5fish
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In 1813 the USS Essex cross into the Pacific to harass British whalers off the South American coast. It need to be refit so it went to Nuku Hiva to avoid British warship and got involved in Tribal warfare... Nuku Hiva is part of the Marquesas Islands and French Polynesia... the best part is Porter kept being ambushed... Did we win or not this campaign...
www.adventures-abroad.com
Nuku Hiva was not visited by any Westerners until 1791 when the French navigator Etienne Marchand landed here. A few years later it had a very unique history directly related to the War of 1812 which may sound bizarre because that was a conflict between the United States and Great Britain fought in North America. A little-known fact about that war is that both American and British naval fleets combed the global waters seeking out enemy ships to capture or destroy. In 1813 American Captain David Porter on his ship, the USS Essex put in at Nuku Hiva along with nine captured British whaling ships and their crews. He immediately claimed Nuke Hiva for the United States and built a small settlement he called Madisonville after the current President.
What Porter did not know is that he had landed in the middle of Nuku Hiva's own war between a number of warring tribes. The story of the American involvement and subsequent battles involving up to 5,000 Nuku Hiva warriors is too long to tell in this post but this link to the Nuku Hiva Campaign gives more detail. In the end, the U.S. Congress denied Porter's claim of Nuku Hiva as a United States possession and it ended up as part of French Polynesia.
Here is Wiki take on the event with details...
en.wikipedia.org
The Nuku Hiva Campaign was an armed conflict between the United States and the Polynesian inhabitants of Nuku Hiva during the War of 1812. It occurred in 1813, following Captain David Porter's decision to sail his fleet to the island for repairs before continuing his raid against British shipping. Upon arrival, the Americans became involved in a tribal war and allied themselves with the Te I'i people against the Happah and Tai Pi clans.
Operations in the Pacific began in early 1813 when Captain Porter entered the Pacific, via Cape Horn, in the thirty-two gun frigate USS Essex. Originally Porter was assigned to rendezvous with two other warships but both encountered enemy resistance before their meeting and Porter went around the Horn alone. The mission was to harass the British whaling industry off South America and around the Galápagos Islands. For months the Americans cruised the South Seas and they captured several British whalers that they placed under navy command. By October 1813, Essex was in serious need of repairs so Porter decided to head for Nuku Hiva, an island in the Marquesas, fearing that a British squadron would find him if he chose to take refuge in a South American port. The American fleet that went to the Marquesas included USS Essex and the liberated American whaler Barclay, and nine captured British whalers: Seringapatam (22 guns), Greenwich (10 guns), Montezuma (18 guns), Essex Junior (16 guns), Hector (11 guns), Charlton (10 guns), Sir Andrew Hammond, and Catherine and New Zealander, both of eight guns. In total, Captain Porter had just over 200 United States Navy officers and sailors, accompanied by a small detachment of no more than twenty marines under the command of Lieutenant John M. Gamble. One of the sailors was the young midshipman David Farragut, later the first United States Navy admiral. (Porter's son David Dixon Porter was the second U.S. Navy admiral.) Additionally, many of the prisoners from the prize enemy ships volunteered for service.[
Here are some famous people that visited this island...
Nuku Hiva again became known to the outside world in 1846 with the publication of Herman Melville's first novel Typee which is a fictionalized account of the time he spent on the island after jumping ship from a whaler in 1842. It describes his time as a 'guest' of the Typee tribe who just happened to be cannibals. Melville was never sure if during his time with them if he was being fattened up à la Hansel and Gretel for future consumption or if he was a genuine visitor who could leave at any time. You have to read the book to find out the answer. I highly recommend reading it before taking this trip.
One other famous visitor was Robert Louis Stevenson for whom Nuku Hiva was the first Polynesian island he ever set foot on and described in the posthumous 1896 book In the South Seas. Here is how he described that experience - "The first experience can never be repeated. The first love, the first sunrise, the first South Sea island, are memories apart and touched a virginity of sense..." Wow! That's a pretty high bar RLS has set; let's find out if we have the same feelings.
Nuku Hiva, We Reach the Marquesas | Adventures Abroad Blog
Join Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, as he takes in the beautiful island of Nuku Hiva - We Reach the Marquesas.
www.adventures-abroad.com
Nuku Hiva was not visited by any Westerners until 1791 when the French navigator Etienne Marchand landed here. A few years later it had a very unique history directly related to the War of 1812 which may sound bizarre because that was a conflict between the United States and Great Britain fought in North America. A little-known fact about that war is that both American and British naval fleets combed the global waters seeking out enemy ships to capture or destroy. In 1813 American Captain David Porter on his ship, the USS Essex put in at Nuku Hiva along with nine captured British whaling ships and their crews. He immediately claimed Nuke Hiva for the United States and built a small settlement he called Madisonville after the current President.
What Porter did not know is that he had landed in the middle of Nuku Hiva's own war between a number of warring tribes. The story of the American involvement and subsequent battles involving up to 5,000 Nuku Hiva warriors is too long to tell in this post but this link to the Nuku Hiva Campaign gives more detail. In the end, the U.S. Congress denied Porter's claim of Nuku Hiva as a United States possession and it ended up as part of French Polynesia.
Here is Wiki take on the event with details...
Nuku Hiva Campaign - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Nuku Hiva Campaign was an armed conflict between the United States and the Polynesian inhabitants of Nuku Hiva during the War of 1812. It occurred in 1813, following Captain David Porter's decision to sail his fleet to the island for repairs before continuing his raid against British shipping. Upon arrival, the Americans became involved in a tribal war and allied themselves with the Te I'i people against the Happah and Tai Pi clans.
Operations in the Pacific began in early 1813 when Captain Porter entered the Pacific, via Cape Horn, in the thirty-two gun frigate USS Essex. Originally Porter was assigned to rendezvous with two other warships but both encountered enemy resistance before their meeting and Porter went around the Horn alone. The mission was to harass the British whaling industry off South America and around the Galápagos Islands. For months the Americans cruised the South Seas and they captured several British whalers that they placed under navy command. By October 1813, Essex was in serious need of repairs so Porter decided to head for Nuku Hiva, an island in the Marquesas, fearing that a British squadron would find him if he chose to take refuge in a South American port. The American fleet that went to the Marquesas included USS Essex and the liberated American whaler Barclay, and nine captured British whalers: Seringapatam (22 guns), Greenwich (10 guns), Montezuma (18 guns), Essex Junior (16 guns), Hector (11 guns), Charlton (10 guns), Sir Andrew Hammond, and Catherine and New Zealander, both of eight guns. In total, Captain Porter had just over 200 United States Navy officers and sailors, accompanied by a small detachment of no more than twenty marines under the command of Lieutenant John M. Gamble. One of the sailors was the young midshipman David Farragut, later the first United States Navy admiral. (Porter's son David Dixon Porter was the second U.S. Navy admiral.) Additionally, many of the prisoners from the prize enemy ships volunteered for service.[
Here are some famous people that visited this island...
Nuku Hiva again became known to the outside world in 1846 with the publication of Herman Melville's first novel Typee which is a fictionalized account of the time he spent on the island after jumping ship from a whaler in 1842. It describes his time as a 'guest' of the Typee tribe who just happened to be cannibals. Melville was never sure if during his time with them if he was being fattened up à la Hansel and Gretel for future consumption or if he was a genuine visitor who could leave at any time. You have to read the book to find out the answer. I highly recommend reading it before taking this trip.
One other famous visitor was Robert Louis Stevenson for whom Nuku Hiva was the first Polynesian island he ever set foot on and described in the posthumous 1896 book In the South Seas. Here is how he described that experience - "The first experience can never be repeated. The first love, the first sunrise, the first South Sea island, are memories apart and touched a virginity of sense..." Wow! That's a pretty high bar RLS has set; let's find out if we have the same feelings.
