At some stage during the 1850s, Ross-Lewin became involved in the Pacific Island trade. He established himself in the
New Hebrides and worked for Robert Towns and others to supply
sandalwood from these islands for the Chinese markets. He was associated with Captain Edward Rodd at
Aneityum in the late 1850s. Captain Rodd was a veteran sandalwood trader who had lost an eye and a hand in skirmishes with Indigenous people of
New Caledonia. In the early 1860s, Ross-Lewin brought South Sea Islanders to Sydney on the missionary vessel,
John Williams. During this period, Ross-Lewin was mostly based on the island of
Tanna in the
New Hebrides. He later established a plantation there called Sangalie, which is now known as the
Lenakel settlement, the largest town on Tanna. He utilised the Tannese tribe that lived around his plantation to make forced incursions into other islands, battling with the inhabitants in order to find and exploit the sandalwood. On 15 August 1863 the
Don Juan arrived in the port of
Brisbane with 73 South Sea Islanders, one of whom died on arrival from exhaustion and was buried on Mud Island in
Moreton Bay. They were transported to the plantation at Townsvale with Ross-Lewin and William Tutin Walker being employed in managing the workers and the operations there. Immediately, allegations of crimes such as kidnap and slavery were made, and Towns responded with the publication of a pamphlet outlining the instructions he gave to Ross-Lewin in regards to recruitment of the labourers. This pamphlet was later criticised for possibly being written after voyage and for the conditions specified for the labourers not being met in that shelter was not provided, wages not paid and the Islanders not returned home. Under Ross-Lewin's management at Townsvale, the workers were subject to hard work, poor diet and a lack of medical care, with some deaths being recorded.
Independent recruiting agent In 1867, Lewin advertised his services to obtain and provide Islander labour for sugar planters and cotton growers in the colony. He claimed he could procure "the very best and most serviceable natives to be had among the islands" for the price of £7 per head. After receiving the orders for labourers, Ross-Lewin chartered the
King Oscar vessel and set out for the islands. At
Epi Island, he organised an ambush on a local village where 20 men and women were captured and "recruited", while at
Aniwa Island he tricked another group of Islanders into coming onto the vessel believing that he was taking them to the nearby missionary outpost. The
King Oscar returned to Queensland in November 1867 with 225 labourers and soon after completed a second voyage returning with another 282 Islanders. Ross-Lewin sold these people for an average of £9 per head and made around £2,000 profit. In 1868, Ross-Lewin chartered the
Spunkie, a vessel with the appearance of being a missionary ship, and conducted further recruitment voyages, often enticing Islanders on board by getting the crew to pretend to be missionaries or more simply by ramming their canoes and picking them out of the water. ==Death==