8 CORAL AND ATOLLS 



was dead : and in the horrid hue and cry that followed, he 

 was forced to fly to Yell in the Shetland Isles, for even the 

 Orkneys could not hide him now. In Yell he settled for the 

 remainder of his days, and in Yell his eldest son James 

 completed the sad Avork of breaking the old man's proud 

 Jacobite heart by marrying Catherine Plapen — a Norwegian 

 girl of plebeian descent. 



This was the last straw for the old Jacobite, who had lost 

 his home, his cause, and his estates ; and so he cursed his son, 

 and taking his claymore, he broke it in two ; for the blade 

 which had so long defended the family honour was useless now 

 that this honour counted for so little to him who should 

 defend it next. That the act might be the more complete, 

 he burnt the records of the clan for whose pride his eldest 

 son had shown so little respect ; and cut off for ever the life 

 that he had led, and the ideals that he had represented, from 

 the prideless doings of his wayward son. 



James and Catherine remained in the Shetland Islands 

 and there their eldest son John was born : John afterwards 

 married Catherine Clunies, who was a cousin of his, and 

 they also continued to live in the family's adopted home. 

 The eldest son of John and Catherine was named George, 

 and he also married one of the many relatives that were now 

 inhabiting this isolated home of theirs. His wife was named 

 Ross, and by her he had a son, John Clunies-Ross, who was 

 born in August 1786, and who afterwards became the first 

 " King of Cocos." 



Since no authentic account of John Clunies-lloss has 

 ever been published, and since in those accounts that have 

 appeared there has been but little agreement and but little 

 truth, it will be best to give the story of his origin and his 

 aims in his own Avords. The document from Avhich I take 

 his autobiography is a petition to the Hon. Sir T. Bladen 

 Capel, K C.B,, Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies ; and 

 it was Avritten from Cocos-Keeling for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing a better recognition of his settlement at the hands of the 

 British authorities. 



