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
Lapwing (1769 EIC packet) Lapwing (1769 EIC packet) Lapwing was a packet ship that made two round-trips to India for the British East India Company (EAC). Currently, both her origin and her fate are obscure. Captain Henry Gardiner left The Downs on 6 June 1769, bound for Bengal and Madras. "Lapwing" left Kolkatta on 24 August 1770 and on 12 October was at Madras. She reached the Cape on 16 December and St Helena on 6 January 1771, and arrived back at The Downs on 16 April. "Lapwing" stopped at Falmouth before reaching The Downs and Captain Gardiner came overland to London. He brought