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Chapter V.
Marion's Visit To The Bay of Islands. 1772.

The Expedition which Marion commanded resembled that of De Surville's only to the extent that neither of them was promoted by the Government of the day; De Surville's Expedition was purely a commercial venture, Marion's, the Expedition of a wealthy man in the cause of science.

In 1769 Bougainville brought to France a native of Tahiti, Mayoa, who, after a short stay in the French capital, was sent to the Mauritius to be taken home as soon as convenient. Marion offered to take the Tahitian home at his own expense, and permission was granted, one of the King's store-ships being attached to the Expedition but at the expense of the promoter. The Mascarin under Marion, and the Marquis de Castries under Chevalier du Clesmeur, constituted the Expedition which set out from the Mauritius. At Reunion Island the Tahitian was attacked with smallpox, and died while the vessels were at Madagascar. Although the central object of the Expedition was now removed, Marion decided to go on with the work of discovery, and to follow the general route taken by Tasman.

For information of Marion's visit to New Zealand the student of the past has been confined to the French production of Abbé Alexis Rochon, published as early as 1783, or the English translation of it made by H. Ling Roth in 1891. This source of information has now been supplemented by the publication of the Journals (with their English translations) of Lieutenant Roux of the Mascarin, and of Captain Du Clesmeur of the Marquis de Castries, in the Historical Records of New Zealand, Vol. II., pp. 350 to 481.

The Expedition first sighted New Zealand at 8 o'clock on the morning of 25th March 1772, detecting, from a great page 60 distance out to sea, the summit of Mount Egmont, at first taken to be an islet. When, next day, its true nature was discovered, it was named Mount Mascarin, and was supposed to be one of the headlands of Murderers' Bay. Marion remained in the vicinity of the mountain until the twenty-ninth, when he steered northward, detecting numerous signs of human habitation ashore, and, generally speaking, being well pleased with the appearance of the country. So as to miss nothing, as well as to avoid dangers, the vessels were hove to at night.

On 3rd April Cape Maria van Diemen was sighted, and the same day a terrible storm, which lasted for three days, came up from the N.W. The Three Kings were sighted on the eighth, and some time was spent there through contrary winds. The report of Tasman's voyage, which the Frenchmen worked from, stated that on one of the islands of the group was a river. This river was searched for in vain, and, though some Natives were seen, the Expedition sailed away in disgust. Whatever discrepancy the Frenchmen found in the Dutchman's narrative must have been due to the translation, as Tasman's description is true to this day, and he spoke, not of a river, but of “water coming down in great plenty from a steep mountain."

Leaving the Three Kings on the twelfth, Marion made over to the mainland, and, on the fifteenth, sent the ship's cutter into what is now called Spirits Bay, and, later on, into Tom Bowling Bay. To the North Cape was given the name Cape Eolus, which shows us that Marion was working with Tasman's chart only, as Cook's or De Surville's would have shewn him North Cape, or Cape Surville.

As the Expedition was now in dire straits for want of refreshments, an effort was made to get water in Spirits Bay, and the ships came to an anchor there on the morning of 16th April. Lieutenant Crozet went ashore, but could find only brackish water, and, when he returned to the ship, the vessels were labouring very heavily at their anchors which had commenced to drag, and the vessels themselves were in danger of being driven on to the rocks towards the eastern point of the bay. Things got worse as the night wore on, and at page 61 four in the morning Marion signalled to the Marquis de Castries to get under sail. This her captain did by cutting the cables, and the Mascarin followed her about four hours later.

Knocked about from the seventeenth to the twenty-sixth Marion hung on with the hope of saving the five valuable anchors and cables which he had been forced to cut away from in Anchor Bay as he designated their anchorage. On the twenty-sixth a careful search was made, but only the two anchors belonging to the Mascarin were recovered; the three belonging to the Marquis de Castries, not having been buoyed, were hopelessly lost. It was probably the knowledge of this fact that caused Du Clesmeur to oppose the search for the missing ground tackle, and which compelled Marion, through a speaking trumpet, to order him to follow his lead. To replace the missing ground tackle Marion sent to Du Clesmeur two of his own anchors.

While the anchors were being recovered boats from both vessels visited the shore and spent some time examining the Native cultivations, their dwellings, and their huge fishing nets. Nowhere could metal implements be detected. Strange to say, Roux states that they found a “skeleton of an ass of the same kind as ours," and a “piece of skin somewhat similar to that of the bear." The latter was evidently a dog skin, but what the “skeleton" was the author cannot surmise.

Having done all that could be done to save the anchors, Marion rounded the North Cape on 28th April, and reached Cape Brett, which he called Square Cape, on 1st May. Here, when tacking about reconnoitring the coastline, canoes came off and visited the ships. At first the Natives showred considerable fear, but were finally induced to come on board, where they were made welcome with presents of clothing. Seeing the reception the first had obtained, great numbers of canoes full of Natives now began to arrive, and to make sure against attack armed soldiers were placed on the poops of the French vessels.

Though the members of the Expedition did not know of other visitors to these parts, it was patent, by the absence of astonishment on the part of the Natives when coming on page 62 board, and by the knowledge of muskets which they possessed, that they had met Europeans before. Two of the chiefs dined with Marion, and the French officers record that, in their likes and dislikes at the table, they showed great aversion to salt meat, and to wines of all kinds.

When night came, two chiefs, with two attendants, remained on board the Mascarin, but every time the vessel, in tacking, got well out to sea, they manifested the greatest anxiety, and urged that the ships should go further into the Bay. Probably De Surville's action in taking away a chief, two-and-a-half years before, was known to them. After midnight boats which had been sent out during the day returned with good news of a suitable anchorage, and at noon the ships' course was set towards the reported harbour. As they were entering, only the vigilance of the outlook prevented the Marquis de Castries from striking on a sunken rock which the French called the Razeline Reef. Night compelled the anchor to be cast at the mouth of a harbour to which the name Port Marion was given. From the evening of the fifth, until the ninth and tenth, the Expedition remained at its first anchorage, and during that time, on the occasion of a visit to the mainland, the members of the Expedition witnessed a fight which took place between two rival tribes of the New Zealanders. A chief of one of the tribes came up to Marion's men, and, enlisting the services of a sergeant, put him at their head; as they marched to the attack the sergeant fired two shots from his musket and the whole of the opposing forces fled; this bloodless fight over, the Natives brought back the sergeant to his friends who had been interested spectators of this singular contest.

On 11th May the two ships cast anchor at a spot chosen by Marion, near one of the largest islands in the harbour, called Marion Island, and two tents were pitched ashore for the sick and for the officers, and a guard house for the men whose presence was necessary as a precaution against the thieving propensities of the Natives.

Provision having been thus completed for the sick, the repairs necessary for the ships were attended to. The two page 63 longboats first examined the western side of the harbour in search of suitable spars for the Marquis de Castries. On the twentieth the eastern part of the harbour was visited and the boats' crews were taken by the Natives to examine some trees which grew there. These proved scarcely long enough, however, for the purpose, and one of the Natives promised to show them where much longer trees grew. Two days later he did so, and after travelling about three miles from the head of a large inlet situated to the south of the bay, pointed out trees large enough to mast a vessel carrying 74 guns. Du Clesmeur was ordered to pitch a masting camp there, and accordingly erected on the beach four huts, for sentry guard, workers, officers, and store.

While these preparations were being made, a negro and three negresses—slaves of Marion's—were placed on Marion Island to wash the linen of the ship. The negro took a small canoe, and, with the negresses on board, sought to desert to the Natives, but finding the load too great for the canoe, he killed one of the women to lighten it; another, fearing the same fate, jumped overboard and swam ashore. Another incident caused considerable excitement. A New Zealander who had stolen a cutlass was captured when making off with it, but, at the request of some of his countrymen, he was liberated by Marion.

Operations for cutting were now commenced. On 28th May Du Clesmeur moved to the camp, and the following day work commenced. Marion visited the spot to view the timber, traversing a swamp 80 fathoms wide and up to the waist in depth, thus experiencing the difficulties which his men had to encounter. That night he spent in the open forest.

By the end of May the sick camp at Marion Island, and the masting camp on the mainland, were in full swing, and the various officers took their turn of duty at both places.

By the eighth of June the masts were finished and had been transported a considerable distance towards the shore, and, as was the custom, the gear had been left on the spot, and a tent erected as a guardhouse. While the men were at supper some Natives slipped under the tent looking for page 64 plunder. When they came out they were observed and fired at, but managed to get away with a 300lb. anchor, a musket, and a greatcoat. The officer in command straightway sent out twelve armed men with an officer to repulse any attack the Natives might make. Next morning a chief was captured and bound to a stake, but, on the incident being reported to Marion, that officer ordered his release, expressing himself as very angry at what had been done. Another anchor was supplied to the party.

Just at this juncture the officer in charge of the guard on Marion Island took ill, and Lieutenant Roux of the Mascarin took his place. The strength, from a defence point of view, was four soldiers, an officer, the surgeon major, and the commanding officer. As the sick men recovered they returned to their ships, so that those in camp were of no help in an emergency. Roux, on taking charge, learned that for several nights Natives had been hanging about, and he accordingly got the six blunderbusses belonging to the camp cleaned up, loaded, and placed at the entrance of the tent, with a sentry always on guard.

The next day Marion visited the sick camp and expressed his approval of the precautions taken, but would not listen to any suggestion that the Natives had designs upon the Expedition. Although he had, that morning, sent assistance to the masting camp, because of the appearance of Natives there the night before, nothing would convince the French Commander that there was any danger, and, in justification of his view, he recounted to Roux a visit he had made to the village of a chief called Tacoury, a few days before, when he climbed the hill, and, in the presence of a great number of the Natives, was crowned, presented with a fish and a tiki, and made to understand that he was regarded as a king. “How can you expect me to have a bad opinion of a people who show me so much friendship?" was Marion's reply to Roux's fears.

That same afternoon—the eleventh—the sick camp was again visited by the Natives, and the chief who came appeared more than usually inquisitive, taking particular notice of the page 65 blunderbusses, and carefully examining the tent containing the sick sailors. Later on in the day Roux was at this chief's village, when the latter manifested considerable curiosity about the cleaning of the guns and their power to kill men, and, to prove that they could, Roux shot one of the dogs which happened to be passing. The chief then tried if he could shoot a dog, but, instead of pulling the trigger, he blew on the lock. The French officer thought it advisable to leave him in ignorance of the proper method of firing. That night more Natives visited the tents.

The next day was the fateful twelfth of June. In the morning Du Clesmeur boarded the Mascarin and told Marion everything that had taken place, but the latter would listen to no fear of danger, and urged indulgence towards men who knew no difference between meum and tuum; he believed them incapable of hatching evil against their visitors, and he recounted what he had already told Roux of his treatment by the assembled Natives a few days ago, and stated that they had returned the musket stolen from the guard tent at the masting camp.

That afternoon two chiefs came on board to seek Marion, and, at two o'clock, he went off in his cutter with them, with two armed officers and thirteen unarmed sailors. He had nets for fishing, and was going to visit Tacoury's village. He did not return, but that was not altogether unusual, and the ship's company, though feeling a little anxiety, concluded he had gone to the masting camp to spend the night.

The first note of alarm came at one o'clock on the morning of the thirteenth, when the sentry reported that great numbers of Natives were approaching the sick camp. Preparations were at once made by the seven men who were not ill, by arranging the blunderbusses in the form of a square and themselves getting inside, to resist any possible attack. When within a pistol shot the Natives saw the preparations and halted for half-an-hour, when they quietly withdrew. Had the attackers not been terrified of the blunderbusses they must easily have captured the camp, and that meant page 66 the Expedition, as, with the tackle on shore and 60 men in the sick camp unable to walk, the weakened ships would never have left the New Zealand coast.

When day broke on the thirteenth the hills surrounding the sick camp were seen covered with Natives. One chief known to Roux came forward and told him, weeping, that Tacoury had killed Marion, but Roux, thinking that Marion was on the Mascarin, concluded that he was being warned of Tacoury's designs. Just then the chief hurriedly retired and the longboat from the Mascarin arrived with assistance for the camp which they could see was being threatened. Then Roux learned that Marion was missing, and at once the awful truth dawned on him. Thirty armed men were disembarked for the protection of the camp, and the longboat returned.

Before daylight that morning the Captain of the Marquis de Castries had sent his longboat, with twelve men on board, to secure firewood from the cove where Marion used to go fishing. About 7 o'clock a cry was heard from the land by those on board, and a man was seen swimming off to the ship. A boat was sent to pick him up, when he was found to be one of the crew of the longboat, wounded with a spear thrust in his side. He reported the massacre of the boat's company in the following terms:

“When the longboat's company arrived at the landing-place in the cove which runs into Tacoury's village, they perceived some natives who were all armed, but who were in small numbers, and who called out to them, making signs that they were to land. The sailor named Raux, seeing that there was some good wood, steered for the place, notwithstanding the arguments of the master-at-arms, who feared the natives, and who declared they were armed. For a time, at first, it seemed, judging by the favourable reception given by the natives to our people, that the master-at-arms had been wrong in mistrusting them, the natives coming forward to take our men and carry them to the shore on their shoulders. As our men had no reason to suspect any plot on the part of the natives, they separated one from another for page 67 the purpose of cutting the firewood. One of the men, named Lequay, was in the company of the sailor who gave us this account, and working at the same tree, when suddenly a dozen natives surrounded him. A hideous yell being given, no doubt as a signal, a considerable number of the savages appeared, and forthwith attacked them. Lequay's comrade, feeling his side pierced by a spear, seized the weapon and pulled it out. He then struck down with his axe the native who had wounded him. Amidst frightful cries from the savages, he distinguished the voice of Lequay, who called to him for help, and having found him seized by several of the savages, tried to get him away by striking them with his axe. Fear having now gained the mastery, and as the struggle was so unequal, he had tried to get back to the longboat, which he perceived filled with natives, who were murdering several of his comrades, who, having the same design as himself, had endeavoured to escape, whereupon seeing the horrible grimaces of the savages, who were cutting our men into pieces with their own hatchets, and hearing their agonised and expiring voices, he sought safety in flight, not knowing very well which way to turn. As he was fleeing, he saw M. Marion's boat, which was aground at the head of the cove. Having crossed through a little wood and Tacoury's village, where a multitude of children by their cries had increased his fright, and made him redouble his efforts to escape, he arrived at the beach, and flung himself into the sea, without hesitating, in the fear that some of the savages might come up and murder him."

Another record of his story adds the following particulars. The boatswain alone entered the wood with his musket; the escaped man had gone further than the others into the bush and had killed both the Natives who attacked him; he estimated that some 300 Natives took part in the attack.

There could be no doubt now of what had happened to Marion. Not only was the Commander, with two officers, and thirteen sailors, killed; but eleven men from the Marquis page 68 de Castries had that morning shared their fate. Twenty-seven men of the Expedition had lost their lives!

No time was to be lost now in getting relief to the sick, and mast, camps, as the success of the New Zealanders the day before, and that morning, would prompt them to united action at once to wipe out the whole party. The wounded sailor had scarcely finished his narrative on the deck of the Marquis de Castries when preparations could be seen being made by 500 or 600 Natives to attack the sick camp. Du Clesmeur immediately sent some men to the rescue, and the Natives retreated en masse to the tops of the hills.

Roux then set to work to defend the hospital, and placed the six blunderbusses to form a battery on the side the attack must come from. As the Natives crowded around showing how they had killed Marion, Roux recognised Tacoury, who signalled to him to approach and actually came almost within musket shot with ten of his men. When Roux advanced to meet him he turned and started to ascend the hill. Roux and his party thereupon let him have a volley, when he fell, but was picked up and carried off. Whether he was killed or not is not known, but he never afterwards appeared. At the head of the attacking force could be seen all the chiefs who were in the habit of visiting the vessels, and of pretending to the Frenchmen that while at war with one another they were all friends of the visitors. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon there must have been 1000 to 1200 Natives round the hospital.

Meantime things had been developing at the mast camp. During the night of the twelfth—after the death of Marion—those in the camp were surprised to see armed Natives advancing close up to them. On a few shots being fired the visitors made off. This must have been almost simultaneous with the attack on the sick camp. At daybreak on the thirteenth the hills were covered with armed Natives, and it was at first thought that the masts should not be visited that day, but, after consultation, it was decided to send a party there and leave sufficient men in camp to defend it. The work of dragging the masts went on, and these were a good way out of the bush and within about a mile of the huts, page 69 when, towards noon, those engaged in the work learned that the Natives had made an attempt to get inside the camp and had been fired on. Dinner had to be brought up to the fatigue party with an armed escort.

By this time the masts were on a little hill from which the camp could be seen, when it was noticed that a longboat arrived from the ship, and its arrival was followed by eight men coming up to the fatigue party in the greatest haste. These men brought up the sad news, and it was at once decided to leave the masts and return with the working gear to the camp. Crozet was now in command, and put his men, to the number of about a hundred, into the longboat and the cutter, which alone were at their disposal. They had no sooner done this than the Natives rushed down and set fire to the huts.

The occupants of the longboat reported that they had seen Marion's cutter, and the longboat of the Marquis de Castries, aground in Tacoury's Cove. There were divided opinions on the advisability of going and securing these boats, and Crozet seems finally to have decided to make no effort to recover them, although some of his officers were very insistent on their recapture. Whatever the reason was, Crozet could not be persuaded. On arriving on board the Mascarin he sent further assistance to the sick camp, and, to make the latter more easy of defence, all who were sick, and all the tents except one for shelter for the arms, were taken on board. A signal was also arranged lest assistance should be required in the night, special precautions were taken to defend the forge, sentries were posted on all sides, and a guard told off for the tent.

At 11 o'clock in the evening an attack was made and the signal given to the ships, but the Natives were beaten off before the longboat arrived, and she accordingly returned to the ship. In the morning the attackers had greatly increased in numbers, and some of them held up, for the Frenchmen to see, the clothes and gun of their late Commander.

It was now realised as necessary that the New Zealanders must be cleared out from the neighbourhood of the camp, page 70 and Lieutenant Roux selected twenty-six men for the work, each man being armed with a musket, a pair of pistols, a cutlass, and 40 rounds of ammunition. When the top of the hill was reached it was seen that the Natives were sending off their women, youths, and children, by sea, from the peninsula on which the fortified village was situated. Only on one side could this village be approached, and then only by one man at a time holding on to the pallisades to avoid falling into a moat. A raised platform all round enabled it to be effectively defended.

When about a musket shot away two chiefs came out and threw darts, but one was badly wounded and the other retreated on the first fire. Some 300 paces which had to be traversed were rendered slippery by water poured on by the Natives, but by shooting all who ascended the raised platform the whole attacking force was enabled to reach the gateway without one man being wounded. At the gate firing commenced through the pallisades, and a deadly fire was kept up on the Natives as they rose to throw their weapons, but in spite of this fire a sergeant was struck above the eye by a long spear held by a chief, and the force of the blow nearly knocked him into the moat. At last the gate was smashed open, and the men rushed in. At this moment Lieutenant Roux was wounded in the thigh, and one of the soldiers in the side. The Natives were pursued to where the embarcation was proceeding, and here a terrible slaughter took place. The whole incident lasted but forty minutes, and Roux estimates that, of some 450 who defended the fortification, about 200 got away in canoes, the others being either killed or drowned, as the sea was rough and prevented the swimmers reaching the mainland. One longboat, well armed, had been sent to intercept the anticipated flight by water, but the sea was so rough that it did not reach its destination. Had it done so none of the Natives would have escaped.

Nothing of any moment was found in the village, which was then set on fire, and, in an hour and a half, the greater part was reduced to ashes. What was not destroyed was used as firewood for the ships. Some fear was felt at first that the page 71 weapons of the New Zealanders might be poisoned, but it proved not to be so as all the wounded made satisfactory recoveries. The next day the camp was broken up and everything taken on board.

Uncertain of the fate of the masts which were on the mainland, and not caring to risk the lives of any of the men in an investigation, a forge was fitted up on the Mascarin, and the carpenters set to work to make new ones, with the result that they succeeded in turning out a satisfactory foremast, a bowsprit, and a mizzenmast.

On 28th June the longboat was at the island for water, and the officer in command was carrying away a piece of timber when some Natives came forward to oppose him. One of them was captured, but got away. Several of the Natives were seen with clothes belonging to the dead Frenchmen, and one of them had Marion's gun.

The following day another visit was made to cut down the pallisades of the Native village, when some 60 Natives were surprised, and about 25 of them, who failed to get away in the canoes, were either shot or drowned.

On 7th July—25 days after the massacre—it was decided to make a descent on Tacoury's village to see if any traces of Marion still existed. It was found abandoned, and the only evidences of the massacre were traces of human bones and signs of cannibal feasts. Except that this village, and another near it, were burnt, and except also that it gave the New Zealanders an opportunity of parading the garments of the men they had murdered, nothing resulted from the Expedition.

Four days later a council was held, when it was decided to sail for Manilla, passing Rotterdam and Amsterdam Islands.

On 12th July there was buried on Marion Island a bottle, in which were enclosed the arms of France, and a formal statement of the taking possession of the country which was named Austral-France. This bottle was buried four feet underground, 57 yards from high-water mark, and ten paces from the little stream.

page 72

The next day the Expedition sailed.

In a narrative gleaned only from the Journals of Roux and of Du Clesmeur, many points are obscure. A Journal kept by Crozet was available when the Abbé Rochon wrote his account of the voyage, but that Journal was not available to the author. The writers of the two Journals before us were men who evidently had little liking for one another, as can be seen by two references. The first is to the mistake made by Du Clesmeur in not buoying his anchors in Anchor Bay, which resulted in three of them being lost to the Expedition; as to the second, when describing what took place after Marion's death, Roux says:—" fter his death mistakes became as frequent as when he was alive they had been rare; one stupidity succeeded another." On the part of Du Clesmeur, the credit of leading the attack on the Native village, which resulted so successfully, is given to M. le Chevalier de Lorimier, who is stated to have been the only man wounded. Nothing is clearer, on reading Roux's Journal, than that Roux led the attack, and that there were three men wounded. The very fact that a lieutenant was present would give him the command before the Chevalier de Lorimier.

However widely the two officers differed from one another they both agree in this, that repeated warnings were conveyed to Marion of questionable acts on the part of the Natives, and they also both agree that he declined to entertain the idea of anything more than petty theft being present in the mind of the New Zealanders. No doubt the chiefs were quick enough to see this. Natives seized were liberated without punishment, and it would very quickly become apparent to the New Zealander that the Commander regarded their actions without any trace of alarm. Thus we find extraordinary demonstrations of love and affection given to Marion on different occasions, always and only to put him completely off his guard, until he could be secured, with a fairly large party, almost entirely unarmed; because we are told that, when he left the ship on the eve of the massacre, only three were armed. The demonstration of force after page 73 the massacre shows that the Natives regarded the death of Marion as sealing the fate of the others.

There is one other point before we finish this analysis, and that is, What caused the massacre? French authorities incline to the belief that De Surville's action in taking away the chief from Doubtless Bay was at the back of it. The author, in all humility, thinks not. In 1769—little more than two years before—in this same Bay of Islands, Cook only escaped attack by the judicious use of “buckshot," followed by “ball," and ending with cannon from the ship (page 30). Had Cook been imbued with Marion's views he would never have returned on board the Endeavour. He resembled the Frenchman in being perfectly straight with the Natives, but he differed from the Frenchman in this, that when perfectly straight dealing did not avail he always gave a reminder—in buckshot, for preference—and this reminder, while it did not prevent him ending his career, like his French rival, in a South Sea oven, placed the two men very far apart as South Sea navigators and explorers.

* * * * *

The Native version of the death of Marion and of his men was obtained by Mr. Alexander Berry, supercargo of the City of Edinburgh, when that vessel was in the Bay of Islands in 1810, 28 years after the event. It reads thus:—

“After living for a time in great harmony with the French, one of their chiefs stole an axe from the carpenters in the wood. The theft being detected, they tied his hands and put a centinel on him with a musket. They then described, in the most ludicrous manner, the solemn stately pace of the centinel, contrasted with the trembling, crouching, and watchful posture of the Zealander, who, on some occasion, when the former turned his back, escaped into the wood.… The chief, on getting to a proper distance in the bush, unbound himself with his teeth, and immediately returned to his Hippah, or fortified village, resolved to take the first opportunity of revenge. page 74 Poor Marion, not knowing what had happened, on next coming ashore for the purpose of visiting the party in the wood as usual, called at the Hippah in his way. They were admitted with the same demonstrations of friendship as formerly, but, as had been beforehand concerted, were treacherously surprised and murdered.… Next morning a second party came on shore, and were likewise surprised and killed while in the act of hauling the seine. One man only escaped by swimming, after being wounded, and who, being seen from the ship, was taken on board."

When reproducing the Native account of the massacre of the second boat's crew, a mistake may have been made by Berry when he says that they were killed “while in the act of hauling the seine." The Journals kept by the officers show that Marion's boat had a seine, and he went for the purpose of fishing, while the second boat went to cut wood, and the solitary survivor stated that they were so engaged when set on. Probably the Native told Berry that they attacked the first boat while they were “hauling the seine." If so, this is the one solitary piece of information we have ever obtained of what went on that awful afternoon that Marion met his death.