Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ous year, sailed past the Fijian island of Taveuni on his way back to Jakarta in Indonesia. He
narrowly avoided shipwreck off the Nanuku Reef east of Vanua Levu and quickly made a
northward passage away from the islands. Another 130 years were to pass before European
explorers returned.
William Bligh and the Bounty, 1789
During his celebrated voyage of 1774,
Captain James Cook
made a note of the remote Vatoa
Island in the southern Lau Group. Although he didn't explore the region further he later met
Fijians while in Tonga. Greater recognition goes to
William Bligh
, who in 1789 found him-
self passing through the heart of the Fijian archipelago aboard a small wooden launch along
with seventeen men and just six rowing oars. Having captained his ship,
HMS Bounty
, to
Tahiti, Bligh was famously the victim of a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian on April 28 just
off Tofua in Tonga. Mindful of the dreadful stories of the warlike, cannibalistic people from
Tonga, Bligh and his small crew anxiously paddled for five days past Gau and between Vanua
Levu and Viti Levu. On the sixth day, in the Yasawas, two war canoes set out in pursuit of
their vessel but, thanks to a timely squall, Bligh escaped and eventually made it to the Dutch
settlement at Coupang on Timor forty days later. Bligh had managed to successfully chart
39 Fijian islands and the section of sea where he made good his escape is known as Bligh
Waters.
