3. THE TERRIBLE ISLANDS: HISTORY

3.4      Contact with the Onge from Little Andaman

Little Andaman had been ignored by the British authorities before 1867 because it was known to be inhabited by hostile natives and protected by dangerous reefs without a single safe anchorage. On 21st March 1867 the captain and seven crew of the Assam Valley went ashore on the southern tip of Little Andaman for wood. They were seen from their mother-ship to get safely over the reef, to land and to haul up their boat on the beach, after which they vanished into the jungle. An hour later, a crowd of natives were seen dancing on the beach. With sinking hopes, the Assam Valley waited outside the reef for two days and then sailed to Rangoon to report the matter. There were no telegraphic connections to the Andamans in those days and so the news of the incident did not reach Port Blair until 6th April. A ship was sent to Little Andaman but it had to return without accomplishing anything. It did, however, report that a blue sailor's cap was spotted on the beach near the place where the missing men had been last seen. The station ship of Port Blair, the Kwang Tung, was sent a few days later with Mr. Homfray, the British Officer in Charge of the Andamanese and some Aka-Bea men, women and children. The latter had been included to signal friendly intentions, in line with the instructions to avoid any action that might provoke the Onge. Mr. Homfray, his crew and some of his Andamanese managed to get over the reef in three boats, some Andamanese by swimming, but were attacked as soon as their boats had been pulled back into deeper water and they were left on the beach. The Onge were hostile and tried to cut them off but seem to have misjudged the moment to attack. The landing party had just enough time to wade back to the boats under covering fire. Two sailors were wounded by arrows but all managed to reach the boats alive. Nothing was seen or heard of the missing men. On return to Port Blair, the outcome of this expedition was judged to be unsatisfactory and a larger expedition with a small military contingent was decided upon.

This arrived, again on the Kwang Tung, at the ominous beach on 6th May 1867 or seven weeks after the Assam Valley men had disappeared. The next day, only one boat with 13 soldiers managed to land, shortly after 0830 hours that morning. The boat with Mr. Homfray and the Andamanese failed to get across the reef and took no further part in the events. A third boat with 10 men stayed at a distance to cover the landing party. Immediately after landing, the expedition was showered by Onge arrows, none of which hit, however. The soldiers fired back and killed a considerable number of Onge after which the locals showed themselves much less openly. From their behaviour it is likely that the Onge at that time had not before experienced firearms used in anger and at close range.

It did not take long to find the first evidence: a skull in the sand. It was pronounced "European" by the army doctor who noted that one side had been smashed in with a blunt instrument, that there were a few tufts of brown hair and putrefying bits of brain left. The remains of a boat and a military boot was also found nearby. An adjacent area had been cleared for cooking by the Onge; this need not indicate cannibalism (none of the remains found were burnt) but must have been the site of the big party celebrating a great victory over dangerous alien enemies, which is the way the Onge would have seen it.

Throughout that day, the Onge followed the landing party, firing arrows, mostly unseen from the jungle but occasionally popping up from behind bushes in a manner designed to draw the outsiders deeper into the jungle. The professional soldiers did not fall for this but stayed on the beach in sight of the covering boat. They kept up their fire but when ammunition began to run low and the covering boat was signalled to come in and pick them up. Manoeuvring towards the beach, the boat capsized and all aboard ended up in the sea with one British lieutenant who had only just been posted to the Andamans drowning. Things were now becoming desperate for the landing party. Marching further along the beach in an effort to find a break in the reef through which a rescue boat could come, they found four much decomposed European bodies, lying in a line next to each other at full length on their back with their feet towards the sea, only partially covered by sand. Although at this stage the soldiers had problems of their own and did not take much notice of the corpses lest they should end up the same way, one showed enough sang-froid to pick up a sailor's blue cotton jacket, much torn and rotted, to take with him as evidence. There can be no doubt that the four bodies as well as the earlier skull were from the missing crew of the Assam Valley.

The afternoon was spent in desperate attempts at getting off the island. A raft was constructed and pulled ashore but when trying to get it back over the reef; the surf washed most of the people clinging to it back into the sea. Two hundred Onge chose this dramatic moment to launch their major attack. Luckily, the soldiers could beat them off since new supplies of ammunition had come through on the very raft that was supposed to take the men away. At long last, a boat from the mother-ship managed to get the last of the soaking wet and exhausted soldiers back aboard the Kwang Tung by 1730 hours. Miraculously, the drowned British lieutenant was the only casualty on the British-Indian side that day. That the Onge shot at the intruders all day and never once landed even a grazing shot is remarkable and does not say much either for their bow-and-arrow technology or the level of their marksmanship.

The events described led to four Victoria Crosses and several commendations, medals and other honours. Personal bravery there unquestionably was that day but the main enemy was not the Onge but the reef. In this case the Onge attacked right away, there was no friendly waving and only a half-hearted attempt to lure the soldiers into the jungle where the advantage would have been on the side of the locals. The number of Onge killed was estimated by members of the landing party at between 30 and 100. Whatever the precise number, the loss must have been heavy in a population estimated at around 700. It was all for nothing, too: the Onge did not understand the lesson that the expedition was supposed to teach them. From their point of view, they had only defended themselves. Twenty years later, in 1887 when friendlier relations had been established, the Onge were asked whether they remembered this particular expedition but they could not, or would not, understand the question.



It was not until 1873 that Little Andaman again gave cause for concern. On 6th April of that year, the British General Stewart visited the island on a general tour of inspection. His party landed without problems and met no resistance. It also did not meet any Onge because they had all withdrawn into the jungle. The huts visited were inspected but nothing was taken. When the general returned to Port Blair he was told that on the day before he had set foot on the island, a group of five sailors from the junk Quangoon, trading between Burma and Malaya, had been murdered. The junk had been blown off course in a storm and its crew had no idea where they were. Needing water, a party of seven men was sent ashore. Leaving two men behind to guard the boat, the other five wandered into the jungle in search of a source of fresh water. They suddenly found themselves surrounded by Onge who shot at them with arrows. Two men were killed outright while one was so badly wounded that he had to be left behind. The two uninjured survivors fled towards their boat but found it hacked to pieces with no sign of their comrades and traces of blood all over the place. The two had to swim back to the junk which, on hearing what the men had to report, upped anchor and made straight for Port Blair.