William Henry "Bully" Hayes (1827 or 1829 – 31 March 1877)[1] was a notorious American ship's captain who engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s.

[4][5] However, in their account of his life, James A. Michener and A. Grove Day warn that it is almost impossible to separate fact from legend regarding Hayes; they described him as "a cheap swindler, a bully, a minor confidence man, a thief, a ready bigamist" and commented that there is no evidence that he ever took a ship by force in the tradition of a pirate or privateer.

He is believed to have left New York as a passenger of the Canton on 4 March 1853, although when the ship reached Singapore on 11 July 1853 it was captained by Hayes, and sold by him there shortly after arrival.

Hayes arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia in January 1857 as captain of the C. W. Bradley, Jr. (which was the Canton, repurchased and renamed).

[2] Hayes had built up debts in Adelaide, but by a ruse escaped his creditors and in Melbourne, Australia he gained the command of the Orestes sailing to Vancouver, Canada.

[10] On the return trip to Sydney, Hayes lost the Ellenita off Navigator Islands on 16 October 1859 and with the women and children and a skeleton crew reached Savai'i to raise the alarm.

[12] While Hayes lost the Ellenita in a storm, and others to creditors, he always found new ships to command and new cargoes to fraudulently acquire and sell.

Hayes and Roma settled in Arrowtown where he opened a hotel, the "United States", later called "The Prince of Wales".

Eventually this happened and it was revealed, as rumoured, that Hayes had been deprived of an ear in California where he had been caught cheating at cards.

On 19 August 1864, while travelling in a borrowed yacht, the family was caught by a sudden squall and Rosie, her baby, her brother, and a nurse all drowned.

[1] In May 1866 Hayes acquired the brig Rona and operated in the Pacific with bases in Apia, Samoa, and in Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

He found Captain Handley B. Sterndale, and a work crew of 18 men, 2 women and 3 children, whose food supplies had run out.

Hayes then purchased the schooner Atlantic, although soon after he was arrested in February 1870 by the Consul Williams in Apia on charges related to his activities.

[2] Hayes escaped from Samoa on 1 April 1870 on the ship of Ben Pease, a fellow American of similar reputation.

[2] Hayes renamed the ship Leonora (the name of his favourite daughter), painting her white in an effort to change her reputation.

In July of that year, Hayes went to the Micronesian island of Pingelap where he extorted the people to load his ship with 6,000 coconuts and to bring him a young girl.

After Hayes had finished with her, the girl was taken back to the ship in severe pain, crying with blood running down her legs.

Dupuis of HMS Rosario on 26 September 1874 medically examined another victim for evidence against Hayes but he escaped whilst being further questioned, as described in the next section.

[27] In September of that year Rosario (1860) under Captain Dupuis arrived and Hayes was arrested, but escaped by a 14-foot boat built of timber from the wreck of the Leonora.

[27][2] In the words of a Petty Officer on board Rosario: Arrived here on 25th Sept and on approaching the harbour, a boat was seen making for the ship and soon the figure of a stranger was seen on the Quarter deck and no other than the veritable Capt.

The most positive proof of his villainy was in the person of a young female native, a mere child, she was brought on board and subjected to medical examination.

While the events are unclear, it is understood that Hayes was shot with a revolver, struck on the skull with an iron implement, and thrown overboard.

[13][29] Charles Elson and the remaining crew sailed the Lotus to Jaluit in the Marshall Islands and gave an account of the death of Bully Hayes.