The Shining Sea (34 page)

This first encounter with what the
Essex
men most wanted from the Marquesans prompted Porter to reflect on the island's young women. They were “willing to gratify every wish,” he wrote in his journal:

Intercourse with strangers is not considered by them criminal, but on the contrary, attaches to them respect and consideration. . . . If there was any crime, the offence was ours, not theirs: they acted in compliance
with the customs of their ancestors; we departed from those principles of virtue and morality, which are so highly esteemed in civilization. . . . Everyone saw an opportunity to indulge himself, which had not for a long time presented itself; and all were determined to take advantage of it, at all hazards, even at the risk of violating every principle of subordination and obedience to orders. The women were inviting in their appearance, and practiced all the bewitching language of the eyes and features, which is so universally understood; and if an allowance can be made for a departure from prudential measures, it is when a handsome and sprightly young girl of sixteen, whose almost every charm exposed to view, invites to follow her. Such was the case with the party with me: they abandoned prudence and followed only the dictates of nature.

Porter anchored off Ua Huka for the night, where five of his prizes joined him, one at a time. Heavy rains and squalls poured down as they dropped their hooks. At daylight Porter was on the move, traveling with the prizes thirty miles west to Nuku Hiva, situated at 9° south latitude and 139° 60' west longitude. At 127 square miles in area, it was the largest and most important of the twelve islands in the archipelago. Porter called it Madison's Island, after his president.

CHAPTER

16

N
UKU
H
IVA

E
ARLY IN THE MORNING ON
O
CTOBER
25, P
ORTER ENTERED
Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva's magnificent harbor in the center of its picturesque southern coast. He was awestruck by its splendor, as everyone was when they first saw it.
“No description can do justice to its beauty,” Herman Melville declared.
Robert Louis Stevenson was just as enthralled when he first viewed it. “The land heaved up in peaks and rising vales”; he wrote, “it fell in cliffs and buttresses; its color ran through fifty modulations in a scale of pearl and rose and olive; and it was crowned above by opalescent clouds. The suffusion of vague hues deceived the eye; the shadows of clouds were confounded with the articulations of the mountains; and the isle and its unsubstantiated canopy rose and shimmered before us like a single mass.”

Porter renamed Taiohae as Massachusetts Bay. Deep and spacious, with good landing places, it appeared entirely safe for ships. Pleasant villages were situated near white-sand beaches, the houses interspersed among coconut trees. The valleys looked highly cultivated and thickly settled. At either side of the bay's narrow entrance were two rocks that stuck up high out of the water just off shore, appearing to guard the entrance. Stevenson described them as “the gross statuary of nature.” The
natives called them Mataou and Motou-Nui. Porter labeled them East Sentinel and West Sentinel.

After looking into the bay and experiencing winds that at one moment blew fresh and the next vanished, Porter dropped anchor at Taiohae's entrance, until he had a better idea of the bay's characteristics. Later, after he became better acquainted with them, he was completely won over. Despite the baffling winds, he found the bay perfectly suited to his needs, in fact, one of the finest harbors in the world, free from danger, with a depth of water from four to fourteen fathoms and a clear sandy bottom.
Essex Junior
joined him at the entrance to Taiohae later in the day, but she was alone; Downes had been unable to find the British merchantman
Mary Ann
.

Before Downes arrived, Porter had a surprise. The
Essex
was in the process of dropping anchor when a small boat approached with three odd-looking men on board. Porter sensed trouble. He thought they were deserters of one kind or another and up to no good. One of them was naked except for a loincloth and had a heavily tattooed body. He looked as if he had been so long on Nuku Hiva that he had become a native, although he clearly wasn't one. The other two men were deeply tanned, had scraggly hair running down their backs, and long unkempt beards. They attempted to approach and talk, but Porter would not let them near the ship, and they swung back toward the beach. While they did, canoes filled with natives put out from shore and paddled toward the frigate. The three strange men met them, conversed briefly, and then, to the surprise of Porter and his officers who were watching the whole scene with their spyglasses, the canoes turned around and accompanied the three disheveled strangers back to shore.

Porter was apprehensive about what was happening, and his uneasiness grew when he saw more natives gathering on the beach with clubs, slings, and spears. Nonetheless, he was determined to go ashore and establish communications, which he assumed the three unknown men had prejudiced. Prepared for a hostile reception, he ordered four boats lowered with armed sailors and marines, and set off for the beach. As Porter approached land, the natives abandoned the beach, but when his boat ran up on the hard sand, one of the suspect men boldly approached Lieutenant McKnight. When the man got closer, McKnight, to his amazement, recognized him.
The stranger turned out to be a former shipmate, John Minor Maury, from an old Virginia family, and what's more, he was a midshipman in the United States Navy.

Porter was astonished, but more than a little pleased. He was in desperate need of experienced officers, and Maury appeared to be a likely candidate. Porter listened intently as Maury explained how a run of bad luck had left him and his friend John Baker stranded on Nuku Hiva for months. Two years earlier Maury had left the United States on furlough from the navy with Lieutenant William Lewis in the merchant ship
Pennsylvania Packet
bound for Nuku Hiva to obtain a boatload of sandalwood. Lewis intended to trade the lumber in Canton (Guangzhou), China, where a shipload, which could be purchased from the Taiohae for ten whale's teeth, fetched a million dollars.

After several months' work, Lewis sailed to Canton with a full load, leaving Maury and four men to organize another shipload in anticipation of Lewis's return two months later. Unfortunately, the War of 1812 intervened, and British warships blockaded all American vessels trading at Canton. Lewis was trapped, and Maury stranded. He had no way of knowing why Lewis did not return. Only when the
Essex
arrived did he find out what had happened.

During Maury's first months on Nuku Hiva, he and hi
s crew had had a rough time of it. Although the tribe on the beach (the Taiohae) was friendly, the enemies of the Taiohae, attacked from time to time, and three of Maury's men were eventually killed. To protect themselves, Maury and Baker used four coconut trees growing in close proximity to build a tree house, creating secure quarters accessible only by a retractable rope ladder.

When Maury saw the
Essex
sail into the bay, he thought his time of torment was over. Porter's initial rebuff surprised and disheartened him, but he was determined to try again. He and Baker retreated to their tree-house, and kept a sharp eye on the beach, looking for their chance. It came soon after Porter landed, when Maury, to his great relief, recognized McKnight and rushed out to identify himself.

Maury lost no time asking Porter if he could join him, and Porter quickly agreed, provided Lieutenant Lewis did not return before the
Essex
left. Maury was appointed first officer aboard
Essex Junior
, and he proved
to be of enormous help, orienting Porter to the very different ways of the islanders, and helping him establish a relationship with Chief Gattanewa, the elder of the Taiohae (or Taeehs, as Porter called them).

The tattooed man who had accompanied Maury earlier turned out to be an Englishman named Wilson. He ingratiated himself with Porter, and since he spoke the language of the Marquesans like a native, Porter used him as an interpreter. Much of Porter's communication with the islanders went through Wilson. Porter thought of him as an inoffensive, honest, good-hearted fellow, well disposed to render every service in his power. Wilson's only failing was a strong attachment to rum.

W
HEN
P
ORTER FIRST ARRIVED ON THE BEACH WITH HIS MARINES
and armed sailors, the natives had scattered, but they soon returned without their weapons, and he tried to impress on them the power of his arms. He had marines perform a short drill that included firing muskets across the water. The people seemed unafraid, however, apparently unaware of the power of the weapons. Porter also tried to demonstrate his peaceful intentions by distributing iron articles (knives, fish hooks, and the like), which were quickly grasped, but nothing was offered in return.

Afterward, Porter looked up at 2,835-foot-high Mount Muake, which surrounded and dominated the valley. Gathered near the summit were large groups of natives, and he inquired about them. They were Hapa'a, he was told, a neighboring tribe whom the Taiohae had been at war with for several weeks. Porter discovered that the small island was divided into numerous tribes, occupying separate valleys, with no central government. In fact, he had difficulty discerning any political hierarchy or authority anywhere. The valley he now found himself in, Tieuhoy, had six tribes that collectively called themselves Taiohae. Gattanewa was chief of four and had influence over two others, one of which had a chief and the other was a perfect democracy since they had chased away their chief. Their priest became something of a substitute. Porter thought rank in Taiohae society was hereditary, but he did not understand what rank meant to them. It was said that Gattanewa traced his ancestry back fourteen hundred years. He was influential among all the people of the island, and was related to many through intermarriage. Wealth in land, breadfruit, and coconut trees, it seemed, was the primary source of his status, although Porter could not be sure.

The Hapa'a (Happahs, Porter called them) were made up of six tribes. They inhabited a valley in the northwest portion of Massachusetts Bay and maintained complicated relations with the Taiohae that involved conflict at times. Other valleys were heavily populated by a variety of tribes—the Huchaheucha, the Maamatawhoas, and the Attatokahs, as well as the smaller tribes, the Nieekees and Shouemes. On the north side of the island in a long, deep, gorgeous valley called Vieehee were the handsome, well laid-out villages of the fierce, warlike Taipi, whom Melville would later make famous in his novel
Typee
. Porter estimated that together the tribes on the island could produce 19,200 warriors out of a population in excess of 60,000. And this was just on Nuhu Hiva. Taken together, the Marquesas probably had a population of more than 100,000.

W
HEN IT CAME TIME TO REASSEMBLE THAT FIRST DAY AND RETURN
to the ship, Porter found, not unexpectedly, that all the seamen had disappeared. They were off with women in houses or bushes accomplishing their purposes. The detachment of marines had remained with him, but he could see that this was not going to last long. Women were beckoning them with gestures that were universally understood, and soon the marines threw off all discipline, and gave way to temptation. Porter did not disapprove.

The women beguiled Porter as much as they did his men, and he had no wish to resist his natural tendencies. He was particularly interested in eighteen-year-old Piteenee, granddaughter of Taiohae chief Gattanewa. Porter considered her a great beauty. He alleged that it was his duty to court her. He claimed that his attentions were not reciprocated, however, that she bestowed her affections on other officers—not being content with just one. His story was undoubtedly a way to cover up the fact that she became his live-in girlfriend.

Eventually, Porter gathered his men that day and returned to the
Essex
. When word of the extraordinary entertainment that could be obtained on shore was reported to hands on the ship, they urged the captain to bring the frigate in and anchor it close to the land. He did not resist. The
Essex
was warped up and in a short time secured within half a mile of shore near a white-sand beach at the bottom of the bay. Women stood at the water's edge waving white cloaks enticing the men to come ashore. Soon,
boats were sent to bring the women to the ship. In a short time the frigate was filled with females of all ages and descriptions, from sixty years to ten. Some were remarkable for their beauty, but others were not. The ship became a perfect Bedlam, from the time of their arrival until their departure the next morning.