Note 6 — Chapter XV

Edwin Nobbs and Fisher Young joined the Melanesian Mission under its first bishop, the Right Rev. J. C. Patteson, the former to become, probably, the successor of his father, the Rev. G. H. Nobbs, pastor of the church on Norfolk Island. But it was not to be. In less than four years after joining the mission, the bishop paid a visit to the island of Santa Cruz, and found the natives hostile to their landing. On the bishop’s first visit the natives had shown themselves friendly, but now, August, 1864, a sudden and unexpected attack was made by the natives against their visitors, and the young men, Edwin and Fisher, were wounded, the former in his left cheek, the later in his left wrist. An Englishman, Pierce by name, was wounded in the chest, but he recovered. Fisher died on the eighth day, after suffering the dreadful agonies of lockjaw. His body was taken ashore at Port Patteson and buried there. His deeply-sorrowing companion attended the funeral, the exposure bringing on a cold which resulted in the same dire disease. Everything that the most loving care could suggest was done for them, but in vain. The bishop, writing of that sad time, said, “Never have I known such sorrow; never have I been so broken down with overmuch sorrow.” They both died in the arms of the bishop, almost the last words of each being a prayer for their murderers. Edwin was buried at sea. It can truly be said of them that

The deservedly-loved Bishop Patteson himself fell a victim to the murderous assault of the natives, on the 20th of September, 1871, seven years after the death of the young men.