Nukapu Expedition

The Nukapu expedition was a British punitive expedition from October 1871 until February 1872, in response to the murder of missionary John Coleridge Patteson by natives of Nukapu, one of the easternmost islands of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. A Royal Navy warship was sent to the island, sinking a group of hostile war-canoes and landing men to attack a fortified village.

Nukapu Expedition

Nukapu c. 1870
DateOctober 1871 – February 1872
Location
Nukapu, Solomon Islands
Result British victory
Belligerents
 Royal Navy Nukapu natives
Commanders and leaders
Albert Hastings Markham Unknown
Casualties and losses
1 killed, 2 wounded 20–30 killed

Expedition

In October 1871, the screw sloop-of-war HMS Rosario was operating against blackbirders in the South Sea Islands when her captain, Commander Albert Hastings Markham, received orders to sail for Nukapu in the Solomon Islands.[1] The measures taken by Rosario became the subject of questions in the House of Commons, and Markham's book on the subject may well have been prompted by them.[2] The book itself makes clear that Markham clearly understood the cycle of violence and deplored both the murderous activities of the blackbirders, and the apparent need for further violence in restoring order.[1]

References

Footnotes
  1. Markham, Albert Hastings (1873). The cruise of the Rosario amongst the New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Islands. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle.
  2. "Hansard, 11 March 1872". Retrieved 19 November 2009. Mr W Johnston asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If there is any foundation for the statement that Her Majesty's ship Rosario has shelled and destroyed the village in the Island of Nukapu, in which resided the natives who murdered Bishop Patteson; and, if so, by whose orders this was done?

Bibliography
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