An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean : with an original grammar and vocabulary of their language
Description: The work is based on the life of William Mariner, who sailed on the Port au Prince, a privateer which attacked Spanish vessels in the Pacific. They landed at the Hapai Islands in Tonga in 1806, were attacked after a quarrel, and the ship was burnt and destroyed. Adopted by a Tongan chief, and given the name of chief's dead son, he spent four years learning the language and customs of Tonga until, in 1810, he hitched a passage home on an English boat. His account of life on Tonga, prepared for the press by John Martin, is 'considered the best report of Tongan life and culture before the arrival of Christianity' (Hill). There is a significant passage in the Mariner/Martin account relating to the voyage of the Bounty when Mariner visits the grave of John Norton in Tofua. Norton had been quarter-master on the Bounty, and sailed with Bligh on the open-boat voyage; he died helping wrest the boat free where it had gone aground during an affray.
Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: The work is based on the life of William Mariner, who sailed on the Port au Prince, a privateer which attacked Spanish vessels in the Pacific. They landed at the Hapai Islands…