''Duke of Portland'' was an American

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

of 400 tons. She was registered in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, United States and left Norfolk Island in June 1802, under the command of Captain Lovat Melon. At some stage during that month she stopped at

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

.Dale (2008), pp.182-4. There a runaway seaman by the name of Doyle helped the Tongans capture ''Duke of Portland''. They spared the lives of a white woman, Elizabeth (or Eliza) Morley (or Morey, or Moray), a black woman, an old man, and four boys. While the Tongans were plundering the vessel of her iron, the old man and the boys killed Doyle, drove the Tongans off, cut her cables, and set out to sea. ''Duke of Portland'' was never heard from again. Morley became a wife of the Tongan chief Teukava. On 2 October 1804, the American ship arrived. Her captain and seven men came ashore, where the natives killed them. Morley came out in a canoe, called out that the Tongans had killed the shore party, leaped overboard, and swam to the ship. The crew took her aboard, held off the Tongans, and then sailed with her to Sydney. After they left her there ''Union'' sailed for Fiji, where she was wrecked.

Citations

References

* *Dale, Paul W. (2008) ''The Tonga Book''. (Fideli Publishing). ASIN B0193Z89OG Maritime history of Australia Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean History of New South Wales Maritime incidents in 1802 Missing ships Ships lost with all hands {{ship-stub