The mystery was first unveiled in the United States
by the Daily Evening Traveller, of Boston, December 31, 1860, which reported the massacre
of most of the crew of the whaling schooner Henrietta
‘in the port of Buckatoo.’ (Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands) Captain Brown ‘had
his wife and two children on board’ and he and his wife escaped to the cabin, ‘where
they kept up a constant firing on the natives.’
Well, it did not quite happen like that. There
is a long description of the attack and its tragic outcome, taken from the
logbook, published in the Sydney Empire, 22 September 1860, page 5:
‘Thursday, June 7th,
1860, a.m., calm fine weather vessel lying at anchor at the island of Isabel in
the port of Buckatoo; at daylight pumped ship, washed decks, and sent the small
boat away for two casks of water; at eight a.m. boat returned; throughout the
forenoon several canoes came to the vessel, with little or nothing in them ; at
9 a.m. sent the long boat away with ten natives belonging to the vessel to cut
firewood; the small boat went in charge of the carpenter, to cut two spars, one
for the maintopmast, the other for a spare main gaff; saw them from the vessel
bring one spar down, and put in the water after that saw no more of the
carpenter, or four of the crew alive; one native having made his escape and
swam towards the vessel about noon, there being from forty to fifty natives of
the island on board with one of their chiefs; they made an attack to take the
vessel; there only being on board at the time the captain, his wife and two
children, myself, the cook, and four natives belonging to the ship, two of them
being down below at the time; they first of all laid hold of the captain and
attempted to heave him overboard, but he instantly broke loose from the whole
of them with the exception of the chief, who ' hung on' round his neck he managed
to get down the cabin, taking the chief with him.
'He laid hold of a musket,
which he fired over his shoulder at the chief, who still managed to keep at the
back of him, but without effect, the chief managing to keep the muzzle of the piece
clear of his body. The captain then got hold of a pistol, and presented it at
liim, which missed fire. I was at the forepart of the vessel at the time, and
knew nothing of it till I was laid hold of myself; it was done so quietly and quickly.
But, however, I broke loose from them also, and made my way for the cabin, through
the whole of them; managed to get down somehow, but how it is impossible for me
to say.
'The captain's wife was attacked by some of the natives that were aft,
but she broke loose from them also, and made her way for the cabin. She likewise
seized a gun, and put it to the chiefs breast, but the cap missed ; he then
made his escape on deck, and I believe overboard ; we fired at them, but to no
effect: the captain ordered the whaleboat to be hauled up; but happening to see
his little girl in the water, with a native hold of her towing, he then called
to two of' our own natives to jump over and bring his child back, which they
effected ; but the captain’ s little .boy (aged five years), we could not tell which
way he went, but have a strong idea that he was passed into a canoe as soon as
the captain was seized ; the boat being alongside, the four natives and myself
jumped in, with six muskets, powder, and ball, and gave chase to the men in the
water, and the canoes which they left on: the rest our men destroyed ; I fired
at two of them ; the one went down, and the other lay floundering on top of the
water ; we pulled up to him, when a native hove a spear at him, but he still
not going down, I ordered one of my men to jump overboard and hit him in the
head with a tomahawk, which he did, and he then went down ;
'I
re-loaded my guns, and then ordered long boat and crew to pull after the crew
of the small boat, while I laid outside of the reef, to protect their landing
in case of a surprise. They brought the small boat out, but all of her crew were
chopped in the head, and perfectly dead, one of them lying in the boat ; we
then pulled towards the vessel, dropped the boats astern, with the exception of
the whale boat, which we kept for the purpose of towing, with the wind very
light. This contains the first twelve hours of Thursday on account of
commencing the sea log.
'Friday,
June 8th, 1860. — Immediately on our return to the vessel, manned the windlass,
and hove the anchor up, made sail, and worked out of the harbor ; at two p.m.
hoisted the boats on
board, so that they would not impede the vessel's progress. At four p.m.
cleared the harbor, hoisted
the whaleboat up, stowed anchors and put chains below, stood towards Cape Marsh
throughout the night, wind very light.
'Saturday, June 7th,
1860, p.m. — Light winds and calm weather, standing in for Bussel's Island. At
4 p.m several large canoes came off; at last the chief came off, whom tin!
captain wanted to go across to Buckatoo, to see if he could purchase his little
boy. He held out every inducement, and
tho chief said he Would send across, and for the vessel to return in two or
three days, which we did, but did not get the child.
— Signed, John Brown, master,
Alfred Waugh, mate.
The account then goes on — 'On the return of the canoes
which the chief sent to Buckatoo the natives informed us that the boy was alive
and well, and that there was no danger of his being killed, but they were
unable to recover him.'
Thus,
though the survivors were able to save the captain’s little girl, who was in
the water, his small son was captured and taken away in a canoe. He was just five years old.
And there was more news: A letter dated 7 December
1860 published in the Empire 19 January 1861 and written by Brown
suggested the Henrietta was condemned at Port de France leaky as Brown related he now has no ship. And the Sydney Mail, 2 February 1861, record positive information that Captain Brown's son, taken out of the
Henrietta by the natives, had been accidentally drowned in a
canoe.
# # #
The extract from the log had been released to the papers by the Rev. John Dunmore Lang, who had written to
the Sydney authorities pleading official rescue of the little boy. This had had no success, which was why he
made the affair public. Rev. Lang, according
to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, was a Scottish Presbyterian
minister who agitated for many worthy causes. He arrived in Sydney in 1823,
and established the first Presbyterian ministry there, something that was greatly welcomed by the
Scottish inhabitants of the bustling port, who gave him substantial support –
one of whom was Captain John Brown. For Brown, it seemed that the minister
was the right person to plead his case, which was why he sent him the log
extract, accompanied by a letter.
The Rev. Lang wrote his own
letter to the papers, with the log extract attached. It was addressed to the
editor of the Empire, and began, ‘Sir, permit me to request the
sympathies of your readers (and especially those who may have it in their power
to assist in any way in rescuing an unfortunate fellow creature from the hands
of the bloodthirsty natives of one of the islands of the Western Pacific) in
behalf of the unhappy parent whose case it detailed in the subjoined extract of
the log of the schooner Henrietta.
‘Captain Brown, the master
of the vessel, having been married by me to his present wife a good many years
since, addressed to me a letter, which I received in the early part of last
month, enclosing the relevant extract from the log of his vessel: requesting me
to bring the case under the notice of the authorities here, with the view to
some effort being made by them for the rescue of his son, who has unfortunately
been carried off by the natives of one of the Solomon Isles, and is now
supposed to be in captivity in their hands. Captain Brown was lying unwell in
Port de France, New Caledonia, and his vessel was in a leaky state.’
From
this, it is perhaps possible to establish the identity of Captain John Brown,
by looking up the list of marriages conducted by Rev. Lang. There are three grooms
named Brown on the list, but only one John – John Brown, who married 16-year-old
Caroline Cubitt at Scots Kirk, Sydney, on 19 June 1829.
The
marriage details reveal that Caroline had been born in 1813, the daughter of Daniel
and Maria Ann Cook of Sydney, while John Neathway Brown had been born in 1797,
so was twice his bride’s age. In 1830 they had a daughter, Caroline Matilda
Neathway Brown, who died three years later. Another daughter, Elizabeth
Neathway Brown, was born in 1836, and then a third, Mary
Ann Neathway Brown, in 1838. Margaret
was born in 1841, and Lucy Ann in 1843, then finally a
son, John Henry Neathway Brown, in 1847. Sadly, he died in infancy. A second
son, Samuel, was born in 1849, then Thomas Neathway Brown was born in 1855.
Being five years old in 1860, it seems apparent that Thomas was the little boy
who was carried away by the natives. Though not known which of the daughters
was on board the schooner during the attack, it was probably Lucy Ann, who was
seventeen at the time. The other
daughters, Elizabeth (24), Mary Ann (22, married to James Devine), and Margaret
(19) were old enough to look after the family property while the parents were
away, with 13-year-old Samuel to assist.
Back in
1831, John Neathway Brown had invested in a 100-acre property at Botany Bay and
built a fine two-storey home, known as Boomerang House. According to the
official records, he was known as Mr. John Brown, Market Gardener, which makes
his foray in the schooner Henrietta mysterious. The logbook indicates
that he was trading for something or other from the natives, which may have
been tropical produce, such as coconuts, that he intended to sell on his farm. It was also the
blackbirding era, where natives were enticed on board Australian vessels,
captured, and carried off as indentured labor, so there is a remote chance that
he was looking for farmhands, though this seems unlikely, considering his
Presbyterian background. It is also possible that he intended to top up his
fortune by whaling.
The
schooner had a long history of whaling, leaving London first in August 1830,
and finally recorded leaving that port in 1858, with Captain Brown in command. He
had either been appointed by the owners, Wilson & Co., or had bought the Henrietta
on his own account. Whatever the reason, it proved to be a fatal choice.
John
Neathway Brown died not long after the disaster, in March 1865, and is buried
in St. Peter’s Cooks River Cemetery in Botany Bay. A direct descendant of his is the
Australian actor Bryan Brown (Breaker Morant). According to the inquest, John's body was discovered
by his daughter Mary Ann. She went
upstairs to check on him and found him collapsed by the side of his bed. She ran downstairs to fetch her sister,
Elizabeth, who inspected the body and declared him dead. Dr. McKellar, who had
attended him for 15 years, testified that Mr. Brown had been complaining of
dizziness. The conclusion was that he
had died of an apoplexy, and the verdict was death by natural causes.
Mary
Ann, who had married in 1856, died in 1859, adding to the family tragedy. What happened to Caroline is unknown.
Newspaper
references as cited; whalinghistory.org; list of marriages performed by Rev.
Lang: https://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/cjsmee_database/sks_m_4t.htm;
description of property at Botany Bay and Captain Brown’s death is at: https://www.bayside.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-06/Horton_Robert.pdf;
throughout the record John Neathway Brown is referred to as Mr. Brown, indicating
that he was considered a gentleman. Records have Thomas Neathway Brown
surviving until 1899, though without documentation, and obviously this is wrong,
as he was the little boy who drowned when in captivity.
