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Mission Ships of the London MissionarySociety.. The Mehsexokr of Pp.ace.“ The houses of the Missionaries, and the chapels and school houses, and with few exceptions, the dwellings of the natives, were greatly damaged or completely vn'ecked. Yet, amid all the fearful desolation, not a single life was lost—though some of the members of the mission families, notably Mrs. Williams, had very narrow escapes of being crushed to death by falling houses. ”With the least possible delay Mr. Williams addressed himself to the difficult task of getting his ship extricated from the extremely awkward position in which the hurricane had placed her. “She had,” he tells us, “ sustained no injury whatever,” but, “she had worked herself into a hole about four feet deep, and when lifted by the sea had broken off large branches from trees twelve and fifteen feet high. The whole of her stores, masts, rigging, blocks, pitch, and copper were strewed over the low land. Some of these were buried under the ruins of the houses, and others beneath a mass of fallentr ees. I much feared whether I should be able to recover enough to refit the vessel again.” By great effort enough was recovered to refit the vessel, and by skilful management and immense Jabour, in which Mr. Williams tells us he had the help of about 2,000 people, he succeeded in compelling her to take a short voyage upon the land before she again floated in her pride upon the sea.The voyage to Samoa, however, had to be deferred for some months, as the unexpected detention on Rarotonga had so reduced the stock of provisions on which Mr. Williams had depended for the voyage, and the mission families also were in necessitous circumstances, ho it was needful to make a voyage to Tahiti in order to obtain supplies. The state of things at Raiatea rendered a visit to that place imperative before returning to Rarotonga, and it was not until the month of October, 1832, that Mr. Williams and party were ready to start for Samoa. On the 11th of that month they set sail. Makea, the chief of Rarotonga, again accompanied Mr. Williams ; and Teava, a man who f jr many years did most valuable service in different parts of the Samoan group, was a passenger with Mr. Williams on this occasion.The voyage proved eminently successful. The mission had made great progress, and the time had come when European missionaries must he obtained with the least possible delay, if the work which had been so successfully initiated was to be carried on efficiently. The native teachers of those days were, necessarily, but very slenderly furnished for their work, and as regardsChristian experience they were but children. An interest had been awakened that had spread far and wide, and everywhere the chiefs and people were clamorous for missionaries ; and this state of things, together with the importance of obtaining a larger and more commodious vessel for service among the mission fields already taken possession of, and extending operations to the large unoccupied groups of Western Polynesia, determined Mr. Williams to embrace the earliest opportunity that might offer of making a visit to his native land. The question of health had some weight in leading Mr. Williams to this decision. After about nineteen years spent in mission work—such as mission work was in those times—both himself and Mrs. Williams required a change ; but the above-named reasons appear to have been the chief.Mr. Williams seems to have spent about a month in visiting different parts of the Samoan group on this occasion, and everywhere he met with an enthusiastic reception, and he took his departure cheered beyond measure with what he had seen And heard. The field was evidently prepared in a remarkable degree for the spiritual husbandman to enter in and till the soil, and sow therein the good seed of the Kingdom of God.On the return voyage the party had a narrow escape of finding a grave in the ocean. The Messenger of Peace sprung a leak far from any land, and was only kept afloat by the most strenuous efforts of all on board. When about 300 miles ou their way towards Rarotonga Mr. Williams was aroused one night about midnight with the startling announcement, “ You must get up,sir, immediately ; the ship has sprung a leak and is half full of water, and is sinking fast.” “ I ran on deck atonce,’’ says Mr. Williams, “ and found to my consternation nearly four feet of water in the hold. I at once perceived that no time was to be lost, and that every individual must exert himself to the utmost, for it was pump or sink. We all, therefore, set to work forthwith, some with buckets ami others at the pump, and in about an hour I was relieved from my intense anxiety by finding that we had gained six inches. Thus encouraged they continued their efforts till the morning, when they found the ship dry. In a short time, however they found the water coming in so fast that they were obliged to resume their labours, and it was clear that they were in extreme danger. All attempts to discover the leak failed, and incessant labour at the pumps could not be I kept up for a very great while, so the Ixmts were got in , readiness and provisioned, and ever}* preparation made to leave the vessel at any moment. The wind, too, became contrary and violent, and several days passed before they made the nearest land, which was Vavau, ' of the Tingan group. Here they were still unsuccessfulin finding the leak. So they again put to sea and proceeded to another island of the same group, where they found two ships at anchor, and by assistance obtained from the captains and crews of these the vessel was hove down and the leak discovered. It was “a large augur-hole in the keel, into which the bolt had never been driven. This had been filled with mud and stones in the hurricane at Rarotonga, which had kept the vessel from leaking six months, during which time she had sailed several thousands of miles. A stone was, very fortunately wedged in the hole, or it would have been impossible, in the opinion of the captains and carpenters, to have kept the vessel from sinking.”From the Friendly Islands the party proceeded on their way to Rarotonga, which was reached in January, 1833. The voyage had occupiod about fifteen weeks. After several months spent on Rarotonga Mr. Williams proceeded to his own station at Raiatea to make final preparations for his visit to England ; and as the Messenger of Peace could no longer be turned to account in the work for which she had been built, she was sent to Tahiti and there sold, and so her career as a missionary ship caine to an end. She was not much iu herself, and the service she rendered to the cause of Christian Missions was accomplished within a short space of time, but who shall estimate the importance of that service i She carried the Gospel to Samoa, and the Samoan mission is the link of connection between the missions of the two great divisions of the South Pacific Ocean—the first link of a chain which now embraces all the principal islands and groups of Western Polynesia, and connects them with the vast island of New Guinea.Thus the Messenger of Peace must ever hold a very honourable placo in thoannalsjof mission ships ; and her connection with the Martyr of Eromanga invests her with a tender and undying interest. And, above all, she will be memorable on account of the service she rendered to a cause which will survive all the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. These have their day and pass away, but the Kingdom with which the missionary enterprise is identified is subject to no limitation either of time or space. It shall embrace all nations, and it shall stand for ever, even for ever and ever. So testifies the word of eternal truth.O’er i vurv foe victorious, lie on ilis throne shall ivsi : From age to age more glorious, All blessing nnd all hie**!The tide of lime shall never Mis covenant remove :Hi' name 'hull stand for ever : Thai name to it' i' i ove*.” *Montgomery's paraphrase of Psalm lxxlt.
Newspaper Details
Sydney Illustrated Sydney News
Sydney, New South Wales, AU
Sat, May 15, 1886
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Jim B.
Select State, USA 25 Mar 2019
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