John (Jack) Renton (1848-1878), also known as The White Headhunter, was a Scottish seaman from

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. In 1868, he was among four or five deserters from the American ship ''Renard'', which specialised in the trade of

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

. He and the other deserters travelled in a small boat for 2,000 miles, and eventually landed at Maana'oba (Manaoba), a small island off the north-east coast of

Malaita Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...

Island in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. He became a slave of a bigman named Kabbou for 8 years, in which he learnt the Lau language, participated in the island's culture, and became a

headhunter Headhunter or head hunter may refer to: * Headhunting, hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing them * Executive search, informally called headhunting, a specialized recruitment service Arts and entertainment Film and telev ...

. While on Malaita, he befriended a local warrior,

Kwaisulia Kwaisulia (early 1850s – 1909) was a prominent tradesman, strongman and blackbirder on the island of Malaita in the late nineteenth century, who for several decades held political control over the north of the island. Born on the island of Sulu ...

, and taught him English. He is the only European to have been a headhunter and was the first European to live for a long period on Malaita. Renton was rescued by a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

called the ''Bobtailed Nag'' in 1875, being traded for "a dozen tomahawks, several yards of calico, some pipes, ndtobacco", as well as several other items, along with a promise to return with more supplies. He returned to Orkney, where he became a local celebrity. He later travelled back to the South Pacific, fulfilling his promise to return with supplies to the island he had inhabited, before taking up work as a regulator of the recruitment of

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

n islanders for work in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, where his role was mainly to prevent

blackbirding Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people in ...

. He was killed in 1878 at

Ambae Island Ambae Island, also known as Aoba, Omba, Oba, or Opa and formerly Lepers’ Island, is an island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, located near , approximately north-northwest of Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila. History First ...

, while on a ship called the ''Mystery''. Upon learning of his death, Kabbou and the people of the village Renton had lived in mourned his death by sacrificing 300 pigs in his name, telling tales of his life for 3 days straight, and building a reliquary house which acted as a shrine to his memory. The shrine survived for 85 years until it burned down in 1963.

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