Introduction
Although William Wilberforce is rightly remembered as the architect of slavery’s downfall in the British Empire, much credit also goes to Granville Sharp (1735-1813). Sharp’s tireless campaigning put such fear into traffickers that the mere rumour of his involvement could set a man at liberty.
A NATIVE of Tahiti* had been enticed, by the offer of presents, from the shore of his island on board an English vessel, kidnapped, and brought to England.* Being an expert swimmer and diver, his skill had been very profitably employed during the voyage, in the capture of seals, of which he had succeeded in killing a great number.
On arriving in England, the master of the vessel refused to give him any pay for his services, and he applied, through another Tahitian,* to a friend (Mr F.) for assistance.* Mr F. went to the house of the merchants who owned the vessel, and pleaded the poor Islander’s cause. He was abruptly refused, and was told that “they would spend 500l. in repelling any application of the kind, rather than pay the Tahitian a farthing.”
Tahiti today lies in French Polynesia, roughly halfway between Australia and South America. (Throughout this extract, the obsolete name Otaheite has been replaced with the modern name Tahiti.)
His name was Tomma, and he arrived in England in July 1809. The ship ‘Santa Anna’ had left Port Jackson (Sydney) in 1807, and after picking up Tomma at Tahiti marooned him and thirteen others on Bligh Island (Ureparapara in the Banks Islands, Vanuatu) while the captain sailed off to Norfolk Island for fresh stores. They were given provisions enough for six weeks. In the event, it would be a whole year before the ship returned; in the meantime, they had subsisted on a diet of seal meat and rain water. When they sailed away, they left two graves behind them.
The other Tahitian was named Tapeoe, whose contacts with European merchants in Tahiti had been altogether happier. The Critical Review tells us: “Whilst the affair of Tomma was under consideration, Tapeoe shewed the greatest anxiety; he was perpetually on the alert, going after the sailors, getting information, &c. exhibiting on several occasions the greatest discernment with respect to the character and motives of interested men.” See ‘The Critical Review’ Series 3 Volume 21 (1811).
Mr F. was Joseph Fox (1775-1816), a distinguished dentist and philanthropist. He was also an energetic member of the Missionary Society, and hence all the more disappointed when the Society would not help Tomma.