the wreck of the leonora: a memory of 'bully' hayes by louis becke

7/28/2019 The Wreck of the Leonora: A Memory of 'Bully' Hayes by Louis Becke

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The Wreck of the Leonora:

A Memory of 'Bully' Hayes

by Louis Becke

The brig Leonora, owned and

commanded by the notorious

Captain 'Bully' Hayes, has,

perhaps, been more written and

talked about than any other

vessel, except the Bounty, that

ever sailed the South Seas, and

her career was as eventful as

that of her captain. It was myfortune to fill the distinguished

position of supercargo to that

eminent gentleman for two
http://www.classicreader.com/author/354/http://www.classicreader.com/author/354/


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years, and, as may be imagined

by those who have read anything

of Hayes's strange life anddoings in the Pacific and the

China Seas, I found the berth a

remarkably curious one. How and

why I became supercargo to the

famous alleged pirate is another

story; but, in justice to 'Bully's'

memory, I may here at once say

that the man was notthe

remorseless ruffian that hisenemies and many writers of

tales of the South Seas have

painted him; furthermore, he was

one of the best sailor-men that

ever trod a deck. Had he lived inthe times of Drake or Dampier,

he would have been a hero, for


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he was a man born to command

and lead. Inter alia, he was also

clever with his fists, and my soulwas possessed of the deepest

admiration for him in this respect

from the very first day I stepped

on board the Leonora, in Milli

Lagoon, in the Marshall Islands,

for it was my privilege to see him

knock out three men, one after

another, in twice as many

minutes. These men were'toughs' from a New Bedford

whaler, and had been put ashore

at Milli Lagoon by their captain

as dangerous and useless

characters. They came on boardthe Leonora and asked 'Bully' to

ship them. He refused in such


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unnecessary language that the

leader of the three, in fatuous

ignorance of the man to whomhe was speaking, threatened to

'put a head on him'; whereupon

Hayes at once had the deck

cleared, and, taking them in turn,

knocked each man out in the first

round. Then he gave them a

glass of grog all round, a bottle

of arnica to cure the

malformations he had caused ontheir countenances, and sent

them ashore.

But this is not the story of the

wreck of the Leonora.

We had made Strong's Island

from Ponap, in the Western


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Carolines, to wood and water and

land some cattle, and for two

weeks we lay at anchor in thebeautiful harbour of Ll. We

found the island in a very

disturbed and excited state, for a

few weeks previously two

American sperm whalers had

touched at Ll and landed five

white men, with a retinue of

nearly one hundred savage

natives from Pleasant Island, anisolated spot situated in 0.25 S.,

and these people--white and

brown--so terrified the Strong's

Islanders that the old King

Togusa was in abject fear ofthem. We (Hayes and myself)

soon learnt their story, which


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was that they had been

compelled to fly for their lives

from Pleasant Island on accountof an engagement between the

various clans of that place. The

two chiefs under whose

protection these men lived had

been badly beaten, and the

victors gave the five white

traders a short notice to clear out

or be shot. They at once put to

sea in their several whale-boats,but when some three hundred

miles away from the island, on

their way to Ponap--the North

Pacific Cave of Adullam--they

were sighted and picked up bythe two whalers, the St

George and the Europa, the


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captains of which, not caring for

their company all the way to

Ponap, landed them at Strong'sIsland. They were now awaiting a

chance to continue their voyage

to Ponap in a passing whaler,

and in the meantime their

savage followers were harrying

the unfortunate Strong's

Islanders to death, robbing their

plantations, abducting their

women and knocking them aboutgenerally.

These wild people were the most

noisy and intractable lot of

natives I had ever seen, wearing

only a girdle of leaves around

their waists, and all armed with

Snider carbines and short


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stabbing knives made from

cutlasses broken in halves. But,

although they bullied the weakand effeminate Strong's

Islanders, they were yet very

obedient to their white masters,

to whom they were all more or

less related through the native

wives whom the traders had

married. The women were very

tall and handsome, and every bit

as handy with their knives as themen in a quarrel.

Hayes, of course, was well known

to both the white men and

natives, and at once began his

good offices by threatening to

open fire on the houses and

boats of the former if they did


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not at once cease to persecute

the king and his subjects. This

threat he made in the presenceand hearing of the king himself,

who was deeply grateful, and at

once said he would make him a

present of two tuns of oil. The

five hairy ruffians were

considerably startled at first; but

Hayes, I regret to say, turning to

one of them, named Pedro Diaz,

said in Spanish, 'Don't be scared,Peter. I'm not going back on you

fellows; but at the same time

you'll have to quit knocking these

poor devils about. So just go

ashore and take away yourpeople's rifles--it means a couple

of tuns of oil for me--its just as


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well in the hold of the Leonora as

in that of the missionary

brig Morning Star. Themissionaries would only promise

King Togusa credit in heaven. I'll

give him enough grog to keep

him drunk for a month of

Sundays on earth; and as he

never possibly could get to

heaven, I am treating him better

than the missionaries, who would

simply be obtaining his oil underfalse pretences.'

On the following day the king

sent off his gift of oil; the five

white men and he became

reconciled, and the abducted

Strong's Island women were

returned to their parents or


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husbands as a guarantee of good

faith. In the evening the traders

came on board and made anarrangement with Hayes to

proceed in the brig to Arrecifos

(Providence Island), a large atoll

to the north-west, of which Hayes

had taken possession. Here they

were to live as long as they liked,

paying Hayes a certain quantity

of coco-nut oil as tribute, and

resisting, by force of arms, anyattempt to take possession of the

atoll by the German trading

company of Godeffroy, should it

be made by any one of the three,

armed German brigs belongingto the firm, and then cruising in

the North Pacific.


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Two days later we bade farewell

to the old king and his pretty

young wife, Se, andthe Leonora sailed out of Ll.

We were first to call at South

Harbour, six miles to leeward,

where we were to take in yams,

pigs and other provisions for the

voyage to Providence Island, as

we had now over one hundred

additional people on board.

We ran out of Ll at daylight,and at seven o'clock in the

morning dropped our anchor in

fourteen fathoms in South

Harbour, or Utw,{*} as the

natives called it. As quickly as

possible the ship's boats, aided

by those belonging to the


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traders, set to work to bring off

the yams and pigs, for which, as

they were brought on deck bytheir native owners, I weighed

and paid. By dusk we had

finished, and I was just dressing

to go to supper aboard one of the

American whale-ships which

were lying near us, when the

trade wind, which had been lusty

enough all day, suddenly fell--a

very dangerous sign at thatseason of the year. In a few

minutes Hayes sent a boat over

to the whalers, telling the

captains that a blow was coming

on from the westward, andadvising them to clear out to sea.

But the American captains


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decided not to risk towing out

through the narrow passage; and

as they were in a much betterposition than theLeonora, they

did wisely, for in less than a

quarter of an hour a

mountainous swell began rolling

in, and it soon became evident

that even with our own four

boats, and the seven belonging

to the traders, we could not tow

out.* The Port Lottin of Dupurrcy.

As quickly as possible Hayes had

our royal and top-gallant yards

sent down, the boats slung in-board from the davits on the

deck, the Pleasant Islanders sent


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below, and every preparation

made to ride out the blow, which

we were in hopes would not lastmore than six hours or so. So far

not a breath of wind had come,

but the brig was rolling so badly

that we quite expected to see

her go over on her beam ends

and stay there. At sunset the air

was so close and oppressive that

one could scarcely breathe, and

the natives in the hold becamehalf suffocated, and could only

be kept down by the white

traders and some of our officers

threatening to shoot the first

man that tried to get on deck.Many of them, however,

besought to be allowed to swim


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ashore and remain till morning,

and Hayes told them they could

go. Some ten men and sixwomen at once came up; and,

although it was now dark, and

the sharks consequently much

more to be dreaded, sprang

overboard, and swam in towards

the native village of Utw.

For another twenty minutes or

more we remained anxiously

awaiting. The sky was as black aspitch, and there was now a

tremendously high sea, and the

din and thunder of the surf on

the reef a couple of cables'

length away was most appalling.

I had never heard anything like it

before, nor have I since; and the


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weird sound of the huge seas as

they tumbled and roared upon

the hollow crust of the reef mademy hair stand upon end like

priming wires. The tide was low,

and perhaps that had something

to do with the wild, resounding

clamour of the seas upon the

long line of reef; but there was a

strange humming note

underlying it all, which was new

to many of our ship's company,and seemed to fill even the rest

of the Pleasant Islanders who

remained on board with a sense

of dread, for they earnestly

besought Hayes to let themcome on deck, for, they said, 'the


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belly of the world was about to

burst.'

To this, most fortunately for

themselves, Hayes consented,

and in a few minutes they

swarmed up on deck, each man

carrying his Snider and cutlass-knife, and the women and

children loaded up with their

sleeping-mats and other gear.

Some of the women crawled

under the long boat, which waslying on the port side, and made

themselves comfortable; and the

men brought their arms to me to

stow in the trade room, for fear

of their getting wet, and then

returned to their white masters,


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who were grouped together on

deck.

Then, quite suddenly, the

jumping, tumbling sea began to

subside, and through the

darkness we heard the skipper of

one of the American whalers hailus.

'What are you, going to do,

Captain Hayes? I guess we're in a

pretty tight place. I'd try to towout if I could see the hole in the

wall. We're going to get it mighty

hot presently. It's coming on

fast.'

'That's so,' Hayes replied, with a

laugh; 'but we can't stop it. And,

say, look here, captain, as you


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fellows are lying further out than

I am, you might each start a cask

of oil to run when the seas beginto break. It won't help you much,

but it will me.'

The whale-ship captain laughed,

and said that he was afraid thathis six hundred barrels of oil

would start themselves if the sea

began to break--meaning that his

ship would go ashore.

The previous heavy rolling of the

brig had nearly made a wreck of

my trade room, for everything

had been jerked off the shelves,

and cases of liquor, powder,cartridges, concertinas and

women's hats, etc., were lying


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burst open on the floor; so,

calling a couple of native sailors

to help me, I was just goingbelow, when I heard Captain

Hayes's sharp tones calling out

to our officers to stand by.

From the north-west there camea peculiar droning, humming

sound, mingled with a subdued

crashing and roaring of the

mountain forest, which lay about

a quarter of a mile astern of us--the noise one hears when a

mighty bush fire is raging in

Australia, and a sudden gust of

wind adds to its devastation--and

then in another half a minute the

brig spun round like a top to the

fury of the first blast, and we


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were enveloped in a blinding

shower of leaves, twigs and salty

spray. She brought up to heranchors with a jerk that nearly

threw everyone off his feet, and

then in an incredibly short time

the sea again began to rise, and

the brig to plunge and take water

in over the bows and waist--not

heavy seas, but sheets of water

nipped off by the force of the

wind and falling on the decks indrenching showers.

Just as I was hurrying below,

Hayes stopped me.

'Don't bother about the traderoom. Get all the arms and

ammunition you can ready for


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the boats. I'm afraid that we

won't see this through. The

blubber-hunters are all right; butwe are not. We have to ride

short. I can't give her more than

another ten fathoms of cable--

there are a lot of coral boulders

right aft. If the wind hauls round

a couple of points we may clear

them, but it isn't going to; and

we'll get smothered in the seas

in another ten minutes--if thecables don't part before then.'

Seldom was a ship sent to

destruction in such a short time

as the Leonora. I had not been

five minutes in the main cabin

before a heavy sea came over

the bows with a crash, carried


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away the for'ard deckhouse,

which it swept overboard, killed

four people, and poured into thecabin. I heard Hayes call out to

the mate to give her another ten

fathoms of cable, and then,

assisted by half a dozen native

women and a young Easter

Island half-caste girl named Lalia,

wife to one of the five white

traders, began packing our arms

and ammunition into two or threestrong trade boxes. In another

chest we stowed the ship's

chronometers, Hayes's

instruments, and all the charts

upon which we could lay hands,together with about six thousand

silver dollars in bags, the ship's


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books and some silver plate. The

women, who were the officers'

and traders' wives, were fearfullyterrified; all but Lalia, who was a

fine, courageous girl. Taking a

cutlass from the rack in the cabin

she stood over them; and,

cursing freely in French, English,

Spanish and whalers' language,

threatened to murder every one

of them if they did not hurry. We

got the first box of arms safelyup the companion, and Hayes

saw it lowered into one of the

traders' whale-boats, which was

standing by under the stern.

Then, as a tremendous crashingsea came over the waist, all the


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women but Lalia bolted and left

us alone. Lalia laughed.

'That's the long-boat gone, sir;

and all those Pleasant Islands

women are drown, I hope--the

damned savage beasts, I hate

them.'* The Leonora carried four guns.

I learnt afterwards that the crash

was caused by the two guns on

the starboard side taking a run toport, and carrying away the port

ones with them over the side

through the bulwarks.{*} The

long-boat was washed overboard

by the same sea, but half a

dozen of our Rotumah Island

sailors had jumped overboard


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after her, and, using canoe

paddles, saved her from being

dashed on the reef. She wassoon brought alongside, fully

manned, and awaiting Hayes's

orders.

The captain now called to me tostand by to take charge of her,

when a second fearful sea came

over the waist, and fairly buried

the ship, and Hung, the Chinese

carpenter and myself were onlysaved from going overboard, by

being entangled in the falls of

one of the quarter-boats. As for

the long-boat, it was swept away

out of sight, but succeeded in

reaching the shore safely, with

the loss of one man.


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By this time the seas were

breaking over the brig with

terrible force, and when theycame over the bows they swept

her flush decks like a torrent.

Presently she gave such a

terrible roll to port that we

thought she was going over

altogether, and the third mate

reported that six four-hundred-

gallon water tanks, which were

stored in the 'tween decksamidships, had gone adrift to the

port side. Then Hayes told the

carpenter to cut away the masts.

A few slashes at the rigging, and

a couple of snicks at the sparsthemselves, sent the sticks over


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the side quick enough; the brig

stood up again and rode easier.

Meanwhile, the boat of one of the

traders named Terry--an old ex-

man-of-war's man--had come off,

manned by half a dozen of his

stalwart half-caste sons, andalthough it was still pitch dark,

and the din of the gale sounded

like fifty railway locomotives

whistling in unison, and the brig

was only revealed to the bravefellows by the white light of the

foam-whipped sea, they ran the

boat under the counter, and

stood by while a number of

women and children jumped, or

were pitched overboard, to them.


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These were quickly rescued, and

then that boat, too, vanished.

Again the wind lulled for about

five minutes, and Hayes and old

Harry Terry urged the rest of the

remaining women to jump

overboard and make for theshore, as the brig's decks were

now awash, and every third or

fourth sea swept along her, fore

and aft, with irresistible force.

One woman--a stout, powerfully-built native of Ocean Island--

whose infant child was lashed to

her naked back with bands of

coir cinnet, rushed up to the

captain, and crying, 'Kpeni, ka

mat a mat '--('Captain, if I die, I

die')--put her arms round his


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neck, rubbed noses with him,

and leaped over the stern rail

into the seething surf. She wasfound the next morning lying

dead on a little beach, having

bled to death from the wounds

she had received from the

jagged coral rocks, but the baby

was alive, for with her dying

hands the poor creature had

placed it under shelter, and

covered it over with grass andleaves, where it was found,

sleeping soundly, by a native

sailor.

There was not now the slightest

hope of saving the ship, unless

the sea went down; and Hayes,

who was as cool as if he were


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taking his morning coffee, told

the rest of the crew, who were

now all gathered together aft, toget ashore the best way they

could. Three of the white traders

were still aboard, awaiting the

return of their boats, which,

manned by their faithful Pleasant

Islanders, we now and again

could dimly discern, as they

appeared on the summit of the

heaving seas, waiting for achance to pull up astern and

rescue their masters.

There were still two chests full of

valuables in the main cabin to be

got on deck, and Lalia (sweet

Lalia), the young woman of

whom I have before spoken,


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although her husband had gone

ashore, refused to jump to the

boats, and said she would stayand help us to save them.

'Go, ashore, Lalia. Go to your

husband,' said Hayes, sternly

pushing her to the stern rail; 'heis an old man, and cannot come

off again in his boat for you.

Perhaps he is drowned.'

The girl laughed and said it wasall the better--she would get

another and a younger husband;

she would stay with the men on

board and not swim ashore with

the old women. Then she ranbelow. In a few minutes she

reappeared, with a fine powerful


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Pleasant Island native named

Karta, carrying our Chinese

steward, who was paralysed withdrink and terror. Hayes took the

man up in his arms and, seeing

one of the boats close to, threw

him overboard without further

ado. Then Lalia and I again went

below for another of the boxes,

and, aided by Karta, we had got

it half-way up the companion

ladder when the brig rose herstern high to a mountain sea,

and then came down with a

terrific crash on to a coral

boulder, ripping her rudder from

the stern post, and sending itclean through the deck. Lalia fell

backwards into the cabin, and


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the heavy chest slipped down on

the top of her, crushing her left

foot cruelly against thecompanion lining, and jamming

her slender body underneath.

Karta and myself tried hard to

free the poor tortured girl, but

without avail, and then some of

our Rotumah Island sailors,

hearing our cries for help, ran

down, and by our united

exertions, we got her clear, puther in the steward's bunk--as she

had fainted--and lugged the

chest on deck.

One of the traders' whale-boats

was lying close to, and the chest

was, by the merest chance,

dropped into her just as the brig


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came down again on the coral

boulder with a thundering crash

and smashed a big hole into hertimbers under her starboard

counter. In a few minutes she

began to fill.

'It's all up with her, boys,' criedthe philosophical 'Bully.' 'Jump

for the boats all of you; but wait

for a rising sea, or you'll get

smashed up on the coral. Bo'sun,

take a look round below, and seethat there are no more women

there. We must take care of the

women, boys.'

Karta, the brave PleasantIslander, a Manila man named

Sarro, and myself then went


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below for Lalia. She was sitting

up in the steward's bunk,

stripped to the waist, and onlyawaiting help to get on deck.

Already the main cabin had three

feet of water in it, and just as we

lifted the girl out, another sea

came in over deck and nearly

filled it; and with it came the

bruised and battered dead body

of a little native boy, who,

crouching up under the shelter ofthe companion, had been killed

by the wheel falling upon and

crushing him when the rudder

was carried away.

Half-drowned, we managed to

struggle on deck, Karta carrying

the girl, and the Manila man and


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I helping each other together.

The brig was now quite under

water for'ard, but her after partwas hanging on the coral boulder

under it, though every

succeeding sea rolled her from

side to side. Hayes snatched the

girl from Karta's arms just as the

ship lobbed over to starboard on

her bilge, then a thumping sea

came thundering down, and

swept the lot of us over thestern.

The poor Manila man was never

seen again--barring a small

portion of his anatomy; to wit, his

right arm and shoulder, the rest

having been assimilated by Jack

Shark. Hayes got ashore by


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himself, and the writer of this

narrative, with Karta, the

Pleasant Islander, and Lalia, thetrader's wife, came ashore on the

wreck of a boat that had been

carried on top of the after-deck

house.

We were all badly knocked

about. Karta had a fearful gash in

his leg from a piece of coral. This

he had bound up, whilst

swimming, with a strip of hisgrass-cloth girdle. Lalia, in

addition to her dreadfully

crushed foot, had her right arm

badly cut; and the writer was so

generally excoriated and done-

up that he would never have

reached the shore, but for the


40/41

gallant Karta and the brave-

hearted Lalia, who both held him

up when he wanted to let go anddrown quietly.

At dawn the gale had ceased,

and whilst we, the survivors of

the Leonora stood up andstretched our aching limbs we

saw, as we glanced seaward, the

two 'blubber hunters,' who had

ridden out the storm safely,

heave-up and sail through thepassage. I don't think either of

the captains was wanting in

humane feeling; but both were,

no doubt, very much afraid that

as 'Bully' Hayes had lost his ship,

he would not be particular about

taking another near to hand. And


41/41

they were quite correct. Hayes

and his third mate, some of the

white traders, and twenty or soof our crew were quite willing to

seize one of the whalers, and sail

to Arrecifos. But the Yankee

skippers knew too much of

'Bully,' and left us to ourselves

on Strong's Island; and many a

tragedy resulted, for the crew

and passengers of

the Leonora with some fewexceptions, were not particular

as to their doings, and mutiny,

treachery, murder, and sudden

death, were the outcome of the

wreck of the Leonora.

the wreck of the leonora: a memory of 'bully' hayes by louis becke

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