At the Well –Massacre Site (Bikar) We then went to the well a bit further inland. Six men from a whaleboat party were killed in July 1793 (Ian Nicholson “Via Torres Strait”).They went ashore on July 1 (the same date the LMS landed and in the next bay). Eight men went ashore on 3 July and disappeared. On 10 July, a party of 44 men went ashore under the command of Mr Dell. Their first action was to hoist the Union Jack. This was the 3rd time in 23 years the island had been claimed for the British crown, Capt Bremer having done so in 1838. This was illegal as they were on a commercial vessel not a navy vessel. This was the first commercial passage through the Torres Strait by 2 British vessels – Shah Hormuzear commanded by M. W. Brampton and Chesterfield commanded by M.B. Alt. They found a dead body and, believing the rest of the party dead, they burned and destroyed 135 huts and 16 canoes and the sugar plantations. They killed a number of people. This is known as the Chesterfield massacre. It was a planned punitive expedition because of the murder of the sailors on their friendly visit ashore. The local people told missionaries in 1888 of a massacre dated around 1840 where the crew of a vessel were killed for washing in the well of Erub with soap and fouling the water supply. They had been given permission by the Erubians to drink the water but they washed on the edge of the well and some soap went in. When asked to stop (by sign language) they didn’t. Many Erubians lost their lives as a result, huts were burned and gardens destroyed and the village was never lived in again. As there is no evidence of another boat being here around at this time, both of these incidents may be the same incident.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 08:20:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015