When the Navy deserts the sea and usurps the coastal domain of the Army, the occurrence is unusual. But when seagoing sailors deliberately march inland and intentionally engage mountaineers in deadly combat on the latter’s home ground, the occasion is extraordinary. The United States Navy’s assault on a cannibal tribe in its mountain stronghold on one of the Fiji Islands was a most novel and difficult undertaking for a party of fifty sailors and marines from the U.S.S. Vandalia in 1858.
Arriving at Tahiti on a routine cruise through the South Sea Islands, Captain Sinclair learned of the murder of two American citizens by the natives of Waya Island. The Vandalia sailed immediately for Levuka to obtain the particulars of the incident, and there heard that the men were trading with the natives when they were assaulted. A dispute had arisen over their refusal to purchase a bottle of rancid native oil. The islanders, greatly outnumbering the whites, had killed them, taken their bodies ashore, cooked and eaten them. The savages had destroyed the ship after salvaging the parts of her equipment which they considered of value.
Because of navigational hazards, the Vandalia could not make Waya. An American schooner, the Mechanic, was chartered for the expedition and without delay was fully armed, equipped, watered, and provisioned for a 10-day cruise. Lieutenant C. H. B. Caldwell was put in command of the party sent to redress the outrage, Lieutenant Alan Ramsay, U. S. Marine Corps, and Master’s Mate J. F. Bartlett were subordinate commanders, and Assistant Surgeon H. B. Trist was the doctor.
En route to his destination Caldwell stopped at Ba, on the island of Viti-Levu, for a much-needed interpreter and guide. Finding his intended interpreter had died a week previously in a canoe accident, Caldwell negotiated with another native, Duvia, who came on board. Duvia was willing to serve but showed great anxiety about departing without sending word ashore. Lacking news of his departure, his tribe would suppose him dead and, according to custom, strangle his wife long before his return. Caldwell did not want to delay but the predicament was solved by the arrival of a canoe carrying a superior chief, Ravata. On hearing the particulars of the mission, Ravata ordered Duvia into his canoe and, with a ferocious grin, said that he would like to see what the white men would do and would go himself. He was a grim looking old warrior who had already seen hard service, and, it was learned later, had done some rapid running on Waya on a previous occasion. A fellow native, Corambi-nata-cow, was hired to accompany him.
From his guides Caldwell learned that Waya was the highest, most rugged, and broken of the group, with Lomati, the town of the cannibals, situated on the top of the highest mountain at an elevation of about 1,600 feet above the sea. Its only approaches were through deep ravines, filled with rocks, chasms, and precipices densely covered with forest trees and undergrowth wherever such plants could take root.
Secure in their location, the natives had built comfortable houses surrounded by plantations of banana, plantain, papaya, cocoanut, and breadfruit trees. The slopes of the surrounding hills were covered with a rich soil and were ingeniously terraced and laid out in extensive gardens of sweet potatoes, yams, cava, and sugar cane. Rivulets were led through conduits to flood the taro plats terraced one above the other, and the rocks had been hollowed out to form artificial pools.
With such an abundance of all the necessities of life and no wants which could not be supplied by their own resources, the natives were free and hardy. Three hundred ferocious warriors were available to guard the defiles and preserve them from attack. The tribe had always practiced entire exclusion and had defied and defeated all attempts at their subjugation by neighboring peoples, even though several tribes banded together to assault them. Their unbroken success had apparently induced in them the belief that they were invincible not only to the combined efforts of their neighbors but also to the attacks of the “Papillangi” (whites) whom they had now defied by the murders.
The Lomati were hated and feared by all the near-by tribes. Occasionally they made strong raids in force on the people of the surrounding islands to increase the number of their slaves or to obtain meat to satisfy their cannibal appetites. The original inhabitants of Lomati were said to have been renegades from the other islands of the Fiji group. Woe to the man who fell into their hands by force, craft, or accident. “They have no pity and they never spare,” said Ravata. “Has not your hair been wet by salt water? Has not the evil spirit sent you to us?” was their only reply to a tale of misfortune, or an appeal for mercy. To be clubbed to death or perhaps roasted alive and eaten was the only fate of an unfortunate captive.
The following morning the Mechanic came in sight of Way a and found its terrain as rough and rugged as Ravata and Corambi-nata-cow had related. Shooting up from the summit of the highest mountain were two conical peaks each several hundred feet high and with an extreme elevation of 2,000 feet above sea level. The northern peak was flanked by a perpendicular mass of rock 300 feet high, 600 feet long, and 300 feet in average breadth. There were several surrounding masses smaller than this, and to the southward others but little less in extent and height. In the center of this inaccessible amphitheater at the base of and between the conical peaks lay the naturally fortified town of Lomati. The whole scene was extremely wild and beautiful.
Upon the Mechanic’s arrival at her anchorage, Caldwell promptly dispatched Ravata to the seaside village of Yamarthaba over which the chief ruled, having conquered it in war. He carried a message to be relayed to the chiefs of Lomati that the murderers of Louis Bauer and Henry Horner were to be delivered on board the Mechanic and that Caldwell desired to see Chief Dorasivu, the leader of the murderers, to whom he would guarantee safe conduct.
After Ravata’s departure, Caldwell and Corambi-nata-cow took a small boat and made a complete reconnaissance of the island from the anchorage to a point abreast of Lomati. Particular attention was paid to the town’s landing on the north side. Heavy surf and a fear of the treachery of the natives deterred them from going ashore.
The inhabitants watching from the hills were communicated with through Corambi-nata-cow. As Caldwell anticipated, they were expecting the white men and had been watching and waiting for their approach.
On his return to the Mechanic, Caldwell found that Ravata had come back with the information that the Lomati were decidedly hostile and determined to resist any action or demonstration against them.
Late in the afternoon, the chief of Yamarthaba came on board bearing a defiance from the chiefs of Lomati:
Do you suppose we have killed the two white men for nothing? No! We killed them and we have eaten them. We are great warriors. We delight in war. We have heard of the Papillangi and wish to meet them in battle. We are glad to see the little man-of-war. Why did you not bring the large one? Come, Papillangi, our fires are lighted; our ovens are hot; has not the evil spirit given you to us? Come!
The Yamarthaba chief stated that after the delivery of the formal challenge to battle, a Lomati chieftain stepped forward from the council and, slapping his thigh, showed his personal contempt for the whites by saying,
That leg is a bully-my-cow leg and tomorrow it will carry a dead Papillangi. We have killed all our hogs and tonight we offer them in a great feast to the evil spirit; tomorrow we will offer in a greater feast to the same spirit, the bodies of the white men.
Having delivered the insolent messages from the Lomati, the chief of Yamarthaba advanced and, through his interpreter, disclaimed any part in the murder by his tribe and professed only friendship for the whites. He requested Corambi-nata-cow to squat humbly on his hands. When the latter complied, he gave him a large whale’s tooth slung in cocoanut fiber, both dyed a brilliant yellow, to be delivered to Caldwell as an assurance of the friendship of the Yamarthabas. The gift was accepted and the chief was warned about his conduct toward any and all white men. During the assault, the Yamarthaba took no active part but, attracted by curiosity, watched unarmed from a distance and promptly retired on the near approach of any of the contestants.
Remembering the unfortunate experience of the French at Huaheine and the English at Tongatabu, Caldwell planned his attack with care. He was extremely anxious to use his only artillery, a howitzer, and, counting on Ravata’s assurance that its transportation along the upper route was easy, decided to take it. Arrangements for the assault were completed the same night the defiance was received and at three o’clock the following morning all hands were called, fed, and equipped.
At daybreak, about five o’clock, the disembarkation was begun. The first landing party consisted of marines and seamen under the orders of Lieutenant Ramsay and Master’s Mate Bartlett. The former had instructions to climb a quite precipitous hill 200 or 300 feet in height near the landing and hold it until joined by the remainder of the party. The latter was directed to wait at the base of the hill to assist in dragging up the howitzer. The second party was made up of the remaining men bringing the lone fieldpiece.
On completion of the landing, the laborious task of dragging the howitzer up the hill was commenced. After strenuous exertions, accompanied one can easily imagine by choice profanity, the crest of the hill was about reached when the howitzer’s strap and preventer-strap carried away. Down the hill went the piece reaching the bottom after a precipitous descent which damaged its wheels so badly that it had to be abandoned. Caldwell’s keen disappointment was turned to joy when he found a short distance farther on that, on account of the terrain on both the upper and lower routes, the gun could not possibly have been taken a mile.
Because of the runaway fieldpiece, plans were changed and the lower instead of the upper trail was chosen. The men were formed in three divisions. The marines carrying Minie rifles were assigned the van position; the gun’s crew armed with artillery swords and carbines, the center; and the seamen equipped with Minie rifles, the rear.
The landing force set out for the town on a path leading over a succession of steep acclivities and declivities, winding through thickly wooded ravines filled with rocks and precipices. At times it was necessary for the force to pick its way single file over a shelving path barely wide enough for a foothold. A single misstep would have precipitated the man making it 40 feet to the rocks below. In some places the path followed the foot of a high precipice, or wound between sharply rising walls of granite so close to each other that there was room for only one man at a time to get through.
The terrain was greatly in favor of the natives. From the overhanging cliffs, stones and boulders could have been launched either to crush the attackers or to confine them in the narrow gorges to be slaughtered at will. However, the passes and defiles were guarded only by a feeble force of natives which retired as Caldwell’s party approached. Only one native was shot during the march.
Six beautifully situated native houses were passed. At each, the landing force halted. The men quenched their thirst from a rivulet, rested, burned the houses, and moved on.
After four and a half hours of exceedingly rough going and frequent rest periods for the men, the attackers, nearly overcome with heat and fatigue, had their first view of Lomati from the slope of a mountain overlooking the town. Another halt was called immediately for the dual purpose of observing the town and its approaches and giving the men a long rest before going into action.
The lower route was seen to continue down and then uphill for more than a half mile through a narrow ravine much like those through which the party had been passing. Close to the town the paths and edges of this ravine were the massing points of the Lomati warriors, who could be seen to the number of about 300 climbing among the rocks, up the cliffs, and gliding among the trees.
The native fighting men were seen to be of middle height, well made and muscular. As soon as they were seen Ravata and Corambi-nata-cow informed Caldwell that the natives were prepared to do their worst. To show their readiness to meet the whites and their utter contempt for death, they had adorned themselves in their funeral robes. These were of white tapa cloth with long scarfs reaching to the ground. Their hair was frizzed out into a huge mop-like form by winding a few hairs at a time around long tortoiseshell or bone hairpins. The dressed hair was supported by bands of white tapa and radiated from their heads, giving the appearance of a huge wig extending 6 or 8 inches from the scalp.
On account of the massing of the savages in front of them and the natural difficulties of an approach through the ravine, the Americans sought a more advantageous way. On the left of the ravine, a short distance from Lomati and under a precipice of vertical rock, there was seen a place where the terrain was less broken and wooded. This comparatively clear spot could be easily reached from the top of the mountain on which the rest was being taken, and was slightly above the level of the town. Further, at this particular point, few of the savages were concentrated and a rush down the mountain’s slope would enable Caldwell to outflank the savages and gain the town through the head of the ravine behind the main force of the Lomati.
The plan of attack having been determined upon, the climb up the mountain was begun. The attackers first passed over taro patches, terraces, and gardens where the ascent was easy. They then pushed up the steep slope where it was necessary to take advantage of every means of gaining a foothold to prevent sliding back almost as fast as they crawled up. During the climb, a desultory skirmishing fire was kept up with the natives on the outer edge of the ravine in order to discourage any attempts at interference with the movement.
Finally the attackers gained a position near the top where, because of the extreme exertions and lack of physical endurance on the part of men long at sea and without means for regular exercise, it was again necessary to call a prolonged halt.
Having rested sufficiently, Caldwell formed his divisions in order and to disabuse the savages’ minds of any lack of determination, the force sang “The Red, White and Blue” loudly and in full chorus, gave three rousing cheers, and charged down the slope.
The Lomati were taken off guard both by the direction and the suddenness of the attack. Finding themselves outflanked, they scattered in all directions, having offered resistance only when the assault was first commenced. Apparently contemptuous of the fighting ability of their enemy and believing in his stupidity, the savages relied on Caldwell’s making a frontal attack and giving them a tremendous advantage. Since the battle was not fought in accordance with their expectations, they were thrown into confusion and quickly routed.
The Americans took immediate possession of Lomati and planted the American flag in front of the chief’s house, posted sentinels, rested under the large shade trees, and took account of their casualties.
The men were found to be suffering severely from heat and fatigue. One man had fainted as the town was gained and several others were bruised and cut from falling and rolling over the numerous rocks which had to be hurriedly avoided in the dash for the town.
Lomati was found to contain about 120 houses of construction superior to any previously seen. The numerous small gardens of bananas, plantains, and papayas were laid out in an orderly fashion, and shade trees had been planted at intervals apparently well planned to give needed protection from the sun.
About an hour was spent in the town. During this time a reconnaissance was made and further pursuit of the silently agile natives in their rocky fastness was deemed wholly impracticable because of the danger of ambush or serious accident. The natives kept up a spasmodic fire with their antique rifles. They continuously harassed the landing force in every way they could and lay in wait for any individual who might be foolish enough to venture beyond the line of sentries.
Having recovered from the exertions of the attack and being very anxious not to spend a night on Waya, orders were given to fire the town. The howitzer’s crew slung their carbines and prepared the combustibles which they carried for that purpose. In charge of Master’s Mate Bartlett and supported by the marines, the party commenced their destruction on the leeward side of Lomati and worked to windward, thereby keeping the conflagration under control. The thatched houses were soon in flames, sending up an immense column of smoke which was afterwards reported seen from Ravata’s home on Ba 30 miles away and had a salutary effect on the attitude of the near-by natives toward the whites. One hundred and ten Lomati dwellings were destroyed but it was too dangerous a risk to life and limb to effect the ruin of the remaining ten. They were located at the foot of a high perpendicular precipice, the top of which was in the possession of very active natives who kept the dwellings under a constant hail of stones and huge rocks.
It was not long before the heat from the burning houses became so intense that Caldwell was forced to depart.
During the Americans’ stay in Lomati, the natives were seen gathering for an attack which the guides assured Caldwell would be made with all the strength, courage, and skill of which the savages were capable. Just prior to starting the return to the Mechanic, it was learned that the cannibals had concentrated in force in the ravine through which the landing party had entered the town. This passage was the most advantageous for Caldwell to effect his departure through, hence, the seamen were ordered to seize the path and hold it. The carbineers were placed in the center again, and the marines brought up the rear.
Hardly had the evacuation commenced when the seamen were attacked. With drums beating furiously and a tumult of yells, the savages closed in from all sides as the party entered the ravine. The Americans were assaulted with balls from old muskets, stones thrown from slings, short heavy clubs hurled with great force, and flights of arrows. The natives approached quite near, making horrible grimaces and baring their teeth in a ferocious and animal-like manner.
Caldwell’s men met the attack with a rapid but steady fire and after a severe action of about 20 or 30 minutes repulsed the natives with heavy losses.
In the middle of the fight Ravata decided all was lost and advised Caldwell to flee. However, when he saw the sailors and marines stand their ground, meet the enemy and repel them, he was astounded. Overcome with admiration, he shouted with joy and cried over and over again: “See how the Papillangi fight!”
By the defeat of the natives clear ground was gained near one of the resting places used by Caldwell’s force while en route to the town. The rest now taken was disturbed only by irregular firing by both sides. However, it was evident from the movements and concentrations of the natives that they intended to harass and hang on to the rear of the landing party at each ravine through which it must pass on the lower route. They could then take full advantage of their knowledge of the ground and the benefits it afforded them in picking off any laggards or others who became separated from the main party.
These efforts on the part of the Lomati were the more urgent and persistent because of their desire to secure at least one body for a cannibal feast and thereby, in the eyes of the natives at least, remove a part of the disgrace they had suffered in the loss of their town and their defeat in battle.
In view of his inferior numbers and the absolute necessity of keeping his men concentrated, Caldwell was again forced to outwit the natives. He determined on another flank movement to gain the summit of the mountain from which the attack was launched. Reaching this, he could follow the ridge of its eastern spur to the harbor and, if the natives chose to attack in a body, have the advantage of a superior position.
Before gaining much ground up the side of the mountain, three men, two not wounded and one wounded, collapsed from exhaustion. The carbineers carried the stricken men in their arms, accompanied by the derisive shouts of the cannibals who believed their enemy about to fall into their hands. A little farther on other men sank exhausted and declared themselves unable to go on. The group halted again and took cover behind the numerous rocks and trees, throwing themselves on the ground to rest. During this respite the party enjoyed a basket of food carried through the entire march by William H. Thompson, a volunteer and the steward of the wrecked American clipper, Wild Wave, who had been rescued with 32 other survivors several months before by the Vandalia.
Finally, the worn out party pushed on and, after four hours of continuous harassing by the tenacious Lomati, reached the Mechanic and gave due thanks to God for protecting them from serious injury.
While the naval force was engaged in its assault on Lomati, Mr. Watson, the regular mate of the Mechanic, took her crew and on his own initiative landed on the north shore of Waya and burned all the cannibals’ canoes.
The Lomati were observed to have had 14 warriors killed and 16 wounded. The chief of Yamarthaba sent word that Lomatibullu, the chief of Lomati, and Southo, the next subordinate leader, were among the slain. The loss of these two chiefs required the sacrifice of all their wives either by strangulation or burial alive, according to the choice of each victim.
Aside from the bruises and contusions suffered by falling among the rocks, the Americans had only six wounded, none of whom was in a really serious condition. In his report, Caldwell states that from his equipment there were “no losses except two ramrods, and one bayonet broken.”
Regarding the behavior of his men, Caldwell reports:
The marines displayed that coolness, courage, and prompt obedience for which their corps is proverbial. The seamen throughout the march, assault, and fight were cool, steady, and fearless; the anomaly of their situation [attacking a mountain tribe in their fastnesses] did not move them.
The truant fieldpiece was got on board the Mechanic the following morning. After rewarding and dismissing Ravata and Corambi-nata-cow at their homes on Ba Point, the force stopped at five towns on the coast of Viti-Levu to receive the natives’ congratulations on their overcoming the formerly invincible Lomati. They then returned to the Vandalia where they were rewarded with high praise and commendation by Captain Sinclair for successfully completing a most extraordinary naval mission and greatly enhancing the safety of white men in the South Seas.