May 1898

Steam Pinnace 2 Cutters Whaler & Gig with Captain, Paymaster, Doctor, 1st Lieutt Mr Roberts with 15 Marines and 50 Blue jacket well armed and with the 5 barrel Nordenfelt Machine gun went on shore but before the ship 12 shrapnel shells were fired into different parts of the bush to scatter the natives if they was collecting together at all, we landed and advanced to the first village at a rush, up to the village but as before it was deserted, but the natives had been down during the night as we found there was traces of recently burnt fires we pushed on and visited several smaller villages picking up several little things belonging to the whitemen, a trunk looking glass supper box and two large knives and some Sydney papers, which we took possession of but we could find no traces of the murderers, and it was not practicable to enter the bush, we turned back and burnt every village we came across, the men looting them afterwards, all of us had some thing or other to bring on board curios, we broke up everything we came across, destroyed their Yam plantations and cut down all the Coca Nut tress, demolishing the vegetation round about so that they would have nothing to live
on for sometime Our Chief Carpenters Mate Jack Morris having made a Wooden Cross we erected it on the Grave of the murdered men, we left the villages burning and everyone returned on board at 6pm, we was the 1st Man of War there for Seventy Years.