The cruel voyage of the British brig Carl, one of the worst ever cases involving blackbirding in the South Pacific began in traditional fashion in Melbourne, Australia in June 1871.
A Dr James Patrick Murray bought an interest in the 236 ton vessel and loaded cargo destined for Levuka, then capital of Fiji.
Murray was no ordinary man.
He was described by Hector Holthouse in his revealing book Cannibal Cargoes, as stocky with “dark eyes flashing under heavy brows”.
“He had a comfortable social background, a manner that could win him friends when he wanted them — and an erratic streak that often came close to madness.”
Interestingly Murray had been part of the failed expedition that went in search of lost Australians explorers Burke and Wills in the Australian outback.
Now he was to become involved in a trade that was making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The brig Carl arrived in Levuka on June 28 and Murray discharged cargo and informed the captain of his plan to go blackbirding for Kanakas at Tanna in what is now Vanuatu.
The captain objected but Murray merely sacked him and promoted first-mate Joseph Armstrong who Holthouse described as a “seasoned man-catcher” to the captain’s position.
“It seems as if the Carl left Levuka without a license and with no special accommodation in her hold for carrying natives.
Rough and rum soaked Levuka basically streamlined the operation of blackbirding vessels as reported by Holthouse
“Typical of the Fijian set-up at this time was the fact that the agent for the Carl on her second kidnapping voyage was a Levuka storekeeper, who as the Government minister in charge of immigration, passed the vessel as fit for recruiting and then, as agent for the vessel, sold her cargo of kanakas for 12 a head.”
The Carl stopped at Epi to cut timber which was laid fore and after, to make rough bunks for the men that were to be kidnapped for blackbirding purposes.
The ship next called on Paama, where Strong, a sailor named Wilson and Mount dressed up as missionaries and tried to trick natives to get on board.
“They had no success…the trick, by now, was too well known,” wrote Holthouse.
This required a different approach and at the order of their captain, crewmen started kidnapping kanakas by running down canoes and fishing the occupants out of the water.
During the trial of his accomplices conducted years later, Murray went on to describe their despicable modus operandi.
“We captured natives, generally by breaking or upsetting their canoes and by getting the natives out of the water into which they were plunged.
“We smashed the canoes by throwing pig iron into them, and then seized the natives in the water.
“The captain and crew used to be chiefly engaged in throwing the weights into the canoes and the passengers, in their own boat, sued to pick the natives out of the water, sometimes hitting them over the heads with clubs or sling shot, as they at times, were very difficult to get hold of.
“Each man had his appointed duty and place.”
After kidnapping about 80 Buka men in this manner, they were unceremoniously bundled below decks making the total “catch” to 141 men.
“With the seventy that were already there, the hold was so full that they could hardly move,” wrote Holthouse.
“A course was immediately made for Fiji. The practice was to keep the natives in the hold at night, but once they were out of sight of land, allow them on deck during the day.”
Before long there was a fight between the Buka men and other natives who were below deck, although this skirmish was stopped by crewmen firing a couple of revolver shots over their heads.
The next day the fighting started again but this time it got worse.
Despite revolvers being fired over their heads, the fight went on and the Buka men started to tear the bunks to pieces and use the poles to batter at the hatchway in an effort to smash their way out.
Murray described what happened vividly in his court appearance.
“The attempts to pacify the men below having failed, there was a general rush to arms, the danger being imminent, and firing was kept up most of the night.
“I think everyone on board was more or less engaged in the firing into the hold.
“The firing lasted for about 8 hours. It was daylight before it was all over.
“Towards daylight, when we thought they were quite subdued, Mr Scott volunteered to go down and pacify the remainder. He got down two rungs of the ladder when he was wounded in the breast by a long police sharpened at the end.
“He ran up quickly and there was some firing again after that. During the night, by way of directing the aim, Mr Wilson threw lights into the hold.”
Only five men were able to climb up unassisted with the remainder “more or less helped up, being wounded.”
16 men were badly wounded and nine slightly.
“In the hold was a great deal of blood with the dead bodies — about fifty in number.
“The dead were at once thrown overboard. The sixteen badly wounded were also thrown overboard.
“There was a general discussion as to what should be done with these men and the general cry was “Over with them at once”.
“I saw that the men were alive when they were thrown overboard.
“We were, at the time, out of sight of land, and it was impossible for the men, in the state that they were, to escape to the land. Some of the men thrown overboard were tied by their legs and hands.
“After all this the hold of the ship was thoroughly cleansed and whitewashed, every trace of the late event being removed.
We then proceeded on our voyage. On our way towards Api (Epi) we met Roasrio which overhauled us. One of the officers came on board and, seeing nothing particular, let us go.”
When the ship finally arrived at Levuka, Holt wrote that the two passengers, Mount and Morris “had had enough of blackbirding and left the ship”.
Murray who was said to be in bad shape, physically and mentally at Levuka sent an urgent message to Consul March for him to see him.
He said there had been trouble on board the Carl and Armstrong and Dowden were planning to make him a scapegoat for all that happened.
By then blackbirding was so notorious that it forced the following from a man of the cloth.
“I venture to hazard a prophesy that if this trade is allowed to go on, we shall, before long, have slavery defended among us as a divine institution”.
This was the straight shooting message delivered by Reverend Lorimer Fison, a Wesleyan missionary in Fiji in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald denouncing the blackbirding trade.
“Letters have already appeared in the Fiji newspaper boldly advocating slavery, and one of them recommended that the savage should, for his own good, be “tied to our chariot wheels and dragged along with us on our onward march in spite of his shrieks and protests”.
In Sydney, Murray was prepared to turn Queen’s evidence.
It was through Murray’s evidence that Armstrong, Dowden and seven seamen from nth Carl were brought to Sydney for trial in November 1872.
“It was obvious from the start that he, himself, had been the main culprit, and that but for his shrewd move in giving information and turning Queen’s evidence, he would have been in the dock beside them,” Holthouse noted.
Murray was pointed to as a main instigator although much of what he had told the court was supported by those on trial.
One of the men on trial stated that Murray, while firing at the natives, was singing Marching Through Georgia a popular song of the American Civil War.
“When the slaughter was over, Murray, the court was told, picked out ten natives who were least wounded and the remainder were thrown overboard.
“About thirty wounded men were bound hand and foot and thrown overboard, and while this was going on, about a dozen more of the Buka men jumped overboard of their own accord and were taken by the sharks.”
Armstrong and Dowden were later found guilty of murder and were subsequently sentenced to death — although this was later commuted to life imprisonment. Two other seamen were found guilty of assault on the high seas and sentenced to two years in jail.
The passengers, Mount and Morris, were located in Victoria, charged and sentenced to 15 years penal servitude, although they would be released on a technicality after only a few months.
The Australian Sketcher commented on their case stating “It will be seen that this failure of justice has been brought about owing to a childish refusal on the part of the Government to ask the Secretary of State to proclaim one of the prisons in Victoria as a place where men convicted under the Imperial Act, may be confined in conformity with the Victorian Act.
“The community cannot fail to look on this mismanagement with grave disapproval.”
The crowd in the courtroom, however, reacted very differently, cheering loudly as the judgment was announced.
Although the perpetrators of the horrific slaughter of the Kanakas on high seas had gotten away lightly, the Melanesians would have a measure of revenge, taking justice into their own hands.
Late in 1871, these kanakas were travelling on board the small cutter Meva from Levuka to Taveuni when they slaughtered five white settlers and crew that were on board.
The sole member of the crew to escape alive was a Fijian who jumped overboard and swam 15 miles to the nearest island to sound the alarm.
The Meva was later found at Yasawa Island and the Solomon islanders were made prisoners by the settlers there and later would face justice Fijian style at Levuka.
While there was some justice for the murdered kanakas within a short period time, the Carl would again be prowling the South Seas for more human cargo.
