Love Affair with Tahiti and Tattoos

Audience with the Queen

Captain Samuel Wallis stood in the presence of the Queen of Tahiti. Young women dressed only in grass skirts danced to the beat of the drums in the firelight. The Queen’s bodyguards stood close to the English officers. Large and also half-dressed, they seemed to press in upon the three Englishmen. The luscious scent of vanilla drizzled on their faces and in the very air they breathed. Wallis lifted his hand to his head feeling slightly dizzy. The heat from the torches was uncomfortable. He had suffered from scurvy for the last two weeks and was unable to come ashore until now. He began to feel quite weak. Sweat beaded on his brow. Then suddenly, he fainted.

It was July 1767. Even though the HMS Dolphin had brought 3,000 pounds of a concentrated mix of lemons and oranges called “soup” to prevent scurvy, the extended weeks at sea in the Pacific searching for land used up their provisions and many fell ill with scurvy including the Captain himself.

Hats Off

The Queen jumped from her chair and rushed to where the captain lay on his back on the sandy ground. The ship’s doctor knelt to tend to the captain and, as he did so, he removed the white wig from his head. A gasp erupted from the darkened edges of the circle. All movement ceased. The natives covered their mouths and stared at the strangers, not comprehending what they had just witnessed.

Home Remedy on Tahiti

A muffled female giggle broke the silence. The captain even managed to laugh. Queen Oberea stood up straight and ordered the captain, who had recovered slightly, to be taken to her quarters. Once at her house, she instructed young girls to massage his body. Later that day, after the young captain, 39 years old, had somewhat recovered, the queen escorted him back to the ship holding him close as they walked.

Early the next morning before the sun even rose the Queen was there beside the ship in her canoe. The ship’s doctor counseled Captain Wallis saying, “Sir, I think it would do you good to go ashore and have a rest.” The good captain took this advice and reveled in the tender affections lavished on him by the Queen of Tahiti for seven days and six nights.

All Good Things Must Come to an End Even in Tahiti

Finally, this idyll came to a close. Captain Wallis knew that if he did not leave soon he might never leave at all. He ordered the ship to prepare to sail. The last night in Old Tahiti Queen Oberea climbed aboard the HMS Dolphin and threw herself on the arms chest. Men stood by silently as she wept. Her heart was breaking for all to see. At last, only a soft whimper escaped her lips as she climbed off the ship and into the waiting outrigger canoe. Sailors tossed gifts to her. The Queen sat motionless as her people caught the trifles. She did not want these offensive trinkets. She wanted nothing except that which was now beyond her grasp forever.

Queen receives gifts from English Captain.

A Tearful Adieu

Tangerine Moon in Old Tahiti

That night, the last night in Old Tahiti, Captain Wallis paced in his small cabin. He felt conflicted knowing he should stay aboard HMS Dolphin and prepare for the long journey ahead and yet he longed to hear Oberea’s voice one more time and gently kiss her full, bee-stung lips stained with papaya juice. Finally, he walked out onto the deck and was suddenly arrested by the presence of an enormous full moon rising like a fire from the purple night. He inhaled the vanilla-scented breeze. There was no help for it. He called two of his men and they rowed ashore. The men waited for him on the beach until just as dawn broke the captain returned. He was pale and his expression grim. That morning the HMS Dolphin left Tahiti and never returned. The first European contact with Tahiti had been made.

It was not Love at First Sight

It was war. Cannonballs and stones were launched before the Queen and Captain got to know each other. The fighting started on June 24, 1767, when the first Europeans entered Matavai Bay at 6 a.m. The crew of HMS Dolphin consisted of 160 men. By 8 a.m. Captain Wallis writes that there were “not less than 300 canoes and at least two thousand men in them with another 1,000 men on shore.” The English fired their great guns. One of the shots hit a canoe with the ringleader on board. Within half an hour not one canoe could be seen.