MR F. in this dilemma, wrote to Mr Granville Sharp, who the next day called on him, and directed him what course to pursue, requesting, if any subscription became necessary, that his name might be set down at the head of the list for two guineas.
The subscription, however, was not wanted. It no sooner was known to the merchants in question that Mr Sharp’s sanction was obtained for proceeding against them, than they proposed an arbitration; which being agreed to, the Tahitian was by their own arbitrator adjudged the pay which had been solicited, and which was that of an ordinary seaman, for the time of the voyage, amounting altogether to about 30l.*
Of such value was the Nominis Umbra.*
According to ‘The Critical Review’, the precise sum was £31 18s 9d, ‘equal to the lowest sum which had been paid to any other sailor, who had performed the like service on board the same ship.’ Tomma bought himself a decent wardrobe and then registered just like any British sailor on a whaling ship at the best wages (about £60-£70), along with two more Tahitians. Through Tapeoe, the loyal exiles also sent £5 each back to the King of Tahiti, Pomare II (r. 1803-1821).
‘The shadow of a name’. The Latin phrase magni nominis umbra, ‘the shadow of a great name’, was used by Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39-65) in his ‘Pharsalia’ Book 1, to evoke the enduring influence of Cato the Younger (95-46 BC) over Rome even after Julius Caesar had brought down the Republic that Cato supported. Lucan praised Cato for preferring honourable defeat to joining the winning side; Sharp must have felt he had done much the same until 1807, when trafficking in slaves was at last criminalised in the British Empire.