Post by Kiwi Frontline on Mar 1, 2021 15:09:57 GMT 12
Peter Bacos: MARION DUFRESNE AT THE BAY OF ISLANDS 25 MARCH – 12 JUNE 1772
What happened to Marion and his men was a tragedy which they could not have foreseen. He, personally, did not deserve it because his treatment of them was not in any way provocative. Historians have said that by cutting down trees and fishing in their waters he had broken various taboos. But all explorers at the time did the same; after exhausting voyages they limped into port anxious to take on fresh food and water and repair their battered vessels. Cook did the same on his various stops around New Zealand and he does not seem to have provoked this reaction from the Maoris. Possibly Marion outstayed his welcome as Cook would do 7 years later in Hawaii. The natives practised subsistence farming and may have been alarmed at the depletion of their fish stocks. The massacre was so bloody though I think that Marion and his men found themselves unwittingly caught in the middle of inter-tribal warfare. Maybe they had supported one tribe more than the other and that had provoked the massacre. When Rousseau was told the news, he exclaimed, “Is it possible that the good children of nature can be so wicked?” From now on the European would have to be wary in dealing with the Maori, having to sidestep their many taboos, and always mindful that if they provoked them, they could be victims of a terrible, disproportionate revenge......
breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2021/02/peter-bacos-marion-dufresne-at-bay-of.html
What happened to Marion and his men was a tragedy which they could not have foreseen. He, personally, did not deserve it because his treatment of them was not in any way provocative. Historians have said that by cutting down trees and fishing in their waters he had broken various taboos. But all explorers at the time did the same; after exhausting voyages they limped into port anxious to take on fresh food and water and repair their battered vessels. Cook did the same on his various stops around New Zealand and he does not seem to have provoked this reaction from the Maoris. Possibly Marion outstayed his welcome as Cook would do 7 years later in Hawaii. The natives practised subsistence farming and may have been alarmed at the depletion of their fish stocks. The massacre was so bloody though I think that Marion and his men found themselves unwittingly caught in the middle of inter-tribal warfare. Maybe they had supported one tribe more than the other and that had provoked the massacre. When Rousseau was told the news, he exclaimed, “Is it possible that the good children of nature can be so wicked?” From now on the European would have to be wary in dealing with the Maori, having to sidestep their many taboos, and always mindful that if they provoked them, they could be victims of a terrible, disproportionate revenge......
breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2021/02/peter-bacos-marion-dufresne-at-bay-of.html