in March 1777 during his third voyage, but also failed to set foot on the island. His report was known to Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutineers on the Bounty. After the mutiny of the Bounty on April 28, 1789 off Tofua, the ship first headed for Tubuai, but only stayed there for a week before sailing for Tahiti. Armed with provisions and several Tahitian women, the mutineers returned to Tubuai to settle. However, internal disputes and bloody clashes with the islanders, in which 66 Tubuans were killed, caused the Bounty to depart only three months later. Rapa Iti was discovered in 1791 by George Vancouver, Marotiri in 1800 by George Bass, Rimatara in 1811 by British Tahitian sandalwood trader Samuel Pinder Henry, and Maria Atoll was finally discovered for the Western Hemisphere in 1824 by Nantucket whaling captain George Washington Gardner. After the Pomaré dynasty consolidated its rule in Tahiti with British support and Pomaré II was crowned king in 1819, it decided to extend its sphere of influence to the Austral Islands. Captain Lewis' American brig brought the king, his court and several missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS) to the Austral Islands in October 1819. Lewis was rewarded with Raivavae sandalwood. The clans were engaged in one of their usual tribal wars. Pomaré managed to mediate between the warring parties and resolve the conflict diplomatically. He left as governor one of his Tahitian chiefs, who prepared the ground for the LMS Protestant missionaries who followed from Moorea a year later. The conversion to Christianity was peaceful, as the chiefs assimilated the new religion quickly and without resistance. Christianization put an end to tribal warfare, but brought about decisive changes in the stratified tribal society. The omnipotence of the tribal leaders had been broken. The Austral Islands initially remained under Tahitian hegemony. In 1862, a two-year incursion of the so-called "Blackbirders" began, who took more than 3500 South Pacific islanders to Peru and Chile as slave labor. In December 1862, a fleet of five ships anchored in Rapa's Ahurei Bay. A strong group of armed men was put ashore to capture workers by force. But the inhabitants retreated to the mountain forts and the occupants had to leave without having achieved anything. A few days later, the Chilean schooner Cora arrived at Rapa. Thirteen chiefs met and decided to capture the ship and crew and hand