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Tahitians regarded the missionaries as very inept at the most basic survival skills - using boats,
swimming, climbing trees and crossing rivers. The missionaries made no impression on the
religious life of Tahitians and succeeded only in four things: the Tahitians had given up
holding feats within the missionaries' hearing, they behaved decently around the mission house
on the Sabbath, they adopted some modesty in their dress and had become less boisterous and
cheerful - these pathetic achievements were all the missionaries could boast of after a year. 42

Some things they did managed to impress King Pomare and that was the demonstration
by Rowland Hassall and Peter Hodges of blacksmithing. Pomare, perhaps because he could see
the potential in this craft for making weapons in the future, was reputed to be so impressed that
he embraced the blacksmith.

Matters came to a head when, after a year, the trading ship Nautilus arrived in urgent need
of repairs. It was carrying furs from America for China, and hope to trade muskets with the
Tahitians for food and water. The missionaries were horrified and tried to prevent this exchange.
Some Hawaiians who had been pressed into service as crew deserted and joined the king,
Pomare. The missionaries unsuccessfully tried to help get the deserters back on board. The ship
sailed away only to return in a fortnight in a worse condition as she had run into storms. Pomare
also found out that the missionaries were foiling his plans to aquire guns, so refused to sell them
any food. A very unpleasant situation developed as more crewmen of the Nautilus deserted ship
and Pomare prepared to attack the missionaries.

Rowland Hassall had been working in the forge and became alarmed when it became
apparent that he would be expected to use his skills to make weapons. Pomare resisited all
attempts at appeasemetn with the missionaries some of whom were beaten and barely escaped
with their lives. Fearing for the safety of their wives and children many of the missionaries fled
on the Nautilus, a very battered brig of 60 tons, for Sydney in March 1798. They contracted with
Captain Bishop of the Nautilus to pay ''1,000 dollars'' payable by the London Missionary Society
to take them to Port Jackson, a fee that the Society was not too pleased about later, especially as
the Directors were very annoyed at the abandonment of the task by so many of the missionaries
and were very critical of their behaviour. In fact they suggested that instead of going to the
relative calm of New South Wales they should go to the Friendly Islands to help the missionaries
there or to Norfolk Island because they owed an obligation to all those who had contributed to
the expedition and supplied goods which they expected to be used in missionary activities. Later
these same directors modified their criticisms a little and conceded that the missionaries could
stay in Port Jackson and do all they could for the ''miserable objects around you'' and to work
with Reverends Johnson and Marden.43 That however was in the future. The voyage was a
nightmare - Bishop broke a blood vessel, the pumps had to be worked continually to stem the
inflow of two feet of water every hour and the vessel nearly foundered on Ball's Pyramid and the

42 Ibid., p.172.
43 From Directors of London Missionary Society, Thomas Haweis, Joseph Hardcastle and John Eyre to
Rowland Hassall, Hassall Papers, 3 September 1799, A859.

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