52 ADDRESS. 



At Strong's Island was seen a whaling brig on shore, which 

 had sailed from the Sandwich Islands fourteen months previously; 

 no doubt she had been taken by the natives, and her crew mur- 

 dered, or led into hopeless captivity. She was owned by a com- 

 pany of persons at the Sandwich Islands. Such has been the 

 fate of many of our own vessels. 



The same conveyance which brought this intelligence, brought, 

 also, an account of the loss of the whale ship Independence of 

 Nantucket, Captain Brayton. This ship is reported to be entirely 

 lost on a desolate island. The crew were divided into two boats : 

 the one commanded by the mate had arrived at Tahita. It was 

 feared Captain Brayton's boat was lost. 



Even the Friendly Islands, though long known, and often visited 

 by our ships for refreshments, require the presence of our men of 

 war. Several outrages have been recently committed by a chief 

 in the southeasterly part of the group upon our sailors ; and cap- 

 tains of vessels have in several instances been seized while on 

 shore, and heavy demands exacted for their ransoms. I derived 

 my information of this fact from one of the masters referred to, 

 who was maltreated by the natives, and detained a prisoner for 

 twenty-four hours, till he gave them a cannon with ammunition, 

 and many other valuable articles, as the price of his liberty, and 

 was at last suffered to return on board his vessel. 



Alexander S. Joy, of Nantucket, informed me that upon visiting 

 the Tonga group in 1833, he ascertained that there were captives 

 on the islands, although he was unable to learn their number, or 

 the circumstances under which they had been left. He also told 

 me that there were three Americans on the Navigator Islands in 

 the condition of prisoners to the natives. 



Captain Kelly, of the brig Christopher Burdick of Providence, 

 has in all probability been recently shipwrecked among the islands. 

 He sailed from the United States on a trading voyage, and was 

 seen by me at Valparaiso in 1831. The latest accounts received 



