MURDER AFLOAT
The true story of massacre aboard the brig, Carl
By
Gordon Plowman
SMASHWORDS EDITION
*****
PUBLISHED BY
Gordon Plowman on Smashwords
Murder Afloat
The true story of massacre aboard the brig, Carl
Copyright 2011 by Gordon Plowman
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
*****
MURDER AFLOAT
The true story of massacre aboard the brig, Carl
Wind billowing in her sails, the brig, Carl, ploughed through the blue Pacific waters on yet another leg of a successful trading mission. On board she carried a precious cargo but not the kind you'd expect to find on a vessel trading in the South Pacific Ocean. She doesn't carry tropical fruits, valuable timbers or sandalwood; any copra or pearl shell. The Carl carries human cargo.
Locked securely in the holds below decks, over one hundred men, recruited, or more accurately, kidnapped, from the islands of New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and Bougainville struggle for survival. In the overcrowded, squalid, stinking poorly ventilated holds and without adequate food or decent sanitation, these men were forced to co-exist within the confines of their sea-borne prison. Even under these appalling conditions most would probably have survived the voyage to their destination, the islands of Fiji, except for another serious problem. The captain and crew of the Carl failed to realise that natives "recruited" from some of the islands where they called, harbored a long held hatred for natives of certain other island locations. So great was their hatred that when mixed together in the ship's hold, some of the Bougainville natives decided to settle old scores there and then. Bitter fighting broke out as these wild men went on a vengeful rampage. Those who didn't want to get involved pounded in the hatches, begging to be let out. The sound of rioting echoed up from below and the crew on deck feared a breakout. Although they had access to firearms, the crew could not be certain of repelling a determined rush from a mob of hysterical natives if they managed to get up on deck.
With the screams; the yells; the sound of bodily combat echoing in everyone's ears, the ship's owner, Doctor James Patrick Murray, quickly took charge of the situation. He immediately ordered his men to arm themselves and begin shooting into the hold. Gunshot after gunshot rang out. Acting on Dr. Murray's orders, the shooting continued at intervals through the night. Indiscriminate gunfire peppered the defenceless captives. The lucky ones died quickly; some of the wounded took hours to die in agony while others lay wounded and bleeding, clinging to life but without the slightest hope of assistance.
Impossible as it may seem, this bloodbath; this inhuman tragedy was about to be surpassed for cruelty by the events of the following day.
These awful killings were carried out in mid-year, 1871, but our story really begins almost a decade earlier.
Robert Towns, a prominent Sydney politician, owned extensive areas of land in eastern Australia and in 1863 he decided to grow cotton on his property near the Queensland capital of Brisbane. He knew he could only make the crop pay if he could hire a cheap source of farm labour.
Towns contacted a sandalwood trader he knew and asked him to recruit islanders from New Hebrides (Vanuatu), and from the Loyalty group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, off the east coast of Australia. He sought the cooperation of missionaries who had established their various church activities on the islands of interest. Towns made it clear to the men doing the recruiting on his behalf that they must explain the exact details of the work contract he was offering. Each man offered a contract would be expected to work on his Queensland plantations and in return would receive payment of ten shillings per month; be given adequate rations of rice, meat pumpkins and yams and accommodation in comfortable huts.
Towns authorized Captain Geurber, commander of the vessel, Don Juan, to sail to the islands to bring the required workers back to Queensland. Geurber soon encountered natives who knew Robert Towns and had worked for him previously on his island plantations. They were willing to work for him again and his contracts were eagerly accepted. Geurber and his crew had no difficulty in recruiting sixty seven willing volunteers and before long, the Don Juan was on its way to Brisbane with the Kanaka labourers on board. After they disembarked at Brisbane they were taken to Towns' cotton plantation on the Logan River.
(South Sea Islanders were, at the time, called Kanakas. Kanaka is a Hawaiian word meaning, boy.)
Robert Towns acted in good faith and according to all reports he treated his Islander work force well. Each man received accommodation, food, clothing and a small wage as promised. He proved that labour intensive agriculture such as cotton and sugar cane farming could return a profit by using a low cost workforce. He also showed how Islanders were capable of performing all the work necessary to establish and maintain a successful plantation. This cheap labour force was available virtually at Australia's doorstep. It was only a matter of sailing to New Hebrides or any other convenient South Sea Island and recruiting willing workers just as Towers had done. At least that is how it seemed.