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The Ngatik Massacre (1837)
The Falcon incident did not conclude C.H. Hart's
treachery. One year later, his greedy search for
turtle shell brought Bloody Hart to Sapwuahfik (Ngatik), known by
sailors as the
Raven Islands. Hart immediately went ashore and began to look for a shell dealer. He was met with a general lack of cooperation on the part of the Ngatikese, who Hart believed were hiding a large quantity of valuable shell. Meanwhile, the Pohnpeians who were with Hart warned him that the Ngatikese were planning to attack. He escaped to his ship, sailing away west. Returning with extra armed men in 1837 and assisted by fifteen Pohnpeians, Hart attacked Sapwuahfik by surprise and
brutally slaughtered all but about twenty of the men on the island in a period of two days—probably about fifty
men in all.
Those who were not killed escaped the island in canoes.
Many of the woman, rather than allowing the sailors to have
their way with them, took their own lives and those of their
young children. |
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After the horrifying massacre, Hart found that there was very little marketable shell on the island—only
about twenty pounds in total. To keep a tight reign on the islands, however, he set up a Pohnpei beachcomber-turned-local,
Patrick Gorman, as head chief. Gorman was as brutal and remorseless as Hart and continued a trend of
senseless violence in the islands for some time. Eventually the islands were resettled by Pohnpeians, white beachcombers, and several Africans.
Though a British captain investigated the events of Ngatik Massacre a couple
years later, none of the participants were ever brought to justice for their
crimes.
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