Undesirable

Tonga’S First White Settlers Were Highly

By John W. Earnshaw

(So far as we know, this article con tains some hitherto unrecorded early history of Tonga. The material was found and assembled by Mr. John Earnshaw, of 16 Lord St., Roseville, Sydney, while doing some research work.

WHEN the Boston vessel “Otter” sailed from Sydney in February, 1796, bound for the north-west coast of America, she carried away 21 convicts from the settlement. The runaways in cluded not only criminals with their natures hardened and embittered by the severity of their treatment in New South Wales, but also a Scottish intellectual who had been exiled for a political offence, and a young woman who was known as “Jane Lambert”. She was probably the first white woman to cross the Pacific from Australia to America.

A leading spirit amongst the convicts was Benjamin Ambler, a Londoner, who in 1787, at the age of 14, was sentenced at Old Bailey to 14 years’ transportation for attempted theft. The evidence against him was flimsy, and what might have been a youthful escapade certainly did not warrant the savage sentence he received.

He arrived in Sydney with the Second Fleet after suffering terrible hardships on the outward voyage. Nothing is known of his servitude in New South Wales.

Bearing away eastward, the “Otter” entered the Tongan Group on March 8, and was the first trader to visit those islands. For the next eight days the ship cruised cautiously northward, lying

to off various islands while the ship’s company bartered for food and enjoyed the amenities that were customary in these early voyages.

The enchantment of their novel surroundings, and the prospect of a life of ease and freedom in this remote spot, were too much for men fresh from the hardships and miseries of a penal settle

ment. Six of them secretly left the vessel to establish themselves on the island on Tongatabu. These were Ambler, Morgan and Connelly (both Irish) and three others, unnamed. The “Otter” then sailed away to the North American coast, where she was the first United States vessel to enter a Californian port.

THE isolation of the firsti, European settlers in Tonga was soon broken.

Later in the same year a second American vessel arrived off the island, and picked up the three unnamed convicts.

It was most probably the “Hope”, of Rhode Island, then on her second voyage to the South Seas.

A year passed and in April, 1797, the “Duff” arrived in Tonga, with the first missionaries for these islands. They were astonished to find whites already settled there; and, although Ambler disclaimed any connection with Botany Bay, they received his garbled story with suspicion.

However, Ambler’s knowledge of the language and native customs was too valuable to be disdained, and he assisted to establish the ten missionaries in various districts on Tongatabu.

It was not long, however, before Ambler and his cronies were harassing the missionaries in every way; stealing their goods and inciting the natives against

them at every opportunity. Thus matters continued until August, 1797, when the “Duff” returned from Tahiti. Fearful for the consequences should the convicts be allowed to remain in Tonga, Captain Wilson decided to seize them and hand them over to the authorities at the first opportunity.

Ambler and Morgan evaded this in tention, and only Connelly was carried away. He escaped shortly afterwards by swimming ashore at Satawal, in the Caroline Islands, On October 6 the “Mercury”, of Rhode Island, arrived off the island. She was commanded by a Scotchman, Robert

Garden, and came from Port Jackson via Dusky Sound (New Zealand) where she had picked up some of the crew of the transport “Endeavour”, who had been marooned in that isolated spot for over a year.

Garden was asked to remove Ambler and Morgan, who were causing increas ing trouble to the missionaries. He refused, saying that he knew of their Botany Bay reputation; and, to make matters worse for the missionaries, he landed seven more men from his ship These were David Sherlock, Andrew Francis, Peter Knight, Thomas Wasel, Benjamin Burnham, Peppy (a Hawaiian), and an elderly man named Beak. This gave Tonga, at the end of 1797, a white population of nine beachcombers and ten missionaries.

With the exception of Beak, the new comers threw in their lot with Ambler and -Morgan, who continued to torment the missionaries in every possible way.

The latter were further embarrassed when one of their number, George Veeson, adopted the native way of life and took several wives.

DURING 1798, civil war broke out be tween rival chiefs, and was carried on with great ferocity during that and the following year. During the struggle, three of the missionaries, Bowell, Harper and Gaulton, together with Burn ham, from the “Mercury”, were killed by one of the native factions. Morgan had parted from Ambler and had gone to Vavau, where he was put to death for brutally violating a chief’s daughter.

In January, 1800, the British privateer “Betsy”, accompanied by her Spanish prize “El Plumier”, arrived at Tonga and carried away Beak, and six of the re maining missionaries, to Sydney.

Of the six original whites who landed from the “Otter” it remains only to record the end of Ambler, the last, and their leading spirit. In September, 1799, Ambler was at Ahifu, where he spoke disrespectfully to the chief “Vakassor”, who retaliated by having him killed.

Ambler’s only epitaph is contained in a manuscript letter, written by one of the missionaries who escaped in the “Betsy”.

After describing the convict’s end, with evident satisfaction, he grimly concludes, “Venegance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord”.