TONGA – After nearly half a century, the first Tongan translation of a classic 19th century book about the life of an English by who was adopted by a Tongan warlord, has been completed.

The book, Ko Fïnau ‘Ulukälala ‘i Feletoa, ko e Talanoa ‘a Toki Ukamea was presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Angelika Latufuipeka Tuku’aho, High Commissioner of Tonga to Australia at the Tonga High Commission in Canberra last Friday.

The translator, Dr Nigel Stathan, has spent almost 50 years turning the book into Tongan in collaboration with his Tongan wife Melanaite.

The book is a Tongan translation of An Account of the Natives of the Friendly Islands by John Martin and William Mariner.

The book first appeared 200 years ago and has been regarded as a classic of its kind, but this is the first time it has been available in the language of the people among whom the story is set.

Castaway William Mariner’s story has been called “a fantastic tale of adventure” about an English boy who was marooned in Tonga in 1807 when he was only 15.

Mariner, who quickly became fluent in Tongan, was adopted as the son of a high chiefly contender for the overlordship of Tonga, Fïnau ‘Ulukälala, who gave the boy the name ‘Iron Axe”.

The book is essentially an account of the life, intrigues and the wars of his adoptive father, in which Mariner played a significant role for the four years he was in Tonga.

Hence the Tongan title of the book, which translates to The Story of Fïnau ‘Ulukälala: Told by Iron Axe.

The foreword was written by Princess Angelika and the first copy off the press was presented to her in gratitude by Dr Statham.

The book has an introduction and extensive genealogical, sociological and ethnological footnotes by Pacific historian Dorothy Crozier, written in collaboration with Her Majesty Queen Salote Tupou III of Tonga.

The original English edition of Mariner’s story was first published in 1817 with the help of Dr John Martin, who was acknowledged to have been dedicated to scrupulously meticulous and sustained research.

A French translation appeared in Paris in the same year as the first English edition.

Another French translation was published in 1819, a German translation in Weimar in 1819 and the next year an American edition was published in Boston.

In 1818 and 1827 new English editions were published with revisions and in Stockholm in 1828 an abbreviated Swedish version appeared in a published collection of voyages.

Lord Byron based his poem The Island on a traditional tale recorded by Mariner about a young Tongan chief who hid his lover, who had been forbidden to him, in an undersea cavern.

In 1953 the Australian poet Robert D. Fitzgerald published as a book an extended poetic rendering of Mariner‘s story, Between Two Tides.

In 1957 James Michener published a version of Mariner’s story in his book Rogues in Paradise.

While Mariner’s book is an adventure story, it has long been regarded for its scholarly value as well.

It was dedicated to Captain Cook’s companion, Sir Joseph Banks “as a small, yet appropriate tribute of respect”’ and it has been used as one of the most reliable primary historical sources for the period by almost every major publication on Tongan history, anthropology and ethnology.

William Mariner was a teenage ship’s clerk aboard the British privateer Port au Prince.

Lured by Captain Cook’s description of Tonga as The Friendly Island, they anchored off the shore of Lifuka, Ha’apai in December 1806 and asked the natives for assistance.

Unknown to them, they had arrived in the middle of a civil war. Wanting their cannon for himself, the Tongan warlord Finau ‘Ulukalala attacked the ship, murdering half the crew and distributing the rest throughout the islands as slaves.

Fifteen-year-old Mariner was stripped naked and paraded through the island, beaten and abused by the natives.

But when he was brought before Finau, the chiefly contender ordered him released and cared for.

Finau had recently lost a beloved son named Toki ‘ukamea, or ‘Iron Axe’. Young Mariner reminded Finau of his son, and he adopted him into his household, giving him the honoured name Toki and assigning one of his wives to his care and education. In a moment he was raised from an enemy slave to a member of the royal household.

Intelligent and resourceful, Mariner quickly adapted to his new life.

Blessed with a photographic memory and a knack for languages, he learned the language fluently and made friends among the young noble warriors.

Over the next four years, he accompanied armies invading other islands, took part in the wars, politics, sports, and social lives of the Tongan nobles, and eventually became the lord of his own plantation.

He and Finau’s family formed a deep friendship that spanned the vast differences between their cultures.

Coming of age in Tonga, Mariner gained an unparalleled insight into Polynesian culture in the decades before it was irrevocably altered by the Christian missionaries.

When another European ship visited Tonga in 1810, Mariner was eventually allowed to leave Tonga to return to England.

- Kaniva Pacific/PNC