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The commander of the Duff was Captain James Wilson, chosen for his piety, and an
attempt was made to recruit crew with similar moral qualities. Captain Wilson was born in
Newcastle, England the youngest of nineteen children. He became a soldier and fought with the
British at Bunker Hill and Long Island against the Americans. An account of some aspects of
his life points to early adventures followed by a pious retirement:

''Later he became a navigator with the East India company on a ship carrying supplies
through the Indian blockade to British soldiers at Mysore, surrounded by the army of the
famed Sultan, Hyder Ally Haider Ali).
Here Wilson was captured and imprisoned for 22 months, until peace was declared,
and he returned to England in 1784. His biographer, John Griffin, in The Memoirs of
Captain James Wilson, stated that Wilson was shackled in chains weighing 32 pounds, and
nightly leg-ironed to a Scottish Highlander. 'Often a dead corpse was unchained from his
arm that another living sufferer might take his place'.
Back in England, Wilson, an atheist, saw the light and in 1796 was admitted a
member of the Chuch of Christ in Portsea, and became a devout Christian ever after.
In 1795 an organisation was formed in London by a group of Anglican and non-
conformist clergymen with the object of preaching the Gospel in foregin lands, a sort of
counter to the Jesuits of France, who had formed the Society of Jesus over two hundred
years earlier.
This new group, named the London Missionary Society, was the pioneer Protestant
Society in the Pacific. Buisness began with the purchase, for £5000, of the Duff, a vessel
of 267 tons commanded by Captain James Wilson.
Thirty men were chosen as missionaries to start the headquarters in Tahiti, from
where the faith would be spread to the Marquesas, Friendly, Samoan and Pelew Islands.
On 10th August 1796 the Duff was farewelled from the Thames by a devout crowd
of friends, well-wishers, and relatives of the Pilgrim Fathers of the South Pacific.
After a voyage via Rio de Janeiro, the Duff reached Tahiti on 5th March 1797, where
King Pomare made the missionaries welcome, ceded a house and land to them, and later
embraced Christianity.
It was Sunday when the Duff dropped anchor, and Divine Service was held on deck.
Wrote Wilson: 'Such hymns were selected as had the most harmonious tunes: first, O'er
the gloomy hills of darkness; then, Blow ye the trumpet blow, and at the conclusion, Praise
God from whom all blessings flow'.
Two Swedes, shipwrecked sailors, welcomed Captain Wilson and offered their
services as interpreters, an offer that was gladly accepted.
After visiting various islands and leaving missionaries on them to teach Christianity
to the cannibals, Captain Wilson sailed to China, picked up a cargo of tea, them voyaged
home around the Cape of Good Hope. 'On the 4th of July, 1798', wrote Wilson, 'we saw
the coast of England. On the 8th we passed the Downs; on the 11th came to anchor in the
River Thames; and discharged our cargo of tea, which was landed in as perfect order as we
received it in China'.
The Directors of the London Missionary Society were happy when the Directors of
the East India Company paid them £4,100, for safely bringing the cargo of tea to England.
Later when Captain Wilson wrote A Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean, the L.M.S.
received £2,000 in royalties from the publishers.
Captain Wilson retired from the sea, and married a pious, amiable, and wealthy lady

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