



Produced by David Widger





THE AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH SEAS

From "The Tapu Of Banderah and Other Stories"

By Louis Becke

C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.

1901



Perhaps the proper title of this article should be "The Influence of
American Enterprise upon the Maritime Development of the first Colony
in Australia," but as such a long-winded phrase would convey, at the
outset, no clearer conception of the subject-matter than that of "The
Americans in the South Seas," we trust our readers will be satisfied
with the simpler title.

It is curious, when delving into some of the dry-as-dust early
Australian and South Sea official records, or reading the more
interesting old newspapers and books of "Voyages," to note how soon the
Americans "took a hand" in the South Sea trade, and how quickly they
practically monopolised the whaling industry in the Pacific, from the
Antipodes to Behring Straits.

The English Government which had despatched the famous "First Fleet"
of convict transports to the 