`On his father's death, Thakobau conceived the ambition of becoming King of all Fiji, and this turned Ma'afu into his enemy. The Tongan Prince was a man of great ability. As his King's representative, he controlled the greater part of the islands in the north of the group and had a powerful army. There followed more years of wars, intrigue and treachery. There were still forty petty Kings in the Fijis, but real power lay in the hands of fewer than a dozen. At length these were brought together, Thakobau and Ma'afu agreed to sink their differences and in 1860 the Fijis were made a Confederacy.
`Unfortunately, it did not last, because Thakobau and Ma'afu quarrelled again. Meanwhile, a reign of anarchy continued. A British Consul had long been resident in Fiji, but he had not been given the powers even of a magistrate over his own nationals. The white settlers rode roughshod over Thakobau's laws and American traders blackmailed him into making over to them large tracts of land in exchange for weapons to fight his wars against the tribes up in the mountains. Up till 1854, deaf to the pleas of missionaries, he continued to feast off his captured enemies. But in that year he suffered a sudden change of heart. The missionary Waterhouse succeeded in converting him, and on Sunday, April 30th, he was baptised into the Christian faith as Ebenezer.
`His conversion made no difference to the universal strife. In 1867 a Confederacy of Western Fiji was formed, Thakobau gave his people a constitutional government and was formally crowned King in Bau. But the British Government refused to accept his jurisdiction over their subjects and he came no nearer to controlling his own.
`For some years past the more responsible settlers had agitated for Fiji to be annexed by Britain. Thakobau, although not liking the idea, had been persuaded to make offers of cession in both 1858 and '59, but the British Government had declined. Early in the seventies, as the only means of establishing law and order, another appeal was made, and backed by the probability that if Britain did not take over Fiji, either America or Germany would, Ma'afu at last consented to accept Thakobau as his overlord. In 1874 Benjamin Disraeli, the champion of British interests throughout the world, placed Fiji at the feet of his Queen as another jewel in the Imperial Crown.
`Sir Hercules Robinson, the Governor of New South Wales, arrived in H.M.S. Pearl to represent the Queen and the cession took place on October 10th. Thakobau, by then an old, white haired, bearded, but still stalwart man, was at last to find peace and honour after a lifetime of troubles. With great dignity he declared, “We give Fiji unreservedly to the Queen of Britain that she may rule us justly and affectionately and that we may live in peace and prosperity.” Then, with true nobility, he handed his old and favourite war club to Sir Hercules, saying that it was the only thing he possessed that might interest Her Majesty, and that he sent it to her with his love, confident that she, and her children who succeeded her, would watch over the welfare of his people.'
It was a touching scene that Knox Mawer had evoked, and after a moment his wife went on to speak of the passionate loyalty that the Fijians felt towards the present Queen. In the fifties, when the British forces had been hard pressed by the Communist revolutionaries in Malaya, volunteers had been called for. The word had gone round, `Our Queen needs us', and boys of sixteen had made their way from the outer islands to volunteer. Many of the Chiefs had led their troops in person. Skilled in jungle warfare, the Fijian battalions had become the terror of the enemy and had covered themselves with glory.
Next morning, as Manon was loath to leave Gregory, all three of them took the aircraft for Suva. The Dakota flew only at a few thousand feet; so, during the short journey, Gregory was able to get a, good view of the country over which they passed the blue sea creaming white on reefs and beaches, then dense forests both down in the valleys and clothing the slopes of high mountains, until on lower ground patches of cultivation could be seen, and soon they were coming down over the great arc of Suva Bay to the little airport.
Hunt's had secured them rooms at the Grand Pacific Hotel. On arriving they found it to be a happy mixture of the old and the new. The centre of the main block was a series of spacious, lofty chambers leading into one another hall, lounge, bar and dining room overlooking the bay. There were white clad Indian servants, and fans in the ceilings, which gave it the atmosphere of old Colonial days; while adjacent to it there was a three storey modern block, in which they were given air conditioned rooms looking out on the pleasant, palm fringed garden and an oval swimming pool.
After lunch it was much too hot to go out; but at four o'clock Gregory and James had a swim in the pool, then drove the half mile into the town to Hunt's Travel Agency. At their request, Mr. Hunt himself saw them. He proved to be a big, cheerful man and they learned that he had formerly been a Police Inspector. No doubt it was his police training which had made him such an efficient business man, for in fewer than ten years he had built up an organisation that could offer every amenity in the island at a few hours' notice.
But Gregory's request was unusual. He said that later he might want to hire a motor cruiser and make use of Hunt's fleet of cars, but for the moment he wanted the name of the firm most likely to be able to provide equipment for salvaging a wreck…
Mr. Hunt at once got on the telephone and made an appointment for them to see a Mr. Trollope down at the docks in halt an hour's time, then drew a sketch map showing how they could reach his office.
As it was not far, they decided to walk, so that Gregory could see something of the town. For a capital it was small, with only one main street. There were a few modem blocks, most of the buildings were in the Edwardian Colonial style, or earlier. The first thing that struck Gregory about it was its cleanliness and orderliness, in contrast to the cities in Central and South America from which he had come, and the sight of the six foot plus Fijian policemen in their smart uniforms gave him real pleasure.
The shops were adequate but not impressive. Nearly all of them were run by Indians or Chinese. Souvenirs and native work were to be seen in abundance, also beautifully embroidered silk wraps, jackets and blouses at incredibly cheap prices. But it was the polyglot population in the streets that interested Gregory most. Hindu ladies with caste marks and wearing colourful saris, bronzed Britons in bush shirts and khaki shorts, Chinese in shoddy European suits, and tall Fijians, made still taller by their enormous puffs of thick, silky, black hair and wearing kilt like sulus, jostled one another on the pavements.
Crossing a bridge over an inlet from the sea, they passed the big covered market, and soon afterwards came to the docks and Mr. Trollope's office. He was a small, sallow faced man who looked as though he had a dash of native blood. After stating the business he had come upon, Gregory left most of the talking to James, as he was better able to describe the equipment which would be required.
On learning that James was a Ratu, Mr. Trollope treated him with considerable respect, and for a while they discussed the technicalities of salvaging. In due course it emerged that Mr. Trollope could find the gear that was required, with a professional diver named Hamie Baker, and would be willing to hire out these facilities for three months. Gregory then agreed the price asked, and his willingness to put down a substantial deposit.
But when it came to transporting the gear to Tujoa, Mr. Trollope said that ships big enough to carry a large crane and pontoons sailed only occasionally to make a round of the outer islands to the west, and a special arrangement would have to be made for such a ship to go on to the French owned Nakopoa Group. It would be a fortnight or more before the material could be sent on its way, so it could not be expected to arrive in Revika until about the middle of February. Gregory was not aware that Lacost had already secured salvaging gear, but assumed that he would do so in Tahiti and, as Tahiti was two thousand five hundred miles from Tujoa, there seemed a good chance that they would get there before him. In any case, that was the best Trollope could do, so a brief letter of agreement was typed out and Gregory wrote him a cheque.