HMS Challenger and Governor Sir George Grey, 1866

Early Sailing Vessels and Visitors to Tauranga, Part XXI

Launched on the Thames from London’s Woolwich Dockyard in February 1858, HMS Challenger was a full-rigged, steam-assisted, Pearl-class corvette with a speed of 10.7 knots or 19.8 km/h under steam. Of 1,465 tons burthen and with a length of 225 feet (68.66 m) it carried 18 guns, and in 1862 took part in operations against Mexico. The flagship of the Australian station between 1866 and 1870, it took part in punitive operations against Fijians on the Rewa River to avenge the murder of a missionary. As the Anglo-Maori Wars (1860-1872) continued, HMS Challenger made regular visits to show the flag at ports throughout New Zealand. When not on duty in Australian and Pacific waters the Challenger, (Commanders M’Guire, [Maguire or McGuire] and Rowley) was temporarily based in Auckland from where it patrolled the Bay of Plenty and East Coast during the anti-Hauhau campaigns.

HMS Challenger (1858-1878)
Campbell, Lord George, Log – Letters From “The Challenger”, McMillan, London, 1881: 6

HMS Challenger made several visits to Tauranga and, while brief, they were interesting nevertheless. The Evening Post of 17 December 1866, provided the following account of Governor George Grey’s visit to Tauranga on the Challenger, initially, to meet with Colonel Hamilton of the British 12^th (East Suffolk) Regiment, which then had some 800 soldiers stationed in the district.

H.M.S. corvette Challenger, 18 guns, Commodore M'Guire, steamed into this port at an early hour on Monday, the 3rd instant, en route from Wellington to Kawau, with his Excellency the Governor on board. His Excellency, accompanied by Mr. Thatcher his private secretary, the Commodore, and two or three other gentlemen, came on shore about eleven a.m., and proceeded to Colonel Hamilton's residence. We understand that this visit had no absolute political significance, it being only of courtesy. However, the cognisant seem to be of opinion that from the lengthened korero of the leading [Maori] powers in the afternoon, something of importance was on the tapis [tapestry].

In the aftermath of the bloody Anglo-Maori clashes at Gate Pa and Te Ranga, and with some disaffected Tauranga Maori, joining the Hauhau in the Kaimai Ranges, for what was to become the 1867 Tauranga Bush Campaign, Grey was in no mood for niceties. The Evening Post added:

A somewhat amusing incident occurred as Sir George came on shore. A number of Maoris, evidently reckless as to results with regard to attire, and resplendent with gold chains, seals, opera glasses, &c. had congregated near our office to welcome, we suppose, Ta Kawana [The Governor], but on his proceeding straight on his line of march, they hailed him in a very undignified manner, calling loudly "haremai, haremai." To their utter discomforture, however, the illustrious stranger passed on, leaving the faithful Maori utterly crest fallen.

There is a moral to be pointed out by this apparent coldness. Did a long career of ingratitude and restless dissatisfaction amongst some of the natives even near here prompt such a recognition of his reception by them? Very possibly, we think.

The reaction of Tauranga Maori to this major breach of protocol by ‘Ta Kawana’ was not recorded, but the slight will have hardly endeared him to either loyalist or ‘rebel’ Maori in the region.

Governor Sir George Grey (1812-1898)
Detail of hand-coloured photographic portrait

Daniel Mundy, ‘George Grey’, C. 1860, G-625, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

Grey again visited Tauranga on the Challenger in January 1867, as the departure point for an arduous overland journey to Whanganui and by steamer to Wellington. Not without personal risk, given the number of Hauhau militant bands then active on the East Coast and in the Central North Island, the purpose of the undertaking was to obtain reassurances of loyalty from iwi at Rotorua, Taupo and Whanganui. The Press, 12 January 1867: 3, reported:

On Wednesday, the 19th, his Excellency left Tauranga accompanied by Commodore Maguire, Mr Thatcher, (Private Secretary), Mr Commissioner Clarke, Mr Mair, Mr Williams, of the Challenger, and Mr Monro, son of Sir David Monro, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Horses were provided for the party by the Natives at the pa opposite Te Papa [Otumoetai], and all started about the middle of the day for Maketu, where they arrived the same afternoon, and rested that night.

Tauranga township about 1864
Unidentified Photographer, ca. 1864, ½-022640, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington

HMS Challenger was last at anchor in Pilot Bay between late January to February 1870.  When Te Kooti’s Ringatu ‘rebels’ were reported to be within 10 miles of Tauranga, the outlying settlers crowded into the town which was ‘in a state of utmost confusion, settlers arming constantly and helpless women and children wanting shelter.’ From Wellington, the Challenger immediately started for Tauranga to join HMS Rosario and Blanche already present in the harbour. Te Kooti’s much anticipated raid, however, never eventuated. On the 28^th February 1870 a Tauranga correspondent wrote to the New Zealand Herald describing how the Challenger and her crew had departed with some style, with local Maori protocol again disregarded.

        On Monday evening a dinner was given on board H.M.S. Rosario in honor of Commodore Lambert and the officers of the flagship, H.M.S. Challenger, the splendid band of the latter performing the whole evening, a treat to our little township we don't often enjoy. Yesterday, a 40-poundcr Armstrong gun was landed from the Challenger, and one of less calibre from the Rosario, with about 150 bluejackets, 60 marines, and 30 officers, the whole marching out on the Cameron-road, for the purpose of having a field day at the Gate Pah.

        On reaching the Gate, a change in the programme took place, and the men returned, after having enjoyed their dinner on the grass. The alacrity of the crews of these two vessels in landing their guns, re-shipping them, the orderly manner in which it was done, and the brief period it occupied, was truly astonishing, showing, as it does, the wonderful pitch of discipline and efficiency to which the British Navy has arrived. Your correspondent has been called upon by some chiefs since yesterday, who arc desirous of making some demonstration of welcome to the Komororore (Commodore), the highest officer of her Majesty's navy who has visited the harbour. Of course, they were referred elsewhere.

As Maori guerilla warfare escalated in the central North Island and Taranaki Governor Grey, with the support of his ministers, constantly avoided his instructions to finalise the withdrawal of Britain’s imperial regiments which had commenced in 1865. Unable to control so difficult a governor, the British government had little alternative but to terminate his appointment.in 1868.

In 1873, HMS Challenger was selected to undertake the first global marine research expedition. Embarking from Portsmouth on 21 December 1872, the vessel travelled 68,890 nautical miles or 125,936 km. Organized by the Royal Society in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, the vessel carried 181 miles of hemp rope for sounding, trawling and dredging the ocean’s depths. While HMS Challenger was decommissioned in 1878 and sold for scrap in 1921, the Challenger Deep and the US space shuttle Challenger were later named after her.

Sources:

Belich, James, The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1986.

Campbell, Lord George, Log – Letters From “The Challenger”, McMillan, London, 1881.

Evening Post, 17 December 1866: 2.

McGibbon, Ian, ed. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 2000.

New Zealand Herald, 28 February, 1870: 4.

Pearl-class corvette – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Pearl-class corvette

Press, 12 January 1867: 3.

Sinclair, Keith, George Grey, 1812-1898, ‘Soldier, explorer, colonial governor, premier, scholar’, in The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume One 1769-1869, Bridgit Williams Books and Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1990: 163.