[1] He was then found in 1840 in China, where he is the Captain of the brig Brigand on behalf of a Parsi Heerjeebhoy Rustomjee, his sponsor,[2] and owner of the vessel.
With the agreement of his sponsor, Paddon planned to colonize an island in the archipelago to install a depot or a trading post.
Gathering a group of settlers including thirty lumberjacks, sixteen Chinese, and six Maori, he left Auckland on 5 October 1843 for the New Hebrides.
Paddon managed to free himself and sailed to Norfolk Island to land two wounded, before continuing on to Newcastle (New South Wales, Australia).).
[3] It was probably around January 1844 that the brig Brigand arrived at Inyeuc (Mystery Island), an islet in Anelguahat Bay southwest of Anatom (New Hebrides).
The exposure was good, and the islet, already frequented by whalers, was considered haunted by the natives (so the security problem was solved).
So Paddon decided to turn it into a trading post and bought Inyeuc without difficulty in exchange for an axe, a blanket and a thread of milking beads.
[2] As early as April 1844 (three months after the installation of his trading post) an advertisement appeared in the Australian and New Zealand press: "Captain Paddon has the honour of informing the captains of whaling or merchant ships that he has a trading post on the island of Anatom, at 170° 15' east longitude and 20° 20' south latitude, where they will find fresh water to be supplied, fresh meat and vegetables as well as in all accessories necessary for navigation",.
[2] Paddon set up a shipyard at Anatom and most of his schooners came out of it: Governor, Rover's Bride, Master Bell, Speck, Bluebell, New Forest, Black Dog.
As Inyeuc was gaining cruising speed, and the climate was heavy, Paddon abandoned the islet to explore the archipelagos in order to install new trading posts.
Only two branches were maintained in Erromango and Tanna [2] Source:[8] Paddon had managed to "establish a shore team" at the Isle of Pines as early as 1846 despite the hostility of the inhabitants towards the Europeans in previous years.
Still, Patton wanted to settle there but this island depended on the Gambwa, tribe of Chief Kuindo "who had already earned a sinister reputation by nibbling a few sandalwood too bold".
The settlement, episodic in 1851, on the northwest side of the island (Paddon Cove) was sheltered from the prevailing winds, near a spring.
The surrounding populations used to come and barter (sandalwood, mother-of-pearl, copra, sea cucumbers, or tortoise shells for axes, nails, cloth, and especially tobacco).
[6] It was on the peninsula facing Nou Island that the administration of the new French colony of Nouméa set up its capital, called Port-de-France, in 1854.
In 1855, Knoblauch, the chief accountant, described the facilities as "a modest straw-covered frame house serving as a store with a bedroom at each end."
Paddon had also discovered a coal mine (Morari Bay in Boulari)[3] and traces of gold at Mont-Dore (hence the name)[3] which turned out to be copper pyrite.
An exchange trade was established: sandalwood, sea spades, tortoise shells, coconut oil against poultry, ducks, domestic pigs (easy breeding), dogs, fig tobacco, tools or change (kind of bearer notes printed in Sydney).
[3] It was upon discovering Paddon's installation on Nou Island that Tardy de Montravel decided to establish the capital of the colony in Port-de-France.
[7] On 30 March 1855 30 Paddon obtained a five-year grant from 1 April 1855 1er for the part of Nou Island which he occupied in gratitude for his services.
[6] He first brought fourteen people (Antoine and Hélène Metzger and their sons Frantz and Theodore, Antoine's sister, Catherine Human and her husband, Henrich and Maria Ohlen and their son Henri, Charles John Frédéric Gaertner and wife, and Thomas and Rachel Lynch and their daughter) from Sydney by the brig Speck in May 1859. .