Kingdom of Tahiti Pomare was the Tahitian chieftain most friendly to the British. The additional British captains arriving at Tahiti accepted his claim to hegemony. They gave him guns in trade and helped him in his battles. Captain Cook gave him the advantage in a number of battles with rival forces during his last stay in Tahiti, circa 1779. British missionaries arrived, sent by a non-denominational Protestant group called the London Missionary Society. Pomare befriended the missionaries, and the missionaries favored both peace and Pomare, but, with the British unwilling to apply force to create order among the islands, the missionaries were unable
SS Empire Explorer general cargo, sugar and 38 bags of mail. She left the convoy at the Clyde, arriving on 15 May. "Empire Explorer" sailed on 1 June to join Convoy OS 30, which departed from Liverpool that day and arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone on 19 June. She was in ballast and armed with a 4-inch or 4.7-inch gun, eight machine guns and a number of kites. She was stated to be bound for George, South Africa. She arrived at Demerara on 21 June, sailing nine days later for Trinidad, where she arrived on 1 July. "Empire Explorer" sailed from Trinidad on