HMS Pandora and Captain Byron Drury, November 1852

Early Sailing Vessels and Visitors to Tauranga, Part XX

Built and launched at Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames in 1833, the 318 ton HMS Pandora was a medium sized naval vessel with a length of 90 feet.  A 3-gun packet brig, it initially served in British waters as a coast guard vessel and naval personnel and freight transport until converted to a survey ship in 1845.

In 1850, the Admiralty dispatched Captain Byron Drury and the Pandora to the South Pacific to complete the marine survey of New Zealand, begun by Captain J. Lort Stokes and HMS Acheron between 1848 and 1851. Noted for their detail and accuracy, British naval charts were the consequence of long, tedious surveys and Drury and HMS Pandora remained in New Zealand waters until June 1856. During 1852 the Pandora surveyed the Bay of Plenty Coast, during which the ship’s boats were used to survey its small harbours and bar-protected rivers. In early November of that year, Drury took HMS Pandora through the Mount Maunganui channel entrance to anchor in Pilot Bay. The vessel remained for 23 days while the hydrographic survey of Tauranga Harbour was completed. 

‘HMS Pandora’ by Thomas Hornbrook, 17 February 1851
Auckland Art Gallery, Toi O Tamaki Collection, Ref. 1916/12

Tauranga’s harbour charts were collated under the direction of one of the Royal Navy’s most experienced and discerning hydrographers. Entering the Royal Naval College in 1828, Byron Drury served on a variety of battle ships and saw action in Brazil and China. During the 1830s, he was involved in surveys as far apart as Northern Brazil’s Para River and South Australia’s Port Essington. In 1841, he received his officer’s commission and for the remainder of that decade, was involved in surveys including China’s Yangtse River and the West Coast of Scotland.

Captain Byron Drury, Photograph by Greetham Brothers, Woolwich, 1861
Auckland War Memorial Museum, Ref. PH-2014-171

In 1856, the reports on the New Zealand surveys conducted by HMS Acheron and HMS Pandora were published in London as The New Zealand Pilot. Drury’s November 1852 Tauranga survey report, was also published in New Zealand newspapers at the time. It included some of the following observations:

“The Bay of Plenty is the long extent of coast comprised between Mercury bay and cape Runaway, near the East cape: a line drawn between these two points measures 120 miles, and the greatest depth of the bay from such a line is about 40 miles. There are a number of islands and detached rocks in this extensive bay; the only anchorage in it of importance, and which offers shelter for any vessel larger than a coaster, is Tauranga harbour.

“The difficulty of entering this harbour through the deepest channel, is its somewhat tortuous course, and the liability to eddy winds on rounding Mount Monganui; the channel in one place being only half a cable's length wide; but with those winds which would make the Bay of Plenty a lee shore, Tauranga harbour is the most accessible, and when once inside there is anchorage for a fleet.

“The entrance to the harbour lies north and south; the eastern head is the remarkable flat-topped hill Monganui, rising abruptly from the sandy shore to a height of 860 feet: the western entrance is formed by low undulating sand-hills, which extend 13 miles northward to Kati-Kati river; one mile north-westward of Monganui, a spit with 9 feet extends eastward from the western sandy shore for a mile; this spit generally breaks.

“The approach to Tauranga harbour is remarkably distinct. Vessels bound to it from the northward should bring the south end of Mayor island to bear north, steering a south course; the high flat-topped hill of Monganui will first appear like an island: on this course, Karewha, a small rugged island, bearing from the entrance of the harbour N.N. W. 1/2 W. 6 miles, will be passed on the outside about 3 miles, in 23 fathoms.

“Above Te-Papa there is only a boat channel amid extensive flats, and 3 miles above, it narrows again into a small but deep river, running to the southward, which is navigable for boats for 15 miles, and by it a journey can be accomplished to the Rotorua lakes in less than two days. Te-Papa is the Protestant mission station;  the site is well chosen on elevated ground, on the south side of the harbour, three miles from Monganui; two miles westward of it is Otumoiti village, where there is a Roman Catholic mission establishment. and a very neat church, the interior gorgeously decorated by Native wicker-work. ' Four or five Englishmen reside here, chiefly engaged in building small craft, and I am informed, three Frenchmen live at the mouth of the Wairoa.

“The total native population of the Tauranga district is estimated at 1,000, and large tracts of land are under cultivation; fresh water can be obtained just within Stony point in small quantities, and pigs and poultry may be had from the natives at reasonable prices.

“During the twenty-three days H.M.S. Pandora was at anchor in Tauranga harbour in the month of November it blew very fresh, and almost continually from the S.W., but such strong winds were considered unusual.

“Tides: It is high water at full and change 7h 10m, range of tide 6 feet: the strength of the tides at springs is 3 knots; in the narrow channel at Stony point it may attain 4 knots.

“From Tauranga harbour, the coast, which is a uniform sandy beach, runs E. b. S. for 15 miles to Kaituna river. The land between is covered with fern, and low, with the exception of two hill ranges of 600 and 800 feet, which rise one mile inland and extend to the S.W.;--a remarkable flat-topped range of hills about 1,000 feet high rises 10 or 12 miles inland of Tauranga, and extends in a north-westerly direction.

“Moititi Island lies 4 1/2 miles off this sandy coast, there are 12 fathoms water midway between it and the shore.”

Published by the British Admiralty in 1857, this hydrographic shows locations including Otumoetai and the Te Papa mission station where Drury and his officers were regularly hosted by Alfred and Charlotte Brown.
Admiralty Chart no 2521, Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand Archives. Ref. ADOE 16621 MW676 Box 1/3A 2521

At the end of the Pandora’s New Zealand survey in 1856, Byron Drury was thanked and recommended to the British Admiralty by Governor, Sir George Grey. On his departure from Auckland, Drury received a testimonial and a service of silver plate from the Chamber of Commerce and local citizens. The South Auckland settlement of Drury was named after him and on his return to Britain, he became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, with promotions to rear admiral in 1875 and to vice admiral in 1879.  Tauranga residents commemorated his visit and survey by renaming the hill Hopukiore on Maunganui Spit, Mount Drury.

On her return to Britain, HMS Pandora resumed her original role as coastguard watch vessel around England. Sold by the Admiralty in 1862, her name passed to a succession of larger Royal Navy vessels.

Sources

New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, 18 June, 1853: 4.

Morgan, William, The Journal of William Morgan: Pioneer Settler and Maori War Correspondent, Nona Morris (ed.), Auckland City Council, Auckland 1963: 110.

Richards, Captain G.H. and Mr. F.J. Evans, R.N. (comp.), The New Zealand Pilot: From Surveys made in H.M. Ships Acheron and Pandora, Captain J. Lort Stokes and Commander Byron Drury, Potter, J.D. London 1856: 75-79.