Bonin Islands  Source  Whalesite

THE

NAUTICAL MAGAZINE

AND

Naval Chronicle.

FOR 1852.

A JOURNAL OF PAPERS

ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH

MARITIME AFFAIRS.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.,

STATIONERS' HALL COURT.

THE

NAUTICAL MAGAZINE

AND

NAVAL CHRONICLE

MARCH, 1852.

The Bonin Islands in 1851. — Port Lloyd. — By Captain R. C.
Collinson, commanding H.M.S. Enterprize.

      H.M.S. Enterprize arrived at the Bonin Islands on the 28th of April, and sailed from Port Lloyd on the 6th of May, having procured a supply of turtles, pigs, potatoes, onions and yams; pumpkins, water-melons and Indian corn were not quite ripe, but would be ready for use in another month. Fresh water was obtained from a sandy bay on the east side of the harbour; it was plentiful, although they complained of a dry season; but the casks have te be taken out of the boat unless you are possessed of a hose 300 feet long. On making the island from the southward, we experienced a difficulty in discovering the remarkable quoin mentioned by Captain Beechey as the mark for the harbour on the south side, being under the shadow of the high land at the back of it. No difficulty however, can be experienced by a stranger making the harbour from the southward, as the bold bluff on the south side is sufficiently remarkable, and the two paps, which Captain Beechey gives as a leading mark for clearing the rocks outside the harbour will sufficiently denote its position; besides that, among the detached rocks to the southward are two pinnacles, and over the "remarkable quoin" on the north side as you enter is a triple peak. We shot in close under the bluff, but did not see the shoal off it; (it will not do therefore for vessels to trust to the eye to pick this danger up,) and then had baffling winds until we opened South Bay, when we edged away to the north and came to off the entrance to Ten Fathome Hole in twenty-five fathoms; (a better berth will be found a cable's length closer to the reef on the west side.) On leaving the harbour we were detained a day by strong southerly winds which prevented our warping to where we could have fetched out from, — and eventually we got away with a westerly wind, rounding the two fathoms patch close, and then barely fetching clear of the rocks off the south head, owing to the tide setting strong across the entrance of the harbour, (last quarter flood). In consequence of the baffiing winds, vessels should always have their boats in readiness to tow. The following

account was obtained from Mr. Chapin, one of the oldest residents on the island. —

      The season for planting at the Bonin Islands is in the months of March and April, but ships calling at these islands can at all seasons procure a supply of potatoes, yams, onions, pige, goats, fowls and fish. Turtle may be had from February until August inclusive, they begin to lay their egge in May and continue to lay until August; after that time the females leave the islands, the males having left five or six weeks before: the females lay from 200 to 400 eggs each according to their age, and at two different layings.

      Indian corn, pumpkins and water-melons, begin to ripen about the end of May. The prices of supplies are — yams and potatoes, two dollars per barrel; onions, four dollars per barrel; pumpkins, ten dollars per hundred; corn, one dollar per bushel. Turtle and goats, two dollars each; pigs, from one to seven dollars according to their size. The settlers have put hogs, goats and deer, upon some of the other islands and they are increasing rapidly. The prevailing winds from April to October are from north-east to south-east, and from November to March north-west to south-west; the strongest gales are in May and October, beginning at south-east and blowing hard for about four hours they chop suddenly round to the westward: they are not regular, that is to say, three or four years sometimes occur without any bad weather been experienced in these months: in December, January, aud February, gales of wind occur from west to north-west. There is a convenient place for heaving a vessel down, and a sand bank to lay a vessel on shore if necessary: two ships and one schooner have landed their cargoes and repaired here, and before the present settlers arrived, a Russian man-of-war was hove down.

      Since the island was settled in 1830 by Mr. Mazerra, under the direction of Mr. Charlton (the consul for the Sandwich islands), twenty-six children, (twenty-one boys and five girls) have been born, twelve of whom died young. The following is a list of the residents at present. —

      Ten females belonging to Oahu; one female belonging to Guam; two female children of three and five years old, besides eighteen natives of Oahu that have run away from ships and will leave the Islands again the first opportunity.

      The following men-of-war have visited Port Lloyd: —

      August 3rd, 1837, H.M.S. Raleigh, Captain Quin, five weeks from Macao. December 23rd, 1838, H.M.S. Larne, Captain Blake, forty-five days from Macao. March 18th, 1845, Russian barque, Fertish, Captain Vonlurlasky, thirty-four days from Manila. September 9th, 1850, U. S. brigantine, Dolphin, Captain Page, thirty-one days from Manila.

      On August 9th, 1849, the schooner Louisa, Captain Hadley, and the cutter Maid of Australia, Captain Young, from Hong-Kong arrived, and on the 1lth, the Lorcha, Saint Andrew's, Captain Barker (as commander of the whole): they recruited and sailed on the 29th. On the 21st of September the Lorcha and the cutter returned, having experienced bad weather and requiring repairs: the settlers on the island gave them every assistance in their power to fit them for sea: after they were ready they first commenced plundering the natives of their live stock, salt provisions, oil, &c. They then commenced plundering the white people; they robbed Mr. Savory of about 2,000 dollars in cash and about 2,000 more in live stock, stores, oil, clothing and medicine: in fact, all they could get hold of — and what they did not want they broke and destroyed: Mr. Savory being obiiged to secrete himself in the bush for fear they would take his life. They also robbed Mr. Millichamp of his live stock, stores, money and clothing: in fact, they took whatever they could lay their hands on.

      A French whale ship (the Nile) arrived while they were here and nine of her men left her; Captain Barker furnishing them with arms to defend themselves and prevent the French Captain and Officers from taking them; and after the ship had sailed he received them all on board.

      On some of the settlers remonstrating with Captain Young of the cutter, he said he did not care what his people did, and did not care if they left the settlers with only a shirt and trowsers. They took away Mr. Savory's wife and another female with them, and sailed on January 9th, 1850, for San Francisco.

      On July 20th, 1850, arrived the brigantine Vanguard, Captain Richards, from Hong-Kong, bound to Stewart Island for Beche de la Mar; on the 4th of August she sailed, and after she got outside, the Captain in the night sent the boat on shore armed and stole one female from off the beach, and carried her away in the vessel. We understand their intention was to get two more females and carry them to Stewart Isle, where they were to be disposed of to the Chiefs for Beche de la Mar, as females are in great demand there.

      Captain Page of the Dolphin took the depositions concerning these outrages, and it is to be hoped that the perpetrators will be stopped in their career — and an example made that the idle and dissolute cannot prey upon the industrious now-a-day with impunity.

Source:

Captain R. C. Collinson.
"The Bonin Islands in 1851.—Port Lloyd."
      The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle,
Vol. 21, No. 3 (March, 1852)
pp.135-138.

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