Indonesia High Sea

The waters around Manus and the Admiralty Islands belonged to an inhabited archipelago of wooded shores, coconut groves and settlements linked by canoes. In September 1767, Philip Carteret's British sloop Swallow approached the islands while sailing west toward the East Indies. The voyage brought a distant naval expedition into contact with communities already familiar with the passages between their own islands.

The British account describes a violent encounter in which islanders threw spears and the ship's crew answered with cannon and musket fire, killing or wounding people in the canoes. A captured canoe contained turtle, fish and fruit. Carteret then coasted along the group and gave it the name Admiralty Islands. His route subsequently appeared on European maps of Pacific voyages. These brief observations reveal settlements, food supplies and substantial canoe activity, while the encounter itself shows how dangerous a meeting between unfamiliar vessels and island communities could become. The sea remained the setting of local movement as well as an increasingly charted route for passing ships.