| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Argo |
| Owner: | Robert Berry |
| Fate: | Wrecked January, 1800 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Schooner |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
The Argo was an American schooner that was wrecked in Fiji during January 1800.
Owned by Robert Berry it was on its way from China to Sydney, when sometime during January 1800 it was wrecked on Argo Reef, south-east of Fiji. Its crew reached Tongatapu where all but two were killed by natives. In 1802 two survivors were rescued.[1]
An alternative account of the capture of the crew, told from the point of view of the natives in Fiji, gives the date as 1802 or 1803, and says that the name of the reef prior to the shipwreck was Mbukakatanoa. [2]
One of the survivors, Oliver Slater, a sailor aboard Argo, spent two years following the wreck at Vanua Levu, which has also been called "Sandalwood Island." This sailor is credited with spreading the news, upon his arrival in China, that led to the sandalwood trade in Vanua Levu, near Bua Bay.[3]
Argo's sailing career had not been without its travails. A contemporary account of its 1798 arrival in Port Jackson (Sydney, Australia) said:
"The Argo, an American schooner, arrived from the Isle of France, having on board a cargo of salt provisions, French brandy, and other articles on speculation; which, as usual in this country, found a ready sale, much more to the advantage of the owners than the colonists. As this ship came from the Mauritius, the Governor entertained some jealousy, certainly founded on probability; and, as it was not any ways impossible, that, under neutral colours, a spy might be concealed, he thought it requisite to put the battery on Point Maskelyne, into a more secure state, and to construct two redoubts in proper and convenient situations for offensive and defensive warfare, should it prove requisite."[4]