The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-22 00:00:00

THE MASSACRE IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

The first details of the recent massacre by South Sea
saxages of Lieutenant Commander Bower and five
seamen of her' Majesty's ship Sanddy have been ie•
ceived from Sydney. On the 29th November the
Sandflu arrived at Sydney, and reported that Com-
mander Bower and six seamen had been --killed, and
one man wounded, by natives, at a small island of the
Solomon group: .

The accounts furnished by Acting Sub-Lieutenant
Bradford and Mr. Coughlan, the boats Wain; an,d
another man, the survivors of the massacre, show
that on Oct. 13 the Sandily anchored at Teyemboka.
Lieutenant Commander Bower and the seamen,
Came, O'Neill, Savage, Paterson, and Venton, left in
a whale-boat to survey the east coasts of the
Florida. Islands, intending to go back on the 17th.
The 17th, 18th, and 19th passed without their re-
turning, and on the 20th the schooner weighed
anchor and made for the east coast, sending the
gig round on one side and going herself round
the other, so that a thorough search might be
made. The gig was manned by four seamen, com-
manded by Coughlan, all being well armed. The gig
was pulled into one bay, where was a very strong
party of well-armed fratives, one of whom (King
Billy) called out "Come in; come in you: come in,"
and immediately afterwards he spoke in his native
tongue. Taking alarm, the gig now turned back, for
the crew noticed that the natives carried bows and
arrows, knives and tomahawks. One who called
himself "Suck," tried to tempt them back by describ-
ingthe whale boat; but they kept on. They went next
day to- the East Island, and the same evening to
Niboli Harbour, which was alive with natives.
Returning to the Sandfly, on the 22nd, they found
there Savage, who had formed one of the crew of the
whale boat, and who gave the following narrative :

We went to East Island, and on Friday pulled over
Lavinia Bay, where the Lavinia, was captured and
her crew slain. Thence we went to Noga Island,
hauled the boat up, and had tea. The men got leave
to bathe, and while Carne and O'Neill went into the
water Savage and Paterson went along the beach
with the Captain, leaving Venton looking after the
boat. Paterson went back for something, and about a
quarter of an hourafterwards Savage heard yells, ran
back, and saw a crowd of about fifty natives round the
boat and more hurrying through the bush. Rushing
back to the Captain, Savage shouted, " The boat's
attacked," and the Captain also returning was espied by
the natives, six of whom broke and ran for him. He
cried, ",By -, Savage, it's a case," and darted
into the bush. Savage saw no more of Commander
Bower, but subsequently learnt that he eluded pursuit
by climbing a tree. That night the murderers sought
for him in vain, but next morning they paddled round
the island, and seeing him in the tree landed, and
shot him twice through the body with the rifles they
had taken from the boat. He dropped, and then
nameless horrors ensued. The men who were bathing
were clubbed ate-once. Paterson, taken from behind.
shared the same fate; but Venton had time to seize a
boat stretcher, and fought hard for his life, as the
natives afterwards admitted. It is believed that
Venton was tied to stakes, tortured, and then be-
headed, in revenge for the injury he inflicted on his
assailants. Savage ran into the scrubs, low down on
the beach, shook off his pursuers, and swam to sea.
It was dusk, and the night being cloudy he hoped to
reach another island unnoticed; but a strong running
tide swept him back opposite to the fire where the
cannibals were dancing and yelling. The moon-
beams revealed him, and instantly two or three canoes
each manned by three men, put off to capture him.
They were only fifty yards from him when a black
cloud swept across the moon, and when it cleared of
his pu•rsuers were making back to their companions,
evidently thinking he had gone down. His next
danger was from the sharks; at one time three were
sweeping • round him, but he splashed faintly, and
kept them off until he landed on a small un-
inhabited island. Despairing of rescue, Savage
made a raft, and paddled to the mainland; but when
half way across a dozen canoes swept upon him. The
natives took him to the chief, who clothed him, gave
him a hut, and " tabooed " him to preserve his life.
After a long struggle and a long palaver as to
whether he should brave the British vengeance by
giving him up to the murderers of his mates, the chief
decided to save him. When the Sandfly passed the
island in search the look-out saw Savage signalling, and
took him off to the vessel, which saileii into Rita Bay,
and a boat's crew was sent ashore to burn the canoes
and punish the natives. Mr. Bradford was in com-
mand, and with eight men under him burnt several
canoes. They saw no natives to punish until they
passed off to return to the ship, when the savages
sallied from the bush and opened fire on the boat
shooting a seaman named Backe through the heart
and wounding another sailor, The Sandfly weighed
anchor next day for Sydney.

In the House of Commons, on Friday evening in
last week, Sir J. Hay asked the Secretary to the
Admiralty whether the Admiralty had official infor-
mation of the death of the lieutenant commanding
Her Majesty's ship Sandfly, and whether he would
state to the House the circumstances of Lieutenant
Bower's unfortunate death and of the seamen who
shared his fate

Mr.- Treyelyan, in reply to the right hon. and gal-
lant baronet, said :—I may save the time of the House
by saying that the painful details of the murder of
Lieutenant Bower and his boat's crew which have ap-
peared in the newspapers are confirmed by the official
report which reached the Admiralty. A downright
murder it was, unprovoked by any action whatever
on the part of the murdered men or of their comrades.
In Lieutenant Bower the country has lost a sin-
gularly intelligent, energetic, and accomplished officer,
who fell in the execution of his duty. He was en-
gaged in the surveying service, which is one of the
most useful and honourable functions of the British
Navy, and this sad Story proves that it is not without
its perils. I cannot sit down without expressing the
strung approbation with which the conduct of Sub-
Lieutenant Bradford was viewed by the commanding
officer of the station and by the Board of Admiralty.
His commander and no small proportion of his crew
had been mysteriously murdered. He was left on his
own resources among a people who to savage craft and
ferocity joined the advantage of possessing and being
able to use modern weapons. He did not shrink from re-
sponsibility or return to head-quarters for definite orders,
aryl larger reinforcements. He would not leave the
neighbourhood until he had recovered and buried the
bodies of his countrymen, and ascertained in great
minuteness the circumstances of the tragedy, and
nothing but his skill and caution preserved his crew
from suffering even more than they did suffer from the
enemy's fire while engaged in thiS most valuable ser-
vice. (Cheers.) On receiving the report of the com-
modore the First Lord of the Admiralty at once pro-
moted the young man to the rank of lieutenant (hear) and
I have very little doubt that the country will hear of him
again. When the news came to Sydney Commodore
Wilson, who commands in those waters, acting with
promptitude and decision despatched to the scene of the
outrage Iler Majesty's ship Emerald, a corvette, COM-
rnanded by Captain William Maxwell. with a, crew of 232
men all told. The instructions given to Captain Maxwell
are worthy of note. He is not to inflict that wholesale
and sweeping retribution which too often misses the
guilty and by inflaminr, resentment lays the seeds of
future outrages. His orders are definite "On arrival,
and having satisTed yourself who the murderers are,
you are to follow them up wherever they may go,
sparing neither time, trouble, nor a legitimate amount
of risk to deter you from pursuing them even into the in-
terior of the Country and inflicting upon them the severe
punishment they so well deserve ." Captain Maxwell
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missioner in the Western Pacific, wh o telegraphs that
he has the fullest confidence in Captain Maxwell's
discretion. (Hear.)

Advices just received from Sydney state that two
more massacres of white men have taken place. One
occurred in Brooker Island, where Captain Foreman,
of the schooner Anne Brooks, and his crew were mur-
dered. Captain Foreman had been on a Beche-de-
mer fishing expedition for the previous five months,
and at the time of the outrage his vessel had-on board
a valuable cargo of these shells. The men were set
upon by the savages, who, as usual, surprised them,
and all of them, ten in number, were barbarously
murdered, and the vessel and cargo were destroyed.
The second massacre was at James's Bay, Moresty
Island., A party of five French naturalists had been
on an exploring tour, and had collected some very
valuable specimens. They were attacked by the
natives and were all killed, and their specimens and
the boat they had with them destroyed.