THE WRECK OF THE LEONORA: A MEMORY OF 'BULLY' HAYES
The brig _Leonora_, owned and commanded by the notorious Captain 'Bully'Hayes, has, perhaps, been more written and talked about than any othervessel, except the _Bounty_, that ever sailed the South Seas, and hercareer was as eventful as that of her captain. It was my fortune to fillthe distinguished position of supercargo to that eminent gentleman fortwo years, and, as may be imagined by those who have read anything ofHayes's strange life and doings in the Pacific and the China Seas,I found the berth a remarkably curious one. How and why I becamesupercargo to the famous alleged pirate is another story; but, injustice to 'Bully's' memory, I may here at once say that the man was_not_ the remorseless ruffian that his enemies and many writers of talesof the South Seas have painted him; furthermore, he was one of the bestsailor-men that ever trod a deck. Had he lived in the times of Drake orDampier, he would have been a hero, for he was a man born to command andlead. _Inter alia_, he was also clever with his fists, and my soul waspossessed of the deepest admiration for him in this respect from thevery first day I stepped on board the _Leonora_, in Milli Lagoon, inthe Marshall Islands, for it was my privilege to see him knock outthree men, one after another, in twice as many minutes. These men were'toughs' from a New Bedford whaler, and had been put ashore at MilliLagoon by their captain as dangerous and useless characters. They cameon board the _Leonora_ and asked 'Bully' to ship them. He refused insuch unnecessary language that the leader of the three, in fatuousignorance of the man to whom he was speaking, threatened to 'put a headon him'; whereupon Hayes at once had the deck cleared, and, taking themin turn, knocked each man out in the first round. Then he gave them aglass of grog all round, a bottle of arnica to cure the malformations hehad caused on their countenances, and sent them ashore.
But this is not the story of the wreck of the _Leonora_.
We had made Strong's Island from Ponape, in the Western Carolines, towood and water and land some cattle, and for two weeks we lay atanchor in the beautiful harbour of Lele. We found the island in a verydisturbed and excited state, for a few weeks previously two Americansperm whalers had touched at Lele and landed five white men, with aretinue of nearly one hundred savage natives from Pleasant Island, anisolated spot situated in 0.25 S., and these people--white and brown--soterrified the Strong's Islanders that the old King Togusa was in abjectfear of them. We (Hayes and myself) soon learnt their story, which wasthat they had been compelled to fly for their lives from Pleasant Islandon account of an engagement between the various clans of that place. Thetwo chiefs under whose protection these men lived had been badly beaten,and the victors gave the five white traders a short notice to clear outor be shot. They at once put to sea in their several whale-boats, butwhen some three hundred miles away from the island, on their way toPonape--the North Pacific Cave of Adullam--they were sighted and pickedup by the two whalers, the _St George_ and the _Europa_, the captains ofwhich, not caring for their company all the way to Ponape, landed themat Strong's Island. They were now awaiting a chance to continue theirvoyage to Ponape in a passing whaler, and in the meantime their savagefollowers were harrying the unfortunate Strong's Islanders to death,robbing their plantations, abducting their women and knocking them aboutgenerally.
These wild people were the most noisy and intractable lot of natives Ihad ever seen, wearing only a girdle of leaves around their waists,and all armed with Snider carbines and short stabbing knives made fromcutlasses broken in halves. But, although they bullied the weak andeffeminate Strong's Islanders, they were yet very obedient to theirwhite masters, to whom they were all more or less related through thenative wives whom the traders had married. The women were very talland handsome, and every bit as handy with their knives as the men in aquarrel.
Hayes, of course, was well known to both the white men and natives, andat once began his good offices by threatening to open fire on the housesand boats of the former if they did not at once cease to persecute theking and his subjects. This threat he made in the presence and hearingof the king himself, who was deeply grateful, and at once said he wouldmake him a present of two tuns of oil. The five hairy ruffians wereconsiderably startled at first; but Hayes, I regret to say, turning toone of them, named Pedro Diaz, said in Spanish, 'Don't be scared, Peter.I'm not going back on you fellows; but at the same time you'll have toquit knocking these poor devils about. So just go ashore and take awayyour people's rifles--it means a couple of tuns of oil for me--its justas well in the hold of the _Leonora_ as in that of the missionary brig_Morning Star_. The missionaries would only promise King Togusa creditin heaven. I'll give him enough grog to keep him drunk for a month ofSundays on earth; and as he never possibly could get to heaven, I amtreating him better than the missionaries, who would simply be obtaininghis oil under false pretences.'
On the following day the king sent off his gift of oil; the five whitemen and he became reconciled, and the abducted Strong's Island womenwere returned to their parents or husbands as a guarantee of good faith.In the evening the traders came on board and made an arrangement withHayes to proceed in the brig to Arrecifos (Providence Island), a largeatoll to the north-west, of which Hayes had taken possession. Here theywere to live as long as they liked, paying Hayes a certain quantity ofcoco-nut oil as tribute, and resisting, by force of arms, any attempt totake possession of the atoll by the German trading company of Godeffroy,should it be made by any one of the three, armed German brigs belongingto the firm, and then cruising in the North Pacific.
Two days later we bade farewell to the old king and his pretty youngwife, Se, and the _Leonora_ sailed out of Lele. We were first to call atSouth Harbour, six miles to leeward, where we were to take in yams, pigsand other provisions for the voyage to Providence Island, as we had nowover one hundred additional people on board.
We ran out of Lele at daylight, and at seven o'clock in the morningdropped our anchor in fourteen fathoms in South Harbour, or Utwe,{*} asthe natives called it. As quickly as possible the ship's boats, aidedby those belonging to the traders, set to work to bring off the yams andpigs, for which, as they were brought on deck by their native owners, Iweighed and paid. By dusk we had finished, and I was just dressing to goto supper aboard one of the American whale-ships which were lying nearus, when the trade wind, which had been lusty enough all day, suddenlyfell--a very dangerous sign at that season of the year. In a few minutesHayes sent a boat over to the whalers, telling the captains that a blowwas coming on from the westward, and advising them to clear out to sea.But the American captains decided not to risk towing out through thenarrow passage; and as they were in a much better position than the_Leonora_, they did wisely, for in less than a quarter of an hour amountainous swell began rolling in, and it soon became evident thateven with our own four boats, and the seven belonging to the traders, wecould not tow out.
* The Port Lottin of Dupurrcy.
As quickly as possible Hayes had our royal and top-gallant yards sentdown, the boats slung in-board from the davits on the deck, the PleasantIslanders sent below, and every preparation made to ride out the blow,which we were in hopes would not last more than six hours or so. So farnot a breath of wind had come, but the brig was rolling so badly thatwe quite expected to see her go over on her beam ends and stay there.At sunset the air was so close and oppressive that one could scarcelybreathe, and the natives in the hold became half suffocated, andcould only be kept down by the white traders and some of our officersthreatening to shoot the first man that tried to get on deck. Many ofthem, however, besought to be allowed to swim ashore and remain tillmorning, and Hayes told them they could go. Some ten men and sixwomen at once came up; and, although it was now dark, and the sharksconsequently much more to be dreaded, sprang overboard, and swam intowards the native village of Utwe.
For another twenty minutes or more we remained anxiously awaiting. Thesky was as black as pitch, and there was now a tremendously high sea,and the din and thunder of the surf on the reef a couple of cables'length away was most ap
palling. I had never heard anything like itbefore, nor have I since; and the weird sound of the huge seas as theytumbled and roared upon the hollow crust of the reef made my hair standupon end like priming wires. The tide was low, and perhaps that hadsomething to do with the wild, resounding clamour of the seas upon thelong line of reef; but there was a strange humming note underlying itall, which was new to many of our ship's company, and seemed to filleven the rest of the Pleasant Islanders who remained on board with asense of dread, for they earnestly besought Hayes to let them come ondeck, for, they said, 'the belly of the world was about to burst.'
To this, most fortunately for themselves, Hayes consented, and in afew minutes they swarmed up on deck, each man carrying his Sniderand cutlass-knife, and the women and children loaded up with theirsleeping-mats and other gear. Some of the women crawled under the longboat, which was lying on the port side, and made themselves comfortable;and the men brought their arms to me to stow in the trade room, for fearof their getting wet, and then returned to their white masters, who weregrouped together on deck.
Then, quite suddenly, the jumping, tumbling sea began to subside, andthrough the darkness we heard the skipper of one of the American whalershail us.
'What are you, going to do, Captain Hayes? I guess we're in a prettytight place. I'd try to tow out if I could see the hole in the wall.We're going to get it mighty hot presently. It's coming on fast.'
'That's so,' Hayes replied, with a laugh; 'but we can't stop it. And,say, look here, captain, as you fellows are lying further out than I am,you might each start a cask of oil to run when the seas begin to break.It won't help you much, but it will me.'
The whale-ship captain laughed, and said that he was afraid that hissix hundred barrels of oil would start themselves if the sea began tobreak--meaning that his ship would go ashore.
The previous heavy rolling of the brig had nearly made a wreck of mytrade room, for everything had been jerked off the shelves, and casesof liquor, powder, cartridges, concertinas and women's hats, etc., werelying burst open on the floor; so, calling a couple of native sailorsto help me, I was just going below, when I heard Captain Hayes's sharptones calling out to our officers to stand by.
From the north-west there came a peculiar droning, humming sound,mingled with a subdued crashing and roaring of the mountain forest,which lay about a quarter of a mile astern of us--the noise one hearswhen a mighty bush fire is raging in Australia, and a sudden gust ofwind adds to its devastation--and then in another half a minute thebrig spun round like a top to the fury of the first blast, and we wereenveloped in a blinding shower of leaves, twigs and salty spray. Shebrought up to her anchors with a jerk that nearly threw everyone off hisfeet, and then in an incredibly short time the sea again began to rise,and the brig to plunge and take water in over the bows and waist--notheavy seas, but sheets of water nipped off by the force of the wind andfalling on the decks in drenching showers.
Just as I was hurrying below, Hayes stopped me.
'Don't bother about the trade room. Get all the arms and ammunition youcan ready for the boats. I'm afraid that we won't see this through. Theblubber-hunters are all right; but we are not. We have to ride short. Ican't give her more than another ten fathoms of cable--there are a lotof coral boulders right aft. If the wind hauls round a couple of pointswe may clear them, but it isn't going to; and we'll get smothered in theseas in another ten minutes--if the cables don't part before then.'
Seldom was a ship sent to destruction in such a short time as the_Leonora_. I had not been five minutes in the main cabin before a heavysea came over the bows with a crash, carried away the for'ard deckhouse,which it swept overboard, killed four people, and poured into the cabin.I heard Hayes call out to the mate to give her another ten fathomsof cable, and then, assisted by half a dozen native women and a youngEaster Island half-caste girl named Lalia, wife to one of the five whitetraders, began packing our arms and ammunition into two or three strongtrade boxes. In another chest we stowed the ship's chronometers, Hayes'sinstruments, and all the charts upon which we could lay hands, togetherwith about six thousand silver dollars in bags, the ship's books andsome silver plate. The women, who were the officers' and traders' wives,were fearfully terrified; all but Lalia, who was a fine, courageousgirl. Taking a cutlass from the rack in the cabin she stood over them;and, cursing freely in French, English, Spanish and whalers' language,threatened to murder every one of them if they did not hurry. We got thefirst box of arms safely up the companion, and Hayes saw it lowered intoone of the traders' whale-boats, which was standing by under the stern.Then, as a tremendous crashing sea came over the waist, all the womenbut Lalia bolted and left us alone. Lalia laughed.
'That's the long-boat gone, sir; and all those Pleasant Islands womenare drown, I hope--the damned savage beasts, I hate them.'
* The _Leonora_ carried four guns.
I learnt afterwards that the crash was caused by the two guns on thestarboard side taking a run to port, and carrying away the port oneswith them over the side through the bulwarks.{*} The long-boat waswashed overboard by the same sea, but half a dozen of our Rotumah Islandsailors had jumped overboard after her, and, using canoe paddles, savedher from being dashed on the reef. She was soon brought alongside, fullymanned, and awaiting Hayes's orders.
The captain now called to me to stand by to take charge of her, when asecond fearful sea came over the waist, and fairly buried the ship,and Hung, the Chinese carpenter and myself were only saved from goingoverboard, by being entangled in the falls of one of the quarter-boats.As for the long-boat, it was swept away out of sight, but succeeded inreaching the shore safely, with the loss of one man.
By this time the seas were breaking over the brig with terrible force,and when they came over the bows they swept her flush decks like atorrent. Presently she gave such a terrible roll to port that we thoughtshe was going over altogether, and the third mate reported that sixfour-hundred-gallon water tanks, which were stored in the 'tweendecks amidships, had gone adrift to the port side. Then Hayes told thecarpenter to cut away the masts. A few slashes at the rigging, and acouple of snicks at the spars themselves, sent the sticks over the sidequick enough; the brig stood up again and rode easier.
Meanwhile, the boat of one of the traders named Terry--an oldex-man-of-war's man--had come off, manned by half a dozen of hisstalwart half-caste sons, and although it was still pitch dark, andthe din of the gale sounded like fifty railway locomotives whistling inunison, and the brig was only revealed to the brave fellows by the whitelight of the foam-whipped sea, they ran the boat under the counter, andstood by while a number of women and children jumped, or were pitchedoverboard, to them. These were quickly rescued, and then that boat, too,vanished.
Again the wind lulled for about five minutes, and Hayes and old HarryTerry urged the rest of the remaining women to jump overboard and makefor the shore, as the brig's decks were now awash, and every third orfourth sea swept along her, fore and aft, with irresistible force. Onewoman--a stout, powerfully-built native of Ocean Island--whose infantchild was lashed to her naked back with bands of coir cinnet, rushed upto the captain, and crying, 'Kapeni, ka mate a mate '--('Captain, if Idie, I die')--put her arms round his neck, rubbed noses with him, andleaped over the stern rail into the seething surf. She was found thenext morning lying dead on a little beach, having bled to death from thewounds she had received from the jagged coral rocks, but the baby wasalive, for with her dying hands the poor creature had placed it undershelter, and covered it over with grass and leaves, where it was found,sleeping soundly, by a native sailor.
There was not now the slightest hope of saving the ship, unless the seawent down; and Hayes, who was as cool as if he were taking his morningcoffee, told the rest of the crew, who were now all gathered togetheraft, to get ashore the best way they could. Three of the white traderswere still aboard, awaiting the return of their boats, which, manned bytheir faithful Pleasant Islanders, we now and again could dimly discern,as they appeared on the summit
of the heaving seas, waiting for a chanceto pull up astern and rescue their masters.
There were still two chests full of valuables in the main cabin to begot on deck, and Lalia (sweet Lalia), the young woman of whom I havebefore spoken, although her husband had gone ashore, refused to jump tothe boats, and said she would stay and help us to save them.
'Go, ashore, Lalia. Go to your husband,' said Hayes, sternly pushing herto the stern rail; 'he is an old man, and cannot come off again in hisboat for you. Perhaps he is drowned.'
The girl laughed and said it was all the better--she would get anotherand a younger husband; she would stay with the _men_ on board and notswim ashore with the old women. Then she ran below. In a few minutesshe reappeared, with a fine powerful Pleasant Island native named Karta,carrying our Chinese steward, who was paralysed with drink and terror.Hayes took the man up in his arms and, seeing one of the boats closeto, threw him overboard without further ado. Then Lalia and I againwent below for another of the boxes, and, aided by Karta, we had got ithalf-way up the companion ladder when the brig rose her stern high toa mountain sea, and then came down with a terrific crash on to a coralboulder, ripping her rudder from the stern post, and sending it cleanthrough the deck. Lalia fell backwards into the cabin, and the heavychest slipped down on the top of her, crushing her left foot cruellyagainst the companion lining, and jamming her slender body underneath.Karta and myself tried hard to free the poor tortured girl, but withoutavail, and then some of our Rotumah Island sailors, hearing our criesfor help, ran down, and by our united exertions, we got her clear, puther in the steward's bunk--as she had fainted--and lugged the chest ondeck.
One of the traders' whale-boats was lying close to, and the chest was,by the merest chance, dropped into her just as the brig came down againon the coral boulder with a thundering crash and smashed a big hole intoher timbers under her starboard counter. In a few minutes she began tofill.
'It's all up with her, boys,' cried the philosophical 'Bully.' 'Jump forthe boats all of you; but wait for a rising sea, or you'll get smashedup on the coral. Bo'sun, take a look round below, and see that there areno more women there. We must take care of the women, boys.'
Karta, the brave Pleasant Islander, a Manila man named Sarreo, andmyself then went below for Lalia. She was sitting up in the steward'sbunk, stripped to the waist, and only awaiting help to get on deck.Already the main cabin had three feet of water in it, and just as welifted the girl out, another sea came in over deck and nearly filled it;and with it came the bruised and battered dead body of a little nativeboy, who, crouching up under the shelter of the companion, had beenkilled by the wheel falling upon and crushing him when the rudder wascarried away.
Half-drowned, we managed to struggle on deck, Karta carrying the girl,and the Manila man and I helping each other together. The brig was nowquite under water for'ard, but her after part was hanging on the coralboulder under it, though every succeeding sea rolled her from side toside. Hayes snatched the girl from Karta's arms just as the ship lobbedover to starboard on her bilge, then a thumping sea came thunderingdown, and swept the lot of us over the stern.
The poor Manila man was never seen again--barring a small portion ofhis anatomy; to wit, his right arm and shoulder, the rest having beenassimilated by Jack Shark. Hayes got ashore by himself, and the writerof this narrative, with Karta, the Pleasant Islander, and Lalia, thetrader's wife, came ashore on the wreck of a boat that had been carriedon top of the after-deck house.
We were all badly knocked about. Karta had a fearful gash in his legfrom a piece of coral. This he had bound up, whilst swimming, with astrip of his grass-cloth girdle. Lalia, in addition to her dreadfullycrushed foot, had her right arm badly cut; and the writer was sogenerally excoriated and done-up that he would never have reached theshore, but for the gallant Karta and the brave-hearted Lalia, who bothheld him up when he wanted to let go and drown quietly.
At dawn the gale had ceased, and whilst we, the survivors of the_Leonora_ stood up and stretched our aching limbs we saw, as we glancedseaward, the two 'blubber hunters,' who had ridden out the storm safely,heave-up and sail through the passage. I don't think either of thecaptains was wanting in humane feeling; but both were, no doubt, verymuch afraid that as 'Bully' Hayes had lost his ship, he would notbe particular about taking another near to hand. And they were quitecorrect. Hayes and his third mate, some of the white traders, and twentyor so of our crew were quite willing to seize one of the whalers, andsail to Arrecifos. But the Yankee skippers knew too much of 'Bully,' andleft us to ourselves on Strong's Island; and many a tragedy resulted,for the crew and passengers of the _Leonora_ with some few exceptions,were not particular as to their doings, and mutiny, treachery, murder,and sudden death, were the outcome of the wreck of the _Leonora_.