MURDER OF THE CAPTAIN AND CREW OF THE MOAROA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 491, 13 December 1869, Page 3

MURDER OF THE CAPTAIN AND CREW OF THE MOAROA.

* We gave some days ago a few brief particulars of the murder of Captain Blockett and six of the crew of the Tahitian barque Moaroa; but the full account, furnished by the mate (the only surviving officer of the vessel), and published in the Messaqer de Tahiti, ia now before us, and there are parts of the narrative which will be read with deep interest. The Moaroa was trading among the Pacific Islands in June and July last, and on the 17th of the last-named month the vessel was becalmed about six miles off Byron Island, situate about 800 miles east of New Guinea. In addition to her cargo of cocoa nut oil and other products, the Moaroa had on board upwards of 300 K inakas, as the natives of the Pacific are called, which she was taking to Tahiti. Whether these men had any grievance against the master of the vessel is not stated. A considerable number had gone off to the vessel in their canoes, which they afterwards sent on shore, and more than half of the number were received on board from another vessel, the Annb, of Melbourne, which had b.en met with short of water. We now quote from the first officer's published statement: — "July 17, 1869— At five o'clock in the evening the captain gave permission to all the natives to go on deck, and then he distributed amongst thera shirts and tobacco. All appeared quiet, but the deck was quite crowded; nearly 300 men were assembled on it. The men of the watch were aft, busy preparing planks to make a partition between the hatchway and the poop, when all of a sudden, and without any warning — (I had, however, noticed a boy steal a knife from one of our men, and then begged the captain and Mon. Lattin to come aft) — all of a sudden, as I said, the Kanakas rushed aft, and attacked my watch. I was then near the door of my cabin Jwhen I saw a Kanaka kill Mon Lattin with the blow of an axe; the latter was then near the main rigging. I then seized a carbine and ran to help the captain, but it was too late ; he had received a stab in the back, another in the body, and had fallen quite dead close to the door of the cabin. I sent a man below who had been dangerously stabbed in the back. Besides the stab, the captain had received a frightful blow from an axe. The axe was stolen by one of the natives from a esse of tools which happened to be on deck. At seven a.m., I retreated tb the cabin with the last man remaining of my watch and there I met the first mate and the steward with a gun. The steward, in trying to save the captain, had been wounded in the right shoulder, but I did not then know it, because he had not told me of the fact for fear of discouraging the men. We defended the cabin against all the Kanakas, and I am convinced we should have succeeded in retaking tho vessel at once if we had been well armed. Once having retreated into the cabin, the Kanakas blocked us completely in and pitched in bricks, which they got from the galley, and covered the skylights and hatchway with everything they could obtain on deck. They even took the staysail to put it on the skylight, but we prevented them from doing so with our carbines. "At 6 a.m., the starboard watch was attacked forward, but having four old cutlasses, which I put there overnight, they defended themselves, aud the entrance to the forecastle being so narrow, only allowing passage for one man at a time, the Kanakas discontinued attacking them. •' At 9 a.m., two of the starboard watch succeeded in making their way to us by detaching the planks of the partition, and as I held open the door of the cabin leading to the 'tween deck, he saw tbem coming ; they told me that the three others would not be long in coming also, which turned out to be true. I had then five more men, but hardly any arms, our long cavalry sabres being of little use in a hand-to-hand conflict. " Towards eleven o'clock the mate insisted, in spite of me, on calling for the interpreter, who was at that time bound by the Kanakas in the cabin on deck. I warned him several times that the natives had got possession of the interpreter's double-barrelled gun, and that it was loaded ; but he paid not the slightest attention to it, and was killed by a Kanaka with this same gun. He fell stone dead ; the ball entered the right shoulder after having struck the skylights, and came out about four inches from the heart. When the Kanakas saw him fall, they gave a diabolical yell on deck. I then ceased firing, thinking that, in doing so, the Kanakas would regain confidence, and I should be able to take them unawares ; but there were too many on deck, and they continued to laugh and yell, thinking, no doubt, of the quantity of tobacco and stuffs which the captain had shown them, and which they reckoned upon seizing in a short time. " I was determined to retake the vessel, but it was not so easy with two guns and a revolver, which would not go off. Then I decided on making a desperate effort; it was to blow up the deck amidships, and, in the midst of the confusion which would follow, to make a rush across the smoke and retake the vessel. We had got from the three-masted vessel Annie forty-five boxes (in tins), each containing half a pound of powder. I poured thirty-four in a little empty barrel, and after having placed mats and sailcloth below it to protect the

'tween decks, I with six other tins, laid a train from the barrel to the main passage (grau pannean) to the deck {faux pont) "I then gave orders for all to go as far aft as possible, because from there they could all reach the deck immediately after the explosion, and not to wait for me — they being further aft, and more remote from the explosion — md because I did not know myself what would happen to me from being so near. But I was confident, and never so calm in my life. After having seen the men in safety, and offered a short prayer for my wife and children, I set fire to tbe train, throwing myself down at the same time, on the 'tween deck. The explosion followed immediately, and I was nearly stifled with the smoke. I th n went on deck, where I found the men who had got there before me, as also the in terpreter, who had been freed by his wife. I did not see a single Kanaka ; but the sea was covered with black heads making for the island. My first care was to send two men down to put out the fire, and, with the others, I got up all the rigging, which was dragging overboard; the natives trying meantime to re-board with knives and other arms. Thank God, the ship was completely in our hinds, and nothing had taken fire with the exception of the sailcloth, which had been placed below the powder-barrel, and was completely extinguished by two buckets of water. I sounded the pumps immediately afterwards ; and as we had pumped since four a.m., and as there were only two feet of water in the hold — not more than we usually made iv the same time —I considered the ship was not materially injured by the explosion, although she shook like an earthquake. *' I went below to see the state of things. The forecastle was partly destroyed, butthere was hardly "any damage in the after-cabin. All the damage which had been done to it was caused by the oars with wlr'ch the natives had attacked us through the skylight. The chronometer appeared to be going well. The ship watch was broken, and entirely done for; the thermometor was broken, and the aneroid on the ground with the glass broken. I witnessed several other breakages, Sec, which I need not particularise." Mr Steenalt, the mate, succeeded iv reaching Tahiti in safety, though the state of the vessel caused him and the survivors some anxiety.