The Kings Artillerymen. 
213 
publication in London, in 1810, of Mr. William 
Mariner’s “ Tonga Islands.” This Mariner was 
a youthful friend of Captain Duck, the master 
of the privateer, and seems to have been spared 
by the natives on account of the friendly feeling 
entertained for him by the leading chief—Finau 
—and a lesser chief named Vaka-ta-bula. Some 
others of the crew who happened to be on shore 
at the time of the massacre of the rest of the 
Port-au-Prince's company were also spared, and 
these men, together with young Mariner, were 
afterwards employed by Finau in aiding him to 
conquer the people of Tongatabu, the main 
island of the Friendly Group; and it is from 
Mr. Mariner’s graphic narrative of his five 
years’ sojourn in the islands that the following 
particulars are taken. 
A few weeks after the destruction of the 
greater number of the unfortunate crew of the 
privateer, Finau intimated to the survivors his 
intention of conquering Tongatabu, with whose 
people he was at variance, and that, as the 
carronades of the privateer, with plenty of 
ammunition, had been saved, he wished the 
English sailors to take charge of the guns, and 
serve them in the reduction of the principal 
