A fleet of five small gunboats (sailing vessels) were built in Sydney, and were ordered to “overhaul and inspect every blackbirder,” and ascertain if the “blackbirds” were really willing recruits, or had been deported against their will, and were “to be sold as slaves”. And many atrocious deeds came to light, with the result, as far as Queensland was concerned, that every labour ship had to carry a Government agent, who was supposed to see that no abuses occurred. Some of these Government agents were conscientious men, and did their duty well; others were mere tools of the greedy planters, and lent themselves to all sorts of villainies to obtain “recruits” and get an in camera bonus of twenty pounds for every native they could entice on board.
Owing to my knowledge of Polynesian and Melane-sian dialects, I was frequently employed as “recruiter” on many “blackbirders”—French vessels from Noumea in New Caledonia, Hawaiian vessels from Honolulu, and German and English vessels sailing from Samoa and Fiji, and in no instance did I ever have any serious trouble with my “blackbirds” after they were once on board the ship of which I was “recruiter”.
Let me now describe an ordinary cruise of a “blackbirder” vessel—an honest ship with an honest skipper and crew, and, above all, a straight “recruiter”—a man who takes his life in his hands when he steps out, unarmed, from his boat, and seeks for “recruits” from a crowd of the wildest savages imaginable.
Labour ships carry a double crew—one to work the ship, the other to man the boats, of which there are usually four on ordinary-sized vessels. They are whale-boats, specially adapted for surf work. The boats' crews are invariably natives—Rotumah men, Samoans, or Savage Islanders. The ship's working crew also are in most cases natives, and the captain and officers are, of course, white men.
The 'tween decks are fitted to accommodate so many “blackbirds,” and, at the present day, British labour ships are models of cleanliness, for the Government supervision is very rigid; but in former days the hold of a “blackbirder” often presented a horrid spectacle—the unfortunate “recruits” being packed so closely together, and at night time the odour from their steaming bodies was absolutely revolting as it ascended from the open hatch, over which stood two sentries on the alert; for sometimes the “blackbirds” would rise and attempt to murder the ship's company. In many cases they did so successfully—especially when the “blackbirds” came from the same island, or group of islands, and spoke the same language. When there were, say, a hundred or two hundred “recruits” from various islands, dissimilar in their language and customs, there was no fear of such an event, and the captain and officers and “recruiter” went to sleep with a feeling of security.
Let us now suppose that a “blackbirder” (obnoxious name to many recruiters) from Samoa, Fiji, or Queensland, has reached one of the New Hebrides, or Solomon Islands. Possibly she may anchor—if there is an anchorage; but most likely she will “lie off and on,” and send away her boats to the various villages.
On one occasion I “worked” the entire length of one side of the great island of San Cristoval, visiting nearly every village from Cape Recherché to Cape Surville. This took nearly three weeks, the ship following the boats along the coast. We would leave the ship at daylight, and pull in shore, landing wherever we saw a smoke signal, or a village. When I had engaged, say, half a dozen recruits, I would send them off on board, and continue on my way. At sunset I would return on board, the boats would be hoisted up, and the ship either anchor, or heave-to for the night. On this particular trip the boats were only twice fired at, but no one man of my crews was hit.
The boats are known as “landing” and “covering” boats. The former is in command of an officer and the recruiter, carries five hands (all armed) and also the boxes of “trade” goods to be exhibited to the natives as specimens of the rest of the goods on board, or perhaps some will be immediately handed over as an “advance” to any native willing to recruit as a labourer in Queensland or elsewhere for three years, at the magnificent wage of six pounds per annum, generally paid in rubbishing articles, worth about thirty shillings.
The “covering” boat is in charge of an officer, or reliable seaman. She follows the “landing” boat at a short distance, and her duty is to cover her retreat if the natives should attack the landing boat by at once opening fire, and giving those in that boat a chance of pushing off and getting out of danger, and also she sometimes receives on board the “recruits” as they are engaged by the recruiter—if the latter has not been knocked on the head or speared.
On nearing the beach, where the natives are waiting, the officer in the landing-boat swings her round with his steer oar, and the crew back her in, stern first, on to the beach. The recruiter then steps out, and the crew carry the trade chests on shore; then the boat pushes off a little, just enough to keep afloat, and obtrusive natives, who may mean treachery, are not allowed to come too near the oars, or take hold of the gunwale, Meanwhile the covering boat has drawn in close to the first boat, and the crew, with their hands on their rifles, keep a keen watch on the landing boat and the wretched recruiter.