Tongan Update, February 1, 2009 "Shiver Me Timbers!"
This Update is dedicated to Luke, our six year old grandson, who is intrigued with pirates.
Alright, all me hearties! This is a true tale of a bonnie lad named William Mariner who, at the age of fourteen, was solicited onto a English private ship of war, the Prince au Port. The year be 1805. It was unbeknownst to Mariner that the men aboard the vessel were out to plunder and pillage any defenseless ship on the seas and split the captured ships’ booties. The young boy, thinking he was on a whaling expedition, was hired on as the buccaneers’ clerk.
After many days at sea, it was rumored among the men on the Prince au Port that two South whaler boats were captured by the Spaniards and were being detained in a South American bay. These ships were said to ‘man no guns, nor any batteries’ and were full of contraband goods. At dusk the pirates raised an American flag and silently slithered into the bay. They succeeded in boarding one of the whalers, overthrowing the Spaniards, cutting the cables securing the ship, and they started to tow her out of the bay. Blimey, as luck would have it, the winds ceased, and the waters became calm. The Prince au Port was like a sitting duck. The cannons and muskets firing from the shoreline fort were taking their toll on the wounded vessel. The buccaneers had to relinquish their prize, and the Prince au Port limped out into the open waters. “Ye won’t get away with this!” one pirate cursed at no one in particular.
True to the pirate’s words, the Prince au Port terrorized the waters around the tip of South American and into the Pacific Ocean. Many a ship was seized; many a sailor was made to ‘walk the plank’; many a bounty was gained. “Arrr!” But… the heavens placed a ‘black spot’ (curse) on the crew members as the unaware ship pulled into Ha’apai Harbour. The Tongan war chief, Finau ‘Ulukalala II, and his 400 warriors were lying in wait for just such a ship as this. With clubs swinging the Tongans swarmed the Prince au Port and slaughtered everyone on deck. Fortunately for William Mariner, he scurried down into the bilge (the lowest level of a ship usually filled with filthy water) and hid. He was eventually discovered and dragged from his hiding place. Thinking they were going to kill him, William feared for his well-being. He was brought before Finau, and was happily surprised that a nobleman and war chief like Finau would preserve his life instead of sentencing him to death.
The Prince au Port was ransacked of all its cannons and weaponry. The captain’s chair was brought on shore and given to Finau. Once all items of value were taken off the ship, it was run aground, and then set on fire. The pirates had met their fates—dead men tell no tales!
The ‘yo ho ho’ pirate days were over for William. He now found himself captive on a tiny island surrounded by hundreds of miles of water, and the natives didn’t particularly like him. They spit on him, starved him, and even plotted to kill him. Mariner made plans to escape, but they never materialized. So for four years he lived with the Tongans—learning their language and their culture. But it was only because the powerful Finau had taken a liking for him that he survived at all.
‘Toki Ukamea or Iron Axe (William’s Tongan name) had knowledge about things that totally captivated Finau. He knew how to fire the cannons which were taken from the Prince au Port, and he also knew how to send messages by using come crazy coding system. ‘Ulukalala II wanted to discover the secret to this magic.
For eleven years Finau had been taking raiding parties by canoes to Tongatapu and had been waging war against the people who lived in the fort at Nuku’alofa; and for eleven years he had failed in this quest. But with the knowledge and use of the cannons, Fort Nuku’alofa was destroyed in a couple of hours. Finau now ruled, and it was the beginning of civil war on this Pacific island kingdom as Finau introduced the terror of his newly-acquired cannons.
‘Ulukalala II witnessed another magical feat when Mariner picked up a stick and etched the word ‘Finau’ into the sand. The warrior king asked what the funny things in the sand meant. William replied that it said, “Finau.” The warrior looked surprised and called over another close-by plangi and asked him what the funny stuff in the sand was. The reply was the same, “It says your name, Finau.” “No way, that’s me?”
Still unbelieving, he asked a third plangi was it was. The same answer, “It says Finau.” Finau just couldn’t understand how a bunch of drawings could mean something. He wondered how the men could decode the mysterious symbols, and he tested the Englishmen on several different words. Mariner was proving to be a helpful aid to Finau ‘Ulukalala in more ways than one. Therefore, William was allowed many privileges like owning land and having a few common underlings to serve him.
One day Mariner paddled in his canoe to a small island not far from Ha’apai. He discovered an European vessel whilst on this fishing excursion. He was so excited to think that escape was close at hand that when he approached the ship, he jumped onto the main chains anchoring it. The sentinel on guard the brig, thinking that Mariner was a warring native, nearly knocked him overboard. William yelled out that he was an Englishman…… his days in Tonga came abruptly to an end.
What’s the point of this epic?...just a little history, mateys…
‘Ofa ‘atu, Elder and Sister Thompson
