An interesting read and when I first saw the topic I thought that it was going to be about Bully Hayes - his story is very interesting. There are a lot of interesting stories from the ‘South Seas’ and many pioneer families had ancestors who had colourful and interesting pasts!
The slave trade inthe South Seas was called ‘Blackbirding’ as the title to your article states. Bully Hayes the blackbirder actually went to Arrowtown where he set up a shanty…my great great grandfather and his partner sewed the calico for its roof so I understand.
Later on Bully Hayes was murdered aboard his ship by one of the crew - a great bit if history.
Interesting read GP.
Yeah, initially found it while searching an unrelated topic - the coins found lead me to this and the token article.