A Modern Buccaneer Part 24

It is requested that these papers be returned in order that they may be sent to the Foreign Office.--I am, etc.

(Signed) ROBERT HALL.

The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.

Admiral Cochrane to the Admiralty.

_Repulse_ AT CALLAO, _28th February 1875_.

SIR,--I have the honour to forward for the information of their Lordships a copy of correspondence which I have received from Commodore Goodenough, commanding the Australian Station.

2. The correspondence has reference to the very irregular conduct of a master of a trading brig lately wrecked. The master is believed to be an American.

3. Commodore Goodenough requested that the doc.u.ments containing evidence tending to substantiate the charges against the said master should be forwarded to the American admiral commanding the North Pacific Station. The islands where the occurrences referred to took place are not included in the Pacific Station.--I am, etc.

(Signed) A. A. COCHRANE.

Rear Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.

H.M.S. _Repulse_, CALLAO, _28th February 1875_.

SIR,--I have the honour to forward for your perusal copies of correspondence I have received from Commodore Goodenough in command of H.M. ships on the Australian Station, relative to the highly irregular proceedings of a master of a vessel trading among the South Sea Islands. He is believed to be an American citizen.

I should be much gratified if circ.u.mstances enable you to cause inquiry into the subject of the charges enumerated.--I have, etc.

(Signed) A. A. COCHRANE.

Rear Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.

Circular.

DOWNING STREET, _13th May 1875_.

SIR,--I have the honour to transmit to you copies of a correspondence with the Board of Admiralty respecting the proceedings in the South Seas of W. H. Hayston, a United States'

subject, and master of the late American brig _Leonora_. In connection with the lawless conduct of Hayston, as reported in the papers now transmitted, I beg to refer you to my predecessor's Circular Despatch of 22nd December 1875, relating to the proceedings in the case of the _Atlantic_, and I desire to express my entire concurrence in the hope expressed by Lord Kimberley, that no opportunity may be lost of bringing the man to trial.--I have, etc.

CARNARVON.

To the Officer administering the Government of Queensland.

Proceedings of H.M.S. _Rosario_ in the South Sea Islands.

Criminal acts of Mr. W. H. Hayston, master of the brig _Leonora_.

H.M.S. _Pearl_, _16th November 1874_.

SIR,--I have the honour to enclose for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, a Report and various papers furnished to me by Commander Dupont of H.M.S. _Rosario_, concerning a Mr. William H. Hayston, master of the late American brig _Leonora_.

2. This Mr. Hayston has long been known among the Pacific Islands as a collector of produce, and has the reputation of defrauding natives and lifting produce collected by other traders. He has been spoken of in correspondence between this and the Chinese Station as "the notorious Captain Hayston," but hitherto no evidence on which he could be convicted of any piratical act has been brought before me.

3. It seemed possible that Commander Dupont, while cruising in H.M.S. _Rosario_ among the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, and watching the labour traffic, might be able to gather some evidence which would enable him to detain this person, who is doing much harm among the islands. A copy of my orders to Commander Dupont is enclosed.

4. Commander Dupont seems only to have obtained the evidence which he desired against Hayston after he had learned of his escape, and he is satisfied from inspection of Hayston's papers that he is an American citizen.

5. Commander Dupont brought away with him from Strong's Island the crew of Hayston's vessel, the _Leonora_, which was wrecked there in March last, and also one Hilary Telfer, who had proceeded from Samoa to Mill as supercargo of a vessel called the _E. A. Wilson_, and belonging to the sons and daughters of Mr. Wilson, H.M. Consul from Samoa.

6. This Mr. Telfer carried with him from Samoa orders from Mr.

Wilson to put the _E. A. Wilson_ and the cargo into Hayston's hands to be sold, and in course of business appears to have become so mixed up in Hayston's affairs, that the latter made him his agent and entrusted him with letters to all his subordinate agents, informing them that he had been seized by the _Rosario_ for conveyance to Sydney.

7. I was in Samoa in H.M.S. _Pearl_ in November 1873. The ketch _E. A. Wilson_ was then there under repairs. Mr. S. D. Wilson told me nothing of his intentions regarding the vessel, but gave me to understand that Mr. Hayston was a great rascal, who had cleverly outwitted all inquiries. He offered to obtain evidence from a half-caste, and at my desire took the statements (which proved valueless) on oath. Yet on December 3, 1873, he enters into communication with this man, against whom he had pretended to give me information.

8. I consider the whole affair as most unsatisfactory, even regarding Mr. Wilson as a trader. In the position of Her Majesty's Acting Consul, I consider that he has been guilty of improper behaviour, rendering him unworthy to occupy such a position. The desirability of appointing a non-trading Consul in Samoa has already been pointed out by both myself and my predecessor on this Station.

9. The papers I enclose concerning Hayston will ill.u.s.trate the life of a modern South-Sea filibuster.--I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,

JAMES G. GOODENOUGH, Captain and Commodore, 2nd Cla.s.s, Commanding Australian Station.

To the Secretary.

Enclosure No. 2.

H.M.S. _Rosario_, AT SEA, Lat. 2 26' N., Long. 167 19' E., _10th October 1874_.

SIR,--With reference to Mr. Hayston, master of the American brig _Leonora_, I beg to forward the following statement of facts relative to him that I have been able to collect among the different islands visited during my present cruise:--

1. There can be no doubt but that Mr. Hayston is a shrewd, unprincipled man, who has committed acts of violence towards the natives, and been guilty of unjustifiable acts towards other persons. Yet, so greatly has his name got to be feared, by both natives and white men on the islands, that, though it was evident that at nearly all the islands I visited he was well known, it was impossible to find out much about him.

2. With respect to Mr. Dunn's business, what evidence I could get was mainly in Hayston's favour, and tended to show that Dunn's agents had sold the trade to Hayston instead of his taking it. This is certainly the case as regards an Englishman named George Winchcombe, whom I found living on Nukufutau, one of the Ellice group. He himself stated to me that he left Sydney with Dunn, in the understanding that he was to be found at a station on one of the islands. He complained that Dunn treated him badly on board, and eventually sent him on sh.o.r.e on the island of Apaiari (Gilbert group) to collect trade. He was dissatisfied with his life, much in dread of the natives, and on Hayston's coming there in the beginning of 1873, he begged him to take him off the island, and offered to sell him all the trade he had collected. Hayston accordingly took him. At another island, Tarawa, the only white resident had heard that some trade had been removed by Hayston, but was not on the island at the time. At other islands I heard things relative to Dunn's property, but could get nothing but hearsay evidence. I could not find a single individual, either white or native, who could furnish me with any positive evidence or proof against Hayston.

On entering Chabral harbour (Strong's Island) Mr. Hayston, as I have reported in my letter of proceedings, came out to meet the ship in a boat. He told that his vessel had been wrecked in South harbour of the island on the 15th of March this year, since which date he had been living on sh.o.r.e collecting oil.

Mr. Morland, an American missionary, who had just arrived from Ebon Island, and numerous white men--the late crew of the _Leonora_--were also there. A schooner under the German flag, Mr. Miller an Englishman master, lay in the harbour. I commenced making inquiries as quietly as possible about Hayston, but here, as at other places, I met with disinclination from all traders to tell me anything they might know; Mr. Miller, though hinting that Hayston had robbed him not long since, would at first say nothing, nor was it till after considerable persuasion and the delay of some days that I got the enclosed statement, with the various witnesses in the matter, from him.

But as he was sailing under German colours, I could not believe my duty was to do more than receive the statements and forward it through you to the German Consul in Sydney.

Hayston, apprised by some of the crew of the inquiries that had been made, left the island in a boat on the night of the 27th.

His design was, I believe, either to make the island of Ascension or that of Pingelap. At their own request, and also considering it a good thing for the island to be rid of them, I took five of the crew of the _Leonora_ on board for pa.s.sage to Sydney, and also one other person who had been a pa.s.senger on board, and also, from what I could hear, a great friend of Hayston. This Hilary Telfer was the person who had been sent by Mr. Wilson, British Consul at Samoa, as supercargo of the ketch that I met at Mill, but leaving his charge there, had gone to sea with Hayston and been with him since January. I deemed it advisable that he should be removed, there being no chance of his getting back to Mill from Strong's Island, and also because the chief particularly desired his removal, as being likely to stir up trouble in the island. These six persons are now on board.

I visited Mr. Hayston's residence at South harbour; he had made a regular settlement of it, and had collected a large quant.i.ty of oil. No less than five young women were living in his house, who had all with one exception been living on board the _Leonora_. That vessel was sunk in fourteen fathoms, her topmast head a few feet above water.

The first mate I left on the island, recommending him to take charge of Hayston's property. The second mate, William Hicks, ran away into the bush and couldn't be found, otherwise I should have taken him to Sydney with the others. Thinking the case over quietly afterwards, I cannot see how I could have arrested Hayston. It is, therefore, with great regret that I am obliged to report my failure to collect sufficient evidence against him to warrant my doing so. The case of Mr. Dunn must have failed from want of such evidence.--I have, etc., etc.

A. E. DUPONT, Commander.

To Commodore J. G. Goodenough, H.M.S. _Pearl_.