Ratstraw,
his clerk, and Mr. Lyman Plummer, (nephew of Theodore Lyman, Esq. of
Boston, ship owner,) were standing on the larboard side of the
quarter-deck, abreast of the cabin hatchway.
The chief, Keite, stood leaning on the rail, and called Captain Porter
to look at the skins that were in the canoe, alongside the ship; the
captain accordingly went to look over the side, when the chief, with
some more Indians, laid hold of him, and gave a shout. Immediately all
the Indians alongside of the canoe, and those on board, armed with
daggers, pistols, pikes, and other weapons, seized every man on deck,
who were totally unprepared for so sudden an attack. A most dreadful and
sanguinary contest immediately took place; when, after a short but
bloody engagement of about five minutes, the deck was immediately
cleared of them.
There were about two hundred Indians, it is supposed, on board at this
time; they first daggered Captain Porter several times in the back, put
him in a canoe alongside, and carried him on shore; and, as we were
afterwards informed by Captain Smith, of the ship Mary, of Boston, who
was informed by the New Hecta tribe, was by them tied to a tree, in
which unhappy and miserable situation he languished fifteen days,
refusing every species of nourishment offered him by these savages,
occasioned by his grief at this unfortunate accident.
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