DEATH OF COMMODORE GOODENOUGH.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 2337, 1 September 1875, Page 3

DEATH OF COMMODORE GOODENOUGH.

ATTACK BY NATIVES OF SANTA CRUZ.

TWO SEAMEN OF H.M.S. 'PEARL'

FATALLY WOUNDED.

We take the following particulars of the death of Commodore Goodenough from the Sydney Morning Ilerald of 24th August.: —

It is with much sorrow that wo announce the death of this distinguished naval officer, who was mortally wounded on the 12th instant, at the Island of Santa Cruz, one of a group of islands north of the New Hebrides, by a fow of the treacherous natives of that place. The ' Pearl ' was commissioned to the Australian station in May, 1873, and arrived at Sydney about three months afterwards. Commodore Goodenough was several times lin the China seas. He first went there as lieutenant in the ' Raleigh,' in 1857. He next went in command of the 'Calcutta,' which vessel he took home and paid off in 1859. Ho was afterwards commissioned to the ' Renard,' a dispatch vessel, in the China seas, and was subsequently appointed commander of the ' Revenge,' the flagship of the Channel Fleet, and also commanded the 'Victoria,' the flagship in tho Mediterranean. When the ' Minotaur ' was commissioned ns flagship of the Channel Fleet, ho was appointed flag captain ; and ho served as naval attache to the courts of Europe. On the 22nd May, 1873, tho ' Pearl ' was commissioned to the Australian station with the deceased, as commander. The following is an official report of the circumstances connected with the melancholy event: — On the 12th August the 'Pearl* was off Carlisle Bay, Santa Cruz Island. Leaving the ship in the offing, the Commodore landed, accompanied by some officers and men, in hopes of conciliating the natives and opening a friendly intercourse with them. The latter assembled in goodly numbers on the beach, accepted presents in an apparently friendly spirit, and were willing to barter. The Commodore and others entered the village, and for some time mixed freely with the natives, who showed no signs of hostility until preparation was being made to embark. While the Commodore and one or two others remained near the village, a native standing near him fired an arrow, which struck the Commodore in the side. Before any arms, all of which were in the boats, could be reached, several flights of arrows were discharged on the party, wounding five men, and the Commodore again slightly — this second time in the head. A few revolvers and rifles were fired to stop the attack, which was entirely unprovoked, and one native fell. The Commodore determined, after returning to the ship, that he would show his dis- | approval of this treachery by simply burning the houses of the village near which the attack was made, and gave some explicit orders that no life should be taken, directing blank cartridge to be fired to warn the natives away previous to the men landing. It is impossible to assign any certain cause for this sudden attack, though it may perhaps be accounted for by . supposing a constant hostility to the visits of strangers to exist in the minds of these particular islanders, who have shown almost the same spirit to vessels visiting them from the time of Mendena to this day — a hostility probably provoked by some previous outrage committed by white men ; and this opinion being held by the Commodore induced him to punish them in the slight manner in which he did. The greater surprise was felt at this hostility of the inhabitants of Santa Cruz, as the natives of the islands of Ambrym, Mallicollo, Saint Bartholomew, Espiritu Santo, and Vauikoro had received the visits of the Commodore and his officers in a friendly manner; and although the natives of a few villages showed, in some cases, signs of shyness and timidity, nevertheless, mutual confidence had been quickly established in most of them. . The 'Pearl' at once proceeded southward, as a cooler climate would be more favourable to the wounded, of whom there were five, in addition to the Commodore. Having touched at Mota, in Banks Group, to leave directions for H.M.S. ' Nymphe, 1 Bhould she call there, the ' Pearl' proceeded towards Sjdney. For the first few days the wounded were all doing well, and great hopes were entertained that they would recover ; but after five days, symptoms of tetanus appeared in three of the cases, and gradually increased. On Thursday night, one of the seamen, named Edward Rayner, who had received an arrow wound in tho shoulder, died; on tho next evening — Friday, August 20, at 5.30 p.m. — Commodore Goodenough died; and early the following morning tho third — a seaman named Frederick Smale — followed. He had received a severe wound in the head. The other three wounded are doing well. A New South Wales Gazette extraordinary was issued on 23rd, as follows : — " Colonial Secretary's Office, " Sydne}', 23rd August, 1875. " His Excellency the Governor, with feelings of deep regret for the public loss sustained, announces to tho colony the death on Friday, August 20th, from wounds received at Santa Cruz, on the 12th of the same month, of James C. Goodenough, C.8., C.M.G., Captain and Commodore Commanding Australian Station. "The funeral procession will move from Milson's Pointy North Shore, at 2 o'clock p.m., to-morrow, 24th August ; and his Excellency, with a desire to show every possible respect to the memory of the deceased, directs that the public offices be closed, and invites the attendance of all officers of the Government. " By his Excellency's command, " John Robertson, Colonial Secretary."

The Besult op a Joke.— A young man went into an hotel the other evening, and called for a glass of liquor. It was handed to him, and then he dropped a little powdered magnesia in it from a paper, swallowing tho whole deliberately, and placing the glass down, looked the attentive landlord in the eye, and said, "I have poisoned myself." "What?" screamed the horrified landlord. "I have poisoned myself !" repeated the young man. In an instant Mr. P had bounded to his side, and the next instant ho had him on the floor, and a man sent for tho doctor. The young man struggled to free himself, and protested it was all a joke. Mr. P > was too old and too educated a man to be deluded by such artifices. Immediately remedies were called for. Some one suggested a raw egg, and one was procured, and there being no time to hother with a glass, and tho victim to the poison writhing to a degree that mode holding him an almost impossible undertaking, it was administered in the shell, and so adroitly broken that two thirds of it went into his shirt bosom. A bottlo of sweet oil was next emptied into him, his head briskly rubbed, hot cloths applied to his chest, and his back warmed with a billiard cue. When Dr. M arrived, ho took in the situation at a glance, applied a stomach-pump, and within five minutes the facetiousness and other things in that young man were extracted. On getting to his feet he instinctively felt in his hip pocket for his handkerchief, and appeared to be very much surprised to find it there, He left the hotel vowing vengeance against Mr. V and his anxious and earnest helpers. But this story was too much for him the next day, and ho quietly disappeared from town. Tbanbfusion of Blood. — Transfusion is a success. The veins of an Towa lawyer were recently filled with the fresh blood of a Durham bull. The thing works like a charm. He used to make people shed tears by delivering eloquent Fourth of July speeches, and now they shut him up in a four-aero lot, whore ho bellows and paws tho oarth, but bothers nobody.