Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3. / The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century

by Jules Verne

The following is the statement of the circumstances as made by Dillon.

During a stay made by the ship Hunter at the Fiji Islands, three persons, a Prussian named Martin Bushart, his wife, and a Lascar, called Achowlia, were received on board, endeavouring to escape from the horrible fate awaiting them, which had already befallen the other European deserters settled in that archipelago, that of being devoured by the savages; this unhappy trio merely begged to be put on shore at the first inhabited island which the Hunter might touch at. Accordingly, they were left on one of the Charlotte Islands, Tucopia, in 12° 15' S. lat, and 169° W. long. In the month of May, 1836, Dillon, who had been one of the crew of the ship Hunter, paid a visit to the island of Tucopia, with a view of ascertaining what had become of the people put on shore in 1813. There he found the Lascar and the Prussian; the former of whom sold him a silver sword-hilt. As might have been expected, Dillon was curious to know how the natives of that island had come into possession of such an article. The Prussian then related that on his arrival at Tucopia he had found many articles of iron, such as bolts, axes, knives, spoons, and other things, which he was told had come from Mallicolo, a group of islands situated about two days canoe sail to the east of Tucopia. By further interrogatories, Dillon learnt that two vessels had been thrown upon the coasts many years previously, one of which had perished entirely with all on board, whilst the crew of the second had constructed out of the wreck of their ship a little boat, in which they had put to sea, leaving some of their number at Mallicolo. The Lascar said he had seen two of these men, who had acquired a well-merited influence through services rendered to chiefs.

Dillon tried in vain to persuade his informant to take him to Mallicolo, but was more successful with the Prussian, who took him within sight of the island, called Research by D'Entrecasteaux, on which, however, Dillon was unable to land on account of the dead calm and his want of provisions.

On hearing his account, on his arrival at Pondicherry, the governor entrusted him with the command of a boat specially constructed for exploring purposes. This was in 1827. Dillon now touched at Tucopia, where he obtained interpreters and a pilot, and thence went to Mallicolo, where he learnt from the natives that the strangers had stayed there five months to build their vessel, and that they had been looked upon as supernatural visitors, an idea not a little confirmed by their singular behaviour. They had been seen, for instance, to talk to the moon and stars through a long stick, their noses were immense, and some of them always remained standing, holding bars of iron in their hands. Such was the impression left on the minds of the natives by the astronomical observations, cocked hats, and sentinels of the French.

Dillon obtained from the natives a good many relics of the expedition, and he also saw at the bottom of the sea, on the coral reef on which the vessel had struck, some bronze cannons, a bell, and all kinds of rubbish, which he reverently collected and carried to Paris, arriving there in 1828, and receiving from the king a pension of 4000 francs as a reward for his exertions. All doubt was dispelled when the Comte de Lesseps, who had landed at Kamtchatka from La Pérouse's party, identified the cannons and the carved stern of the Boussole, and the armorial bearings of Colignon, the botanist, were made out on a silver candlestick. All these interesting and curious facts, however, D'Urville did not know until later; at present he had only heard Dillon's first report. By chance, or perhaps because he was afraid of being forestalled, the captain had not laid down the position of Vanikoro or the route he followed on the way from Tucopia, which island D'Urville supposed to belong to the Banks or Santa Cruz group, each as little known as the other.

Before following D'Urville, however, we must pause with him for awhile at Hobart Town, which he looked upon even then as a place of remarkable importance. "Its houses," he says, "are very spacious, consisting only of one story and the ground-floor, though their cleanness and regularity give them a very pleasant appearance. Walking in the streets, which are unpaved, though some have curb stones, is very tiring; and the dust always rising in clouds is very trying to the eyes. The Government house is pleasantly situated on the shores of the bay, and will be greatly improved in a few years if the young trees planted about it thrive. Native timber is quite unsuitable for ornamental purposes."

The stay at Hobart Town was turned to account to complete the stock of provisions, anchors, and other very requisite articles, and also to repair the vessel and the rigging, the latter being sorely dilapidated.

On the 5th January the Astrolabe once more put to sea, surveyed Norfolk Island on the 20th, Matthew Volcano six days later, Erronan on the 28th, and the little Mitre Island on the 8th February, arriving the next day off Tucopia, a small island three or four miles in circumference with one rather pointed peak covered with vegetation. The eastern side of Tucopia is apparently inaccessible from the violence of the breakers continually dashing on to its beach. The eagerness of all was now great, and was becoming unbounded when three boats, one containing a European, were seen approaching. This European turned out to be the Prussian calling himself Bushart, who had lately gone with Dillon to Mallicolo, where the latter remained a whole month, and where he really obtained the relics of the expedition as D'Urville had heard at Hobart Town. Not a single Frenchman now remained on the island; the last had died the previous year. Bushart at first consented, but declined at the last moment, to go with D'Urville or to remain on the Astrolabe.

Vanikoro is surrounded by reefs, through which, not without danger, the Astrolabe found a passage, casting anchor in the same place as Dillon had done, namely in Ocili Bay. The scene of the shipwreck was on the other side of the bay. It was not easy to get information from the natives, who were avaricious, untrustworthy, insolent, and deceitful. An old man, however, was finally induced to confess that the whites who had landed on the beach at Vanon had been received with a shower of arrows, and that a fight ensued in which a good many natives had fallen; as for the maras (sailors) they had all been killed, and their skulls buried at Vanon. The rest of the bones had been used to tip the arrows of the natives.

A canoe was now sent to the village of Nama, and after considerable hesitation the natives were induced by a promise of some red cloth to take the Frenchmen to the scene of the shipwreck about a mile off, near Païon and opposite Ambi, where amongst the breakers at the bottom of a sort of shelving beach anchors, cannons, and cannonballs, and many other things were made out, leaving no doubt as to the facts in the minds of the officers of the Astrolabe. It was evident to all that the vessel had endeavoured to get inside the reefs by a kind of pass, and that she had run aground and been unable to get off. The crew may then have saved themselves at Païon, and according to the account of some natives they built a little boat there, whilst the other vessel, which had struck on the reef further out, had been lost with all on board.