Jean-Baptiste Dutrou-Bornier

Released on the intervention of the French consul, he sailed to Tahiti, where he began recruiting labour from the islands of East Polynesia for coconut plantations.

He visited the island again in March 1867 to recruit labourers, but then amassed huge gambling debts and, as a result of some fraudulent deals, forfeited his share of the Tampico.

He tried to persuade France to make the island a protectorate and recruited a faction of Rapanui, whom he allowed to abandon their Christianity and revert to their previous faith.

With rifles, a cannon, and hut burning, he and his supporters ran the island for several years as "governor", appointing Koreto Queen.

He bought up all of the island, apart from the missionaries' area around Hanga Roa, and moved a few hundred Rapanui to Tahiti to work for his backers.