! Get up the anchor, lads. We ought to be off."
The order was more easily given than obeyed. We hauled and hauled, but
the anchor had got foul of the coral, and we ran a risk of losing it.
Soper offered to go down and clear it, but just then a huge shark showed
his ugly throat alongside, and Mr Griffiths would not let him go. At
last, just as it was dark, Brown managed to get the anchor up.
When we pulled outside the reef we found that the weather had changed.
It was blowing very hard, though, sheltered as we had been, we had not
discovered this. We looked eagerly out for the ship, but she was
nowhere to be seen.