Rickinson and Shenton

Captain James Middleton Rickinson was born in Yorkshire, England in 1847. He joined the merchant navy at the age of 18 and moved up the ranks as he gained experience. In 1871 he was married to Jessie J Pilgrim in Sydney. Together they had two daughters.

James emigrated to Australia and made for the pearl fields in the west. He became master of the schooner Pearl, with her fleet of luggers. They collected shells along the northwest coast, working as far north as Derby.

The Pearl's mate was Challoner Shenton. He was born in Perth in 1851 and joined James as a pilot when James was working in Port Darwin. James made Challoner his mate because he knew the waters of King Sound, where the fleet was headed. Challoner was single and had no children. He was 33 years of age when he died. He was known along the coast as a hard task master.

Pearl was a 30 ton two-masted ketch with schooner rigging. She was owned by WS Findlay and RB Baynes. She was the mother boat for the fleet, and had her own divers, tenders and pump hands. Pearl had a cook called Chan Yow, a trusted crew member.

Pearl was built in 1870 by Charles Watson at Fremantle for a group of pearling, merchant and farming partners. She was not registered in Fremantle until 1873. Her official number was 61111. She was 57 feet long, 18 feet wide and drew 7 feet of water.

On 29 May 1885 James, Challoner and Chan Yow took the dinghy ashore to collect fresh water and paint the dinghy. They were at Pearl Pass in King Sound, and the fleet was having a brief lay up for repair and maintenance, and for the divers to have a break.

Once ashore, Chan Yow was taking water brought to them by local Nimanburu men. James was on one side of the dinghy and Challoner was on the other.

Suddenly one of the men threw a spear at James. He cried out and fell to the ground. Challoner ran around the boat to reach him and grab his revolver to protect them. Before he reached James, a second Nimanburu threw a spear which killed him.

Challoner had the revolver, and he fired at his attackers, hitting one with his third bullet. He ran after the men firing but had only six rounds in the revolver. Once they were shot, Challoner turned and ran back to the boat. The men turned and rushed at him. Challoner reached the water’s edge, and then he was killed.

The Nimanburu men focused on Chan Yow in the dinghy. Two men held the gunwale attempting to beach the boat, but Chan Yow used all his strength and struck them with an oar. Chan Yow dodged one spear, but a second one struck his chest. He kept hitting his attackers with an oar, breaking his shoulder, leaving his left arm useless.

Having deterred the men, Chan Yow rowed as hard as he could with one arm, headed for the Pearl, anchored half a mile from shore. Once aboard he rushed to find all the firearms on board and take them to the deck. He got the boat underway and headed towards the fleet to get help.

It took almost three hours to reach the nearest lugger. Chan Yow fired shots at the men pursuing him in another dinghy from the Pearl, and another stolen from the Eagle. Chan Yow could see that the men had already been aboard the Pearl and ransacked it for food, and other items. He was glad the guns had been stowed carefully and were not found before he got them.

Aboard the lugger Chan Yow raised the alarm. It was nearly five hours before he got medical attention to remove the spear and brace his broken shoulder.

Chan Yow revealed he recognised most of the Nimanburu men. They had been taken to work aboard boats for pearl shelling before. They were angry at the way Challoner took them and how he treated them while they were pearling. They were seeking vengeance.

A party of Broome police led by Sergeant Troy went to the murder scene by horse, and a party of pearl boats made their way by water. The attackers resisted arrest, and five were shot in the attempt to take them in. Their early searches were unsuccessful because the bush was so thick, and the terrain was rough. Police made several trips to the site and eventually with the aid of Derby police arrested the remaining Nimanburu men. Some were released later because Chow Yan could not identify them as belonging to the party on the beach the day of the murders.

Rickinson and Shenton’s remains were collected. Their bodies had been speared many more times. The remains were buried at Cygnet Bay. Their families put memorials at the East Perth cemetery in the Roman Catholic and Wesleyan sections respectively with their family members.

Chan Yow recovered gradually from his wounds and was welcomed back aboard the Pearl.

Following the murders, the Government Resident Mr Fairbairn took charge of the Pearl. He appointed John Wood as master, so the fleet could maintain operations while the police conducted an inquiry, and probate was negotiated from the wills of the deceased. Findlay and Baynes were not happy with the decision, as they wanted to appoint their own choice of master and mate.

By 1887, John Wood was owed £600 for work he had completed. The Pearl had collected three tons of shell before the murders, and they added 11 tons while John was on board. That equated to £2400. As soon as it was permissible, Findlay and Baynes appointed a master and skipper and refused to pay john Wood for his work.

John resorted to a Supreme Court application, and he asked for £600 in wages and expenses and another £100 in damages. After two full days in court, the jury verdict only half an hour to decide that John had a case and was owed for his labours in catching pearlshell for the owners. The boat owners were ordered to pay John Wood £15/month for five months of work, £10 per cent of the price of the pearl shell they sold from that time, and £100 in damages

Pearl continued working until 1891.She foundered en route from Broome to LaGrange Bay on 22 February.