HMS Dolphin: The Ship That Lost Its Integrity and Found the Myth of the Nail

This article traces one of the originating myths about Tahiti from the moment of occurrence through the journals of Master George Robertson, Captain Samuel Wallis, Captain Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Captain James Cook, the first printed journals for the reading public, and finally, the appearance of the myth in the erotic history Nocturnal Revels. "The Myth of The Nail" describes English sailors ripping out nails from their ship to trade with Tahitian women for sex. The myth, at once iconic and fabricated, created a non-existent sexual paradise free from societal mores, imagined for the enjoyment of European readers. The indelible myth contributes to the devastating tourism across the Pacific Islands today. I offer a historical revision of the myth by providing an explanation of the Tahitian (Mā'ohi) economy based on cosmic balance and the vitality of mana.