Union (ship)

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The Union was a snow constructed in England that was wrecked in Fiji in 1804.

Built at Barnstaple in the United Kingdom, the Union was registered in New York. Travelling from Sydney to China the Union called at Tongatapu in the Friendly Islands searching for sandalwood. The master of the boat, John Pendleton, with seven other men put ashore on 1 October 1804. Unknown to the crew remaining aboard all eight men were killed by natives. The following day, a native canoe approached the ship with a white woman on board. It appeared that her role was to entice another boat load of men to come ashore but she cried out that the other men had been murdered and she leapt out of the canoe and swam to the ship. The crew rescued her and held off the natives whilst the ship raised anchor. The woman turned out to be Elizabeth Morley, the sole survivor from the wreck of the Duke of Portland .

The surviving crew sailed the ship back to Sydney, under the First Mate, Daniel Wright, arriving on 25 October 1804. The Union sailed for Fiji on 12 November 1804. Under contract to Simeon Lord the Union was totally wrecked on Point Corabatta, near Sandalwood Bay. The Master, Daniel Wright and the other twenty one crew were drowned or killed by natives. No exact record of the date of its wrecking was recorded.^[1]