A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16

by Robert Kerr

Our principal object here was to water the ships with the utmost expedition; and I was sent on shore early in the afternoon, with the pinnace and launch laden with casks. The gunner of the Resolution accompanied me to trade for provisions, and we had a guard of five marines. We found a considerable number of people collected upon the beach, who received us at first with great kindness; but as soon as we got the casks on shore, began to be exceedingly troublesome. Former experience having taught me how difficult it was to repress this disposition, without having recourse to the authority of their chiefs, I was very sorry to find that they were all at another part of the island. Indeed we soon felt the want of their assistance; for it was with great difficulty I was able to form a circle, according to our usual practice, for the convenience and security of the trading party, and had no sooner done it, and posted guards to keep off the crowd, than I saw a man laying hold of the bayonet of one of the soldiers' muskets, and endeavouring, with all his force, to wrench it out of his hand. On my coming up to them, the native let go his hold and retired, but returned in a moment, with a spear in one hand and a dagger in the other; and his countrymen had much ado to restrain him from trying his prowess with the soldier. This fray was occasioned by the latter's having given the man a slight prick with his bayonet, in order to make him keep without the line.

I now perceived that our situation required great circumspection and management; and accordingly gave the strictest orders that no one should fire, nor have recourse to any other act of violence, without positive commands. As soon as I had given these directions, I was called to the assistance of the watering party, where I found the natives equally inclined to mischief. They had demanded from our people a large hatchet for every cask of water, and this not being complied with, they would not suffer the sailors to roll them down to the boats.

I had no sooner joined them than one of the natives advanced up to me, with great insolence, and made the same claim. I told him that, as a friend, I was very willing to present him with a hatchet, but that I should certainly carry off the water without paying any thing for it; and I immediately ordered the pinnace men to proceed in their business, and called three marines from the traders to protect them.

Though this shew of spirit succeeded so far as to make the natives desist from any open attempt to interrupt us, they still continued to behave in the most teazing and provoking manner. Whilst some of them, under pretence of assisting the men in rolling down the casks, turned them out of their course, and gave them a wrong direction; others were stealing the hats from off the sailors' heads, pulling them backward by their clothes, or tripping up their heels; the whole crowd, all this time, shouting and laughing, with a strange mixture of childishness and malice. They afterward found means to steal the cooper's bucket, and took away his bag by force; but the objects they were most eager to possess themselves of were the muskets of the marines, who were every instant complaining of their attempts to force them out of their hands. Though they continued, for the most part, to pay great deference and respect to me, yet they did not suffer me to escape without contributing my share to their stock of plunder. One of them came up to me with a familiar air, and with great management diverted my attention, whilst another, wrenching the hanger, which I held carelessly in my hand, from me, ran off with it like lightning.

It was in vain to think of repelling this insolence by force; guarding therefore against its effects, in the best manner we were able, we had nothing to do but to submit patiently to it. My apprehensions were, however, a little alarmed, by the information I soon after received from the serjeant of marines, who told me that, turning suddenly round, he saw a man behind me holding a dagger in the position of striking. In this he might possibly be mistaken; yet our situation was certainly alarming and critical, and the smallest error on our side might have been fatal to us. As our people were separated into three small parties, one at the lake filling casks; another rolling them down to the shore; and the third, at some distance, purchasing provisions; it had once occurred to me, that it might be proper to collect them altogether, and to execute and protect one duty at a time. But on second thoughts, I judged it more advisable to let them continue as they were. In case of a real attack, our whole force, however advantageously disposed, could have made but a poor resistance. On the other hand, I thought it of some consequence to shew the natives that we were under no fears; and, what was still more material, the crowd was by this means kept divided, and a considerable part of them fully employed in bartering provisions.

It is probable that their dread of the effects of our arms was the principal cause of their backwardness in attacking us; and, indeed, the confidence we appeared to place in this advantage, by opposing only five marines to their whole force, must have raised in them a very high idea of our superiority. It was our business to keep up this opinion as much as possible; and in justice to the whole party, I must observe, that no men could possibly behave better, for the purpose of strengthening these impressions. Whatever could be taken in jest, they bore with the utmost temper and patience; and whenever any serious attempt was made to interrupt them, they opposed it with bold looks and menaces. By this management we succeeded so far as to get all the casks down to the water side without any material accident.

While we were getting them into the launch, the natives, perceiving the opportunity of plundering would soon, be over, became every moment more daring and insolent. On this occasion I was indebted to the serjeant of marines, for suggesting to me the advantage that would arise from sending off his party first into the boats; by which means the muskets of the soldiers, which, as I have already mentioned, were the objects the islanders had principally in view, would be removed out of their reach; and in case of an attack, the marines themselves might be employed more effectually in our defence, than if they were on shore.

We had now got every thing into the boats, and only Mr Anderson the gunner, a seaman of the boat's crew, and myself, remained on shore. As the pinnace lay beyond the surf, through which we were obliged to swim, I told them to make the best of their way to it, and that I should follow them. With this order I was surprised to find them both refuse to comply; and the consequence was a contest among us who should be the last on shore. It seems that some hasty words I had just before used to the sailor, which he thought reflected on his courage, was the cause of this odd fancy in him; and the old gunner, finding a point of honour started, thought he could not well avoid taking a part in it. In this ridiculous situation we might have remained some time, had not our dispute been soon settled by the stones that began to fly about us, and by the cries of the people from the boats, to make haste, as the natives were following us into the water with clubs and spears. I reached the side of the pinnace first, and finding Mr Anderson was at some distance behind, and not yet entirely out of danger, I called out to the marines to fire one musket. In the hurry of executing my orders, they fired two; and when I had got into the boat I saw the natives running away, and one man, with a woman sitting by him, left behind on the beach. The man made several attempts to rise without being able; and it was with much regret, I perceived him to be wounded in the groin. The natives soon after returned, and surrounded the wounded man, brandishing their spears and daggers at us, with an air of threatening and defiance; but before we reached the ships, we saw some persons, whom we supposed to be the chiefs, now arrived, driving them away from the shore.

During our absence, Captain Clerke had been under the greatest anxiety for our safety. And these apprehensions were considerably increased, from his having entirely mistaken the drift of the conversation he had held with some natives who had been on board. The frequent mention of the name of Captain Cook, with other strong and circumstantial descriptions of death and destruction, made him conclude, that the knowledge of the unfortunate events at Owhyhee had reached them, and that these were what they alluded to; whereas all they had in view was, to make known to him the wars that had arisen, in consequence of the goats that Captain Cook had left at Oneeheow, and the slaughter of the poor goats themselves, during the struggle for the property of them. Captain Clerke, applying this earnestness of conversation, and these terrible representations, to our calamitous transactions at Owhyhee, and to an indication of revenge, kept his telescope fixed upon us, and the moment he saw the smoke of the muskets, ordered the boats to be manned and armed, and to put off to our assistance.

The next morning I was again ordered on shore, with the watering party. The risk we had run the preceding day, determined Captain Clerke to send a considerable force from both ships for our guard, amounting in all to forty men under arms. This precaution, however, was now unnecessary; for we found the beach left entirely to ourselves, and the ground between the landing-place and the lake tabooed with small white flags. We concluded, from this appearance, that some of the chiefs had certainly visited this quarter; and that not being able to stay, they had kindly and considerately taken this step, for our greater security and convenience. We saw several men armed with long spears and daggers, on the other side of the river, on our right; but they did not offer to give us the least molestation. Their women came over, and sat down on the banks close by us, and at noon we prevailed on some of the men to bring hogs and roots for our people, and to dress them for us. As soon as we had left the beach, they came down to the sea-side, and one of them threw a stone at us; but his conduct seeming to be highly disapproved of by all the rest, we did not think it proper to shew any resentment.