A chief’s son tries to poison the Emily Morgan’s crew after hearing a warship might punish him.

What happened

On the New Bedford whaleship Emily Morgan’s third visit to Kosrae, a chief’s son tried to poison the crew after being told a warship would come to punish him for an earlier killing. After the ship’s first visit, in December 1850, its mate had died at sea, and the crew suspected an islander had poisoned him.