William Henry "Bully" Hayes was a notorious American ship's captain who engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s.
38 Facts About Bully Hayes
2.
Bully Hayes has been described as a South Sea pirate and "the last of the buccaneers".
3.
Bully Hayes was a large man who used intimidation against his crew, although he could reportedly be very charming if he chose to be.
4.
Bully Hayes was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of three sons of Henry Hayes, a grog-shanty keeper.
5.
Bully Hayes became a sailor on the Great Lakes after running away from home.
6.
Bully Hayes is believed to have left New York as a passenger of the Canton on 4 March 1853, although when the ship reached Singapore on 11 July 1853 it was captained by Hayes, and sold by him there shortly after arrival.
7.
Bully Hayes operated in East Asia, carrying out various frauds on ship's chandlers over mortgaging ships, providing forged papers in payment for cargo and selling cargo for his own account rather than for the account of the owners of the cargo.
8.
Bully Hayes married the widow Amelia Littleton in the Clare Valley town of Penwortham on 20 August 1857, bigamously if, as is believed, Bully Hayes had earlier married in the United States.
9.
Bully Hayes had built up debts in Adelaide, but by a ruse escaped his creditors and in Melbourne, Australia he gained the command of the Orestes sailing to Vancouver, Canada.
10.
Bully Hayes was thrown off the ship in Honolulu by the supercargo for swindling passengers.
11.
Bully Hayes proceeded to gain command of a new ship, the 318-ton brig Ellenita with a cargo obtained by fraud.
12.
Bully Hayes sailed back across the Pacific, abandoning Amelia in San Francisco.
13.
Between maritime adventures Bully Hayes became a member of a blackface minstrel troupe in New South Wales, Australia.
14.
Bully Hayes was a notable early figure in the history of the Otago region of New Zealand.
15.
Bully Hayes travelled the region with a travelling company of vaudeville artists on a tour of New Zealand.
16.
Bully Hayes married a widow Mrs Roma 'Rosie' Buckingham, whose four sons were vaudeville artists, performing as The Masters Buckingham.
17.
Bully Hayes moved to Christchurch, where he married Emily Mary Butler in 1865.
18.
In May 1866 Bully Hayes acquired the brig Rona and operated in the Pacific with bases in Apia, Samoa, and in Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
19.
Bully Hayes became notorious in the Pacific because of his "recruiting" of Pacific islanders to provide labour for the plantations of Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa and Australia.
20.
On 17 April 1868, Bully Hayes arrived off Suwarrow on the brig Rona, with 109 islanders from Niue who were being transported to Tahiti.
21.
Bully Hayes found Captain Handley B Sterndale, and a work crew of 18 men, 2 women and 3 children, whose food supplies had run out.
22.
Bully Hayes agreed to rescue Sterndale and the islanders, notwithstanding the Rona was already crowded, with Sterndale and the Islanders being delivered to Rakahanga, from where they eventually were able to travel to Tahiti.
23.
Bully Hayes then purchased the schooner Atlantic, although soon after he was arrested in February 1870 by the Consul Williams in Apia on charges related to his activities.
24.
Bully Hayes escaped from Samoa on 1 April 1870 on the ship of Ben Pease, a fellow American of similar reputation.
25.
That of James A Michener and A Grove Day Hayes is different in detail to that provided by Alfred Restieaux, an island trader who had dealings with both Hayes and Pease.
26.
Restieaux's account is that Bully Hayes sold the cargo in Shanghai; with Restieaux recounting two stories that he had been told about Pease's death: the first was that he drowned after jumping overboard from a Spanish Man-of-War, the second was that he was killed in a fight in the Bonin Islands.
27.
Bully Hayes continued to trade in coconut oil, copra and blackbirding.
28.
Bully Hayes's reputation meant that no crew members would give evidence against him.
29.
Bully Hayes's demands were met and he sailed to his residence at the nearby island of Kosrae.
30.
Bully Hayes was still not able to walk properly after three months when she was returned to Pingelap.
31.
Bully Hayes was known to treat other girls in a similar manner while at Kosrae.
32.
Bully Hayes, here was the outlaw on a man-of-war's deck with a bold front on him offering to pilot the ship in.
33.
Bully Hayes informed him that his vessel was wrecked near here and he had established a station making oil.
34.
Bully Hayes purchased the schooner Arabia on credit in April 1875 and accepted a commission to help convicts escape from prison.
35.
Bully Hayes was eventually freed and landed in San Francisco without funds in early 1876.
36.
Bully Hayes persuaded a Mr and Mrs Moody to fund the purchase of a schooner the Lotus.
37.
Bully Hayes tricked Mr Moody into going ashore and sailed off with Mrs Moody still on board.
38.
The motive was remove Bully Hayes and allow Elson and the crew to search for and take the money that Bully Hayes was believed to have buried on Kosrae following the wreck of the Leonora in 1874.