In November, Discovering Fiji covered a three-part story titled “The Death and Skull of Ro Veidovi” which talked about, among other events, the first American naval expedition to the Fiji Islands in 1940.
More than a decade later, a second Fiji expedition was launched, this time under “retaliatory” circumstances. Out of all the islands in the Pacific in those days, Fiji had a dangerous reputation. It was not safe for outsiders, and there were some recorded incidents of shipwrecked sailors being killed and eaten. During the first official US Navy Expedition to Fiji in 1840, led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, indigenous Fijians had killed and mutilated Lieutenant Joseph Underwood and Midshipman Henry Wilkes (Wilkes’s nephew).
In retaliation, Wilkes landed about 60 Marines and sailors, torched two villages and killed about 80 Fijian natives on Malolo Island. According to US naval records, in 1859 a United States Navy operation was waged against the self-styled king of Fiji, Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, but on the island of Waya in the Yasawas. It is said the Americans launched a “punitive expedition against the Wayans” and “defeated them in a pitched battle”. Other American literature records that the exact village on Waya that was attacked was “Somatti” or Lomati, the yavusa whose members were believed to be amongst the first settlers on Waya. They came from Rakiraki in Ra and Votua in Ba. In 1846, the US commercial agent in Fiji, John Brown Williams, a notorious “land grabber”, bought the island of Nukulau for a mere $30.
He built a two-storey house on it. In 1849, Williams was celebrating American Independence Day on Nukulau with cannon and muskets when one canon exploded and accidentally burnt down a native hut. The fi re quickly spread and ultimately burned down his home, furniture and consular records.
“As the fire spread, the natives emptied the dwelling and storage sheds, but later stole most of what they had salvaged from the flames and disappeared with their booty into the jungle,” noted the New Zealand journal 1842-1844 of John B. Williams. Williams heaped blame on the Rewans and brought an exorbitant claim of over $40,000 against Ratu Cakobau and called up American warships to back his demands. This sparked a dispute that lasted years.
Later, the friction and threat of American military intervention was one of the reasons which ultimately led to Cakobau’s decision on ceding Fiji to Great Britain on October 10, 1874. In 1859, 10 years after the Nukulau fi re, two American citizens on Waya were murdered by villagers and eaten. When word of the brutal incident reached the American consulate stationed on the island of Ovalau, the Pacifi c Squadron sent the sloop-of-war Vandalia to intervene.
The warship Vandalia sailed into Ovalau waters on October 2, 1859. Because berthing spots on Waya were largely shallow, it was decided that to travel there a ship with a shallower draft would be needed.
When Vandalia arrived on Ovalau, the US consul reported aboard Vandalia “that two men had been eaten by the natives of Waya” As a result, a chartered schooner, Mechanic, was sent to Waya under the command of Lieutenant Charles Caldwell.
A force of 10 marines and forty sailors armed with rifles, swords and a 12-pounder howitzer were mustered for the battle on the island. A few native guides and three American merchant sailors also participated in the attack. The website, Naval History Blog, noted that on their way to Waya, the navy sailors received threats from the islanders saying “Do you suppose we have killed the two white men for nothing? “No, we killed them and we have eaten them. We are great warriors, and we delight in war…” the Wayans threatened.
In response, Lt. Caldwell wrote: “…and woe to the members of any strange tribe that falls into their hands…to be clubbed to death and eaten is the only alternative for the captive. It is not a matter of surprise that the tribes along our route learned with feelings of satisfaction the nature of our expedition.”
The Americans started climbing the hills on Waya Island under a cover of darkness, hoping to catch villagers by surprise. “It was cold and dark at 0300 on 9 October 1859 when the 40 Sailors and 10 Marines under Lt. Charles Caldwell prepared for battle, arming themselves with minié rifles, swords and a wheeled 12-pounder howitzer,” wrote Dr Timothy L. Francis in Small Wars Journal. “The expedition intended to climb the steep hills, pass into the interior and, as put by Lt. Caldwell in his diary, “destroy the town (of Somatti) and bring the natives to an engagement – It was a novel undertaking to assault and destroy a mountain tribe in their stronghold with a party of Seamen.”
They dragged the 12-pounder howitzer (cannon) 2300 feet up the mountain, but the cannon’s rigging parted and the howitzer rolled back downhill. The Americans left the broken howitzer behind and continued to move forward, arming the crew with swords and rifles.
The contingent climbed up Waya’s cliffs, rocky faces, narrow gorges and crevices in rocks that had only room for one person to pass. After fi ve gruelling hours of walking through rugged terrain, the Americans finally arrived at the village of Lomati.
The natives were anticipating them “clothed in their funeral robes of white, with long scarves sweeping over the ground; their hair combed to radiate from the mass, forming an immense rig six feet in circumference”.
Lt Alan Ramsey of the US Marines noted that this way of dressing merely made “them most conspicuous to the marksmen.” At a given signal, the fi fty or so Americans moved in, skirmishing as they forged forward.
The sailors were under the direction of Master’s Mate John K.Barlett. After flanking the several hundred defenders, they sang the “Red, White and Blue,” gave three hearty cheers and charged into the village.
The howitzer crew took up combustibles and “fired the town” setting ablaze 115 bure in the village. Moving back through the same ravine, with the Marines as rearguard, the Americans were attacked by hundreds of natives with a “heavy discharge of firearms, thrown stones…heavy clubs, and a flight of arrows…,” American records noted. “…they came quite near, moving with great quickness but our men, returning their fire with a rapid and steady discharge, and a severe action of 15 or 20 minutes, repulsed them with a heavy loss on their part in killed and wounded”.
Three of the Americans were wounded after being shot with musket balls. One had an arrow lodged in his leg while two were injured by thrown rocks. Lt Ramsey was worried the villagers of Waya would attempt to “secure one body, at least, for their horrible feast” but after an exhausting assault the expedition made it safely back to sea.
Two ramrods and one bayonet went missing and a considerable amount of gunpowder and balls were used. Among the villagers, at least a dozen natives were killed and several dozen were wounded. Two chiefs were dead and the village was mostly burned to the ground. “Justice was served, both physically and psychologically. On the voyage back, the expedition stropped at fishing villages to spread the word of victory and receive congratulations,” Naval History Blog said. Once the attack on Lomati was over, Lt. Caldwell’s group rested in a friendly fishing village on Waya whose inhabitants were “quite pleased at what happened to the Somatti warriors”.
They were happy because they were often been brutalised by the warriors from Lomati in the past. Dr Francis said the Waya warfare had psychological impacts on local tribes and warriors.
“The very public chastisement of the Wayans, to include an unimpeded march into the hills to kill warriors and burn Somatti without effective resistance, sent an important message to the nearby villages as well as the Fiji archipelago in general,” Dr Francis noted.
With the outbreak of American civil war imminent, interest by the US Navy in the Pacifi c diminished considerably Lt Caldwell went on to serve with distinction in command of the Union gunboat Itasca, the ironclad Essex and two other ships on blockade duty during the American Civil War. With the exit of the Americans, Fiji became a British problem and later a British colony from 1874 to 1970. The attack on Waya later became largely known as the Second Fiji Expedition or Vandalia Expedition.
History being the subject it is, a group’s version of events may not be the same as that held by another group. When publishing one account, it is not our intention to cause division or to disrespect other oral traditions. Those with a different version can contact us so we can publish your account of history too — Editor.
