D’URVILLE ISLAND MASSACRE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 September 1926, Page 7

D’URVILLE ISLAND MASSACRE

VIOLATION OF CHIEF’S TAPU. It is difficult to assign ally definite reason for .some of the massacres of visiting European seamen that were perpetrated by Maoris .at the end of the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century. Two accounts of a tragic; occurrence .ait D’Urville Island weie given by Mr T. A.H., Fielld in Iris lecture at the Nelson I’h.i to so phl cc 1 Society’s, hist meeting. One of theee was a. Maori version, and the other w’ais that of the survivors concerned (says the Otago Daily Times).

‘‘Some rears ago,” sftid Mr lrield, “a very intelligent Maori repeated to me a story which had beien told him- by Ins great-aunt, -who was one of the girls concerned in the narrative. He asked me if .1 had heard or read of anything in the Svdney or other records or early papers that threw any light upon (the story. It related to* the •massacre •o* part of a. ship’s crew on. D’Urville Island We have .heard of Marion, a tragic fate, and the apparent want of reason for it. The Rev. Samuel M*rsden, who had gone carefully into it, thought it was eft-used by a violation of tapu. This was the cause of the D’Urville Island massacre, when vfe read Homer’s Iliad, and begin to take an interest in some of.the heroes, we find that one or other of the gods) ftnd goddesses always interposes, and' alters j ll ,, course of’.events. It \\o/uldtalmost sc.'etn as if fate had taken an interetstin this tragic event in New Zealand. “First Jet me tell- you the story from the Maori viewpoint. A ,sohopner appeared. off one of the bays of D Urville Island. Her people wanted to trade with the natives, who- were quite friendly. But one day, when. a. canoe full of Maoris paddled alongside, the rook came out of the .galley with a dish of dirty water. Then fate intervened. Hiaid lie gone to the other side of the ship to fling it overboard, or had he crossed the deck at another angle to do so. nothing would have happened. But he went- to the ship’s, side where the canoe was, and tossed' the water over its occupants. Had it splashed over a -slave it would liave oeeasioiied no comment, but it. fell, with its scraps -of food, on to the chief. To touch a chief with food was a violation of his kipu. and a deadly insult which could he washed out only in blood. The chief swallowed his rage lor the time being, and invited the captain, and crew .ashore. He promised them flax, and also their choice of the girls of the tribe, who were duly paraded on the beach, amongst them the narrator of the story. When the boat no,aired the beach the Maoris rushed in to meet it, apparently to help to run it up, but really to capsize, it. and tip the crew into the .sea, and make their powder useless. They then, seized the captain and his companions, killed them on the beach, and carried their bodies to the ovens prepared lor the cannibalistic feast.”

So runs the Maori, story. The English version is giv&n thus in McNab’s “Murihiku” :

. “On July 27, 1824, only three years before Captain D’Urville visited Tasman Bay, the schooner Samuel. Captain Dawson, came to an anchor in Cook’a Strait. Captain Dawson, was well known amongst the New Zeal and traders, taind brought sealskins, flax, potatoes, and spars, usually from F’oveanx Strait and the Auckland and other southern islands. She is said 1 • have brought the last decent cargo of .sealskins —4500—in March. 1826. Formerly a vessel, brought 80,000 to 100.000 skins, most of which were usually .spoilt through bad curing. On this particular trip the Samuel wa.s carried; north by contrary winds, and anchored in Cook’s Strait. They spent two dr three days procuring water and bargaining for flax, etc. No misunderstanding had arisen with the natives up to July 31, and on that date Captain Dawson and. five seamen went on shore, quite unsuspicious of danger and totally unarmed. They had ’ -scarcely touched the shore when, without a moment’s warning, the Maoris rushed on them and put them to death. The survivors, struck with horror at the awful scene which they had witnessed, hurriedly weighed anchor, and .sailed for Sydney.” The victims of the D'Urville Island massacre were Captain Dawson and five seamen. The name of one of the seamen is . unknown. The four others were John Clu.rty, George Jewlyn, John Harris, and l John McLaughlin.