Hugh Christie

The Gift was a two-masted [fore and aft] 30 ton cutter with schooner rigging. She was built in Hobart for successful Perth merchant George Shenton. She was built from Huon pine and had copper sheathing to the waterline.Although she was built in 1864, she was not registered until 1868.Her official number was 32146.

Unfortunately, George Shenton was aboard the Lass of Geraldton when she sank in the midwest, and George was lost with her. Gift was bought by a conglomerate of merchants and returned to work trading along the west coast with Thomas O’Grady in command.

Thomas was reputed to be a steady and reliable young master. He was popular in the trading and Fremantle Port circles. It shocked the Port of Fremantle when Thomas suddenly died of a heart condition on board Gift at Port Irwin on 23 July 1870. He was 26 years of age [see story on Thomas O'Grady].

Gift was starting to gain a reputation as an unlucky boat. Seagoing men were superstitious, and two deaths had disrupted work and affected the crew's income. In August 1870 she was under command of Master Tegg. In September Master Taylor was in charge. In January 1871, Master Taquer was listed as captain.

Meanwhile Gift was despatched to Shark Bay with Sub Inspector Piesse aboard to investigate blackbirding in the pearl shell boats with instructions to arrest offenders. She maintained her regular run up and down the coast, with cargos of pearl shell, pearls, guano, provisions and equipment for the fishing settlements and pastoralists.

Late in 1871 Hugh Christie was appointed as master of the Gift. He was a quiet man who attracted little attention other than newspaper shipping schedules where he was named as the master of Gift. The cutter was owned by Hugh and George Roe who voyaged aboard her. Also aboard were Phillip Passey, Frank Roy, cook George Lute and ship’s boy Francis Harris.

Their first task was to sail Gift to Surabaya in Indonesia to collect 37 crew with trepang experience. The divers were from Bali and Alor Island. There were 13 Makassars [from Sulawese, Indonesia] included in the crew. The serang [foreman of the crew] was a Makassar.

The crew seem settled and the voyage to the West Australian coast was uneventful. They anchored at Condon on 26 October 1870, where the divers completed four dives before the close of day. There was little moonlight and Gift’s cabin had no lights. Despite the dark, there was no watch set as there seemed no need for one.

George Roe and Frank were asleep in the cabin, Hugh and Phillip were sleeping on deck, and the cook and young Francis were sleeping forward on the deck. The dark night seemed peaceful and quiet.

At midnight George and Frank awoke to Phillip’s cries, and the disturbance of him falling into the cabin. Phillip told them the serang had tried to kill him and the crew were awake and moving around suspiciously on deck.

Phillip grabbed his revolver from the cabin and immediately returned to the deck. George and Frank heard him fire his gun, before he fell into the cabin again. He was seriously wounded with multiple injuries.

Frank and George jumped into action and quickly located their own revolvers. The crew hurled weapons at them. They dodged harpoons, lances, oars, boat hooks and lumps of firewood. The firewood left heavy bruising. Then Phillip was lanced through his thigh.

They saw an opportunity and rushed on deck. George’s gun was unloaded. But Frank fired his gun towards the mutineers to deter them from moving towards them. The crew dropped their axes and moved forward to the bow.

George and Frank could see who was attacking them. It was the 13 Makassars, led by the serang. The remainder of the crew remained below decks, frightened.

George found ammunition and loaded his revolver. He and Frank put Phillip in the dinghy. The cook and ship’s boy joined them, and together they found Hugh. He was injured at the start of the mutiny and had tucked himself under the wheel to avoid further harm. At this time it appeared he had serious bruising over his body. He was helped into the dinghy.

George was still firing shots to keep the mutineers away from the escaping men. Finally, they were in the dinghy and started to pull for the shore, which was two miles away. As they parted from the Gift, the men saw the cutter get underway and sail north.

The escapees made for the Mary, under the command of Captain Littlejohn and his mate Mr Grant. They took the wounded in to care for them. Phillip had 26 wounds in total: three axe wounds to his head, lance wounds to his chest, ankle and hip, and deep knife wounds to his lower abdomen, back and both shoulders. He had many less serious wounds and bruises. The boy Francis had a knife cut across his eye. Frank had a deep arrow wound on his thigh. Hugh’s injuries did not seem as serious as they really were. He was badly bruised, but internal injuries were not yet apparent.

On 9 November Hugh died from his injuries. The closest cemetery was Cossack, and he was buried there. Phillip was taken to Champion Bay where there was medical attention he needed. He was permanently lamed by his injuries.

At daybreak on 27 November George Roe, George Lute and Frank Roy boarded Amateur, bound for Port Walcott. They arrived on 30 November at 8am. Reports had reached Resident Magistrate Sholl already and although he showed little concern, he despatched Banningarra to give chase to Gift. Aboard were Messrs Anderson, Grant, Fauntleroy, and Lambert Smith. Banningarra was waiting to sail, and Frank Roy and George Lute boarded her to help identify the mutineers. Magistrate Sholl also sent Adur to sail to Koepang [Timor] and advise the Dutch authorities what had occurred.

The mutineers traded for several months in the islands north of Australia. Eventually they mutinied among themselves and deserted Gift in islands approximately 150 miles from Makassar. The Resident Magistrate at Makassar imprisoned six mutineers and found and arrested six more at Salaya, Thailand. When it was discovered that they had thrown three of the Alorese crew members overboard, murder charges were added to the mutiny.

Hugh was dead and Phillip was permanently disabled. George told Frank, and retired master mariner John Watson that Gift had been sighted. John was offered a half share in Gift once they found her. In July 1937 the three men boarded Water Lily commanded by Captain Michael O’Grady (brother of the deceased Thomas), and their search for Gift began. [Read more about Michael in the Thomas O’Grady story].

With the help of the Water Lily and the Dutch authorities George Roe returned to the northwest coast in the Gift in January 1874. He had identified the Makassars who had taken the Gift, and the life of his friend and partner Hugh Christie. George believed the Dutch authorities would punish the mutineers. He was disappointed to discover the Dutch had no jurisdiction over them and released them.

George and John Watkins had returned to the WA coast with 25 Malay divers. They made directly for Roebourne and began pearling outside the Flying Foam Passage, keen to make up for their lost income. John sold his share of the boat back to George and returned to retirement after the end of the 1874 season, leaving John to carry on with the Gift.

The Gift, unlike her crew was none the worse for her experience. George put her to work pearling in the northwest, and she remained at work until 1898. On 24 January she was caught in a storm at Shark Bay. After parting her chains, she was blown out to sea and was not seen again.