infamous Buccaneer

Plea for Pacific’s lost infamous Buccaneer

The following letter, on February was addressed to the Editor of nth newspaper, Sydney, by the iitor of the Pacific Islands onthly: ORRY —but in the interests of I South Pacific history—and truth —I must protest against the mpilation which you published on bruary 13 under the title of “True ory of Buccaneer Bully Hayes.”

For my own amusement—and per ps for publication, some time —I ve over many years made a coi tion of “Hayesiana.” I do not ppose that any notorious char ier of the nineteenth century has leived a worse doing than Bully yes at the hands of irresponsible iters. I have scores and scores catchpenny articles on Hayes; i not one of them appears to be oily in accordance with facts, n the ’Thirties, I was able to buy ) unpublished manuscripts—one itten about 50 years ago by a [son (NZ) sea-c apt a i n who sonally knew Hayes, and one by ex-Navy officer who set himself, mt 1912, to compile the true story Hayes’s adventures, and who had d completed the task when he 5 dragged into World War I, and ed. Both presented an authentic T [ayes was a merry, hard-drink , unscrupulous rogue, who tidied innumerable deserving pie—especially shipowners!—but had some redeeming qualities, was a blackbirder—but no worse n hundreds of others—black iing was almost a respectable fession in those days. He was a 1 successful man with the ladies it no more successful than most us, in our secret hearts, would to be.

CADING his true history, one de plores his misdeeds—but some how feels a certain affection for incorrigible old ruffian. In his , he had many friends and well lers. nee he was murdered in 1877 (and r in the manner described in ■ article), countless persons have out to describe his lamentable er. Some of the bits and pieces accurate enough; most are dis sd; some are sheer imagination; e gives the complete story. And, tde by decade, Bully has become lacker character—until now we - the extraordinary picture of ality which you have published lich obviously is a combination he highlights from most of the sr publications, made by that t industrious researcher, Mr le.

But not one of them has re counted the extroardinary incident on the China Coast which started Bully off on his mad career of (to quote your clever alliteration) “Bigamy, barratry, bankruptcy, buc caneering and blackbirding in the South Seas.” That incident gives some key to his character and per formances, and probably explains his long and strange association with Captain Ben Pease.

The drawing with which you illus trated the article amused me. The central figure is not Dutch Peter, as you suggest—that is a copy of the well-known picture of Hayes himself as constructed by Norman Lindsay from several descriptions of Hayes, given by people who knew him. No photograph of Hayes ever was published. The figure on the right is an equally well-known drawing (this time, from life) of Louis Becke, who was briefly asso ciated with Hayes in the Elanora days, but who certainly was not pre sent when Hayes was killed. The other two figures are imaginary.

Bully was bad enough—but not nearly as bad as three generations

BEWHtelrs have made l&zk:

R. W.

Robson.