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Williams had earlier purchased the Endeavour in 1821, to supply missionaries in the islands with the necessities of civilized life, including clothing, flour, tea, and sugar. His intention was to fund the operation by trade. However the LMS objected to such a strategy and had him sell it the ship by 1827.^[3]

In all Williams presence in the South Seas, Tahiti and Raratonga spanned 1817 to 1839,^[1]. He arrived in Raratonga in 1827, and while there heard of other heathen islands in the vicinity and in order to meet with them, and expand his ministry, he built a ship, the Messenger of Peace from local materials, in fifteen weeks. He then set sail by November 1827 for the Society Islands, not returning till February 1828, when, he then removed his family to Raiatea.^[2]{{rp|95}}

The ship, a fore and aft schooner of 70 tons,^[7][2]{{rp|83}} and 60 feet in length,^[9] was built from a local mahogany, called tamanu (Calophyllum inophyllum).^[2]{{rp|83}} Also on hand was some scrapped ship's main cable, which he converted into iron bolting, using a big stone anvil and charcoal in lieu of coal.^[2]{{rp|83}} The rudder fastenings they made from a piece of a pickaxe, a cooper's adze, and a large hoe.^[7]. Her sails he made from matting. It took fifteen weeks in all to build, using no proper tools, and no special knowledge in shipbuilding.^[2]{{rp|83}} What little knowledge he had, had come from 1816 in Eimeo, the Society Islands, when he had found an incomplete ship used by earlier missionaries, which he repaired, and made seaworthy, whereupon he christened her the Haweis. This small but useful vessel was later given away to a local chieftain as a matter of diplomacy.^[9]

Williams had some help from fellow missionary Aaron Buzacott,^[7] and a reduced workforce on hand, as the majority of islanders were busy building housing elsewhere on the island.^[2]{{rp|83}}

Using verbal directions given to him (as was the custom) by the locals he set sail and successfully visited Aitutaki, Manuae, Mauke, Atiu, and Mangaia, before returning to Rarotonga. A second voyage was taken to the heathen Islands in the west.^[2]{{rp|85}}

Later in mid 1830, she would visit, Samoa, where they were well received by the Samoan heathens.^[2]{{rp|86}}

She was repaired in Rarotonga on return from the Friendly Islands, twice in 1832-1833. (See gallery below)

The first time, during 1832, Rarotonga had been hit by a particularly powerful hurricane which greatly damaged the island's housing and pushed the ship onto the island, knocking the branches off trees some twelve and fifteen feet off the ground. She came to rest in a four foot hole she had made for herself. As Williams said later, She had sustained no injury whatever. It took 2000 natives to haul her out and back into the sea. This delayed Williams plans to visit Samoa for some months as all the parts of the ship, the store, masts, rigging, blocks, pitch and copper, were strewn over a wide area and had to be collected for the repair, before they eventually set sail on 11 October. The voyage was to last fifteen weeks, four of which were successfully spent in the Samoan group. Then on her return journey to Rarotonga she sprung a leak 300 miles from home, the ship was half full of water at one point, nearly four feet deep in her hold. The source of the leak proved impossible to ascertain, and only strenuous efforts at baling her out over several days kept her afloat, for landing at Vavau for repair. However the leak still could not be found, and she made for another island in the group, where she sought help from two ships at anchor. With the help of their crews, the Messenger was hove down, and the leak discovered. A augur hole-hole was discovered missing it's bolt. This had been filled with mud and stones from the hurricane earlier on Rarotonga. A stone had wedged itself sufficient to have kept the hull from leaking for six months and several thousand miles on the sea. Soon leaving the Friendly Islands she successfully returned to Rarotonga for extensive repairs in January 1833.^[20]

This last experience, coupled with a need for the Williams family to return to England, convinced Williams that despite several arduous voyages over six years, she was not fit for purpose, and in need of replacement, so she was sent to Tahiti, and sold in 1863.^[9][20]

The story of the Messenger had made Williams famous, and on his return to England he set about raising funds for the purchase of a replacement, by the Camden^[3] built in 1807, purchased by the London Missionary Society in 1838. The Camden sailing from London on 11 April 1838 would return the Williams and eight other missionary families for duty in Africa, India, the Pacific Islands, and China, before returning to Williams for permanent station.^[24]

Subsequently over the years seven LMS ships named John Williams would carry on the good work from 1844^[1] to the last, John Williams VII, decommissioned in 1968.^[2]

Gallery

References

External links

• Tim Key With a String Quartet On a Boat
• Tim Key, With a String Quartet, On a Boat.
• Tim Key With a String Quartet On a Boat.
• Tim Key. With a String Quartet. On a Boat.
• Tim Kister
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• Timkov Nikolai
• Timkov Nikolai Efimovich
• Tim kreider
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• Tim Lane (disambiguation)