The schooner Trent and Major Thomas Bunbury, 1840

Early Sailing Vessels and Visitors to Tauranga, Part XIX

On the morning of 29th April, 1840, H.M.S. Herald left the Bay of Islands, bound for the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty. The skipper, Captain Nias, had been tasked with taking Major Thomas Bunbury, officer commanding the British military forces in New Zealand, on a tour to secure further signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi. An experienced officer, Bunbury had just returned from a term as Lieutenant-Governor of the Norfolk Island convict settlement. Accompanying Bunbury as interpreter, was Edward Marsh Williams, who had assisted his father, the Rev Henry Williams in Translating the Treaty from English to Maori.  After obtaining Treaty signatures at Coromandel Harbour and Mercury Bay, where the Herald remained at anchor, Bunbury proceeded to Tauranga on the 18 ton schooner Trent which had been chartered for the purpose.

A 17 ton, Bay of Islands-built schooner at anchor, 1845

Described as ‘a little schooner,’ the Trent had been built during 1826, near the mouth of the Kawakawa Inlet, Bay of Islands on a small plot of land noted for its ‘two remarkable trees.’ The site had been purchased from the Ngapuhi rangatira Pomare II or Whetoi, at nearby Otuihu Pa for £10 by the shipwrights Thomas Scott and James Hawkins. With the assistance of the caulker Flower Russell, they completed and launched the schooner in 1837. The vessel’s initial survey certificate which has survived, reads:

This is to certify that Gilbert Mair has held a survey on the ship Trent, built at the Bay of Islands by James Hawkins and Thomas Scott in 1837, of which Thomas Bateman, trader, is the sole owner, the master and builders being British subjects. The vessel has one deck, is schooner rigged, square sterned, has a figurehead and no quarter galleries [balconies used as lookouts and for latrines on each side of the stern], and is of the burthen of 18 tons.

During the Trent’s coastal trading voyages, the skipper proudly flew New Zealand's first flag - the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand. After 33 northern chiefs signed the Declaration of Independence in 1835, the British government had recognized New Zealand as an independent Maori state. Locally built vessels flew this flag and the signed authority for the schooner read: ‘Trent is entitled to bear that flag and be respected accordingly. Given under my hand and seal at the British Residency, James Busby.’

HMS Herald and a steam ship tender, 1852.

Before HMS Herald departed the Bay of Islands, Captain Nias had been requested to ‘display the force of his ship’ at Tauranga ‘to show that we were prepared to resent any violence’, as a European had been reported killed in the region. Nias wisely ignored the recommendation and contracted Captain Bateman’s schooner Trent, to convey Bunbury from Mercury Bay to Tauranga instead.

After a quick passage to Tauranga, Bateman was unable to sail the Trent through the narrow channel under Mount Maunganui, due to contrary winds and tide, and was compelled to stand out to sea. They Treaty party were becalmed under the Mount for much of the following day, until a favourable wind propelled them through the channel and across the harbour to the landing below the Te Papa mission station.

The major’s Tauranga dispatch to Lieutenant Governor Shortland began:

I have made an excursion in the schooner “Trent,” to Tauranga. She left the "Herald" at Mercury Bay on the 12th instant late in the evening, and arrived off Tauranga on the Sunday following; but the night was too far advanced to attempt to enter the harbour until the following day when Mr. Parker of H. M. ship "Herald," Mr. Williams and myself went on shore at the mission station, where we were received by the Reverend Mr. Stack; and I was agreeably surprised to learn that most of the native chiefs in that neighbourhood had already signed the treaty, with the exception of the principal chief [Hori Tupaea], and one or two of his friends at the Otumoiti Pa.

Major Thomas Bunbury
A veteran British army officer, Bunbury held the rank of major during the Peninsula War in Portugal and Spain.

The resident missionaries Alfred Brown and James Stack had, in fact, gathered few signatures on their Māori-language copy of the Treaty, by the time Bunbury arrived on 11 May to check on  progress. Bunbury instructed Stack to produce two more copies of the Treaty. One was sent inland to Rotorua, the other to Taupō, where both Te Arawa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa refused to sign.

Accompanied by Stack, the Treaty party visited Otumoetai Pa which Bunbury described as ‘a very extensive fortification, and appears to contain about one thousand men’. Unable to persuade the principal chief Hori Tupaea to sign his Treaty copy, Bunbury described the rangatira as ‘a very young man’ whose manner was ‘less than prepossessing than I had before seen in others’. Bunbury also stated that rangatira’s reluctance was driven by Catholic influences at Otumoetai Pa. (Tupaea had previously welcomed Bishop Pompallier’s Catholic missionaries and had his Ngai Te Rangi people assist them in building their chapel within Otumoetai Pa).

Captain Bateman next conveyed Bunbury on the Trent to Maungatapu Pa on the inner harbour, where he was received hospitably by the Nuka Taipari, principal chief of the Ngati He hapu of Ngai Te Rangi. There, he found that all but two rangatira had previously signed the Treaty and described the pa and its people as ‘of considerable strength and importance.’ In contrast to Hori Tupaea, Bunbury considered Taipari ‘well disposed towards the government’ and ‘a fine intelligent-looking fellow.’

Hori Kingi Tupaea
During the 1830s Tupaea succeeded his father Te Waru as leading rangatira of Tauranga’s Ngai Te Rangi people.

Coincidentally the shipwright Thomas Scott, who helped build the Trent in 1836, had operated a harekeke or flax trading station at Maungatapu Pa during the early 1830s. At this time, Tauranga Maori were exchanging dressed flax by the ton, for muskets and munitions. Rev Henry Williams who was at Tauranga in March 1833, trying to mediate in the bloody skirmishes between marauding Ngāpuhi, the local people, and Te Arawa, refers to ‘a Mr Scott who resides there as a flax agent.’ Williams subsequently made two visits to Scott at Maungatapu ‘to discuss the affairs of the natives’, It appears that by 1834 Scott was back in Sydney, at his previous and safer trade of boatbuilding.

During his time at Tauranga, Bunbury he had some profitable talks during runanga (public meetings) on a variety of Treaty related issues, particularly land sales, though he found the interminable questions posed by the rangatira exasperating. He was also dismayed by the fierce and disruptive competition for Maori converts, waged between the resident Catholic and Anglican missionaries, noting:

Whenever the boat of the Protestant mission, I was told, left the station, a boat with the priests started also at the same time for the same Pa. These unseemly disputes sometimes ending with rioting could not have been very edifying to the natives. With Mercutio they might justly exclaim, "A plague o' both your houses."

The Treaty party departed Tauranga Harbour on the Trent before daylight on 13th March, bound for Mercury Bay and HMS Herald. Against wind and tide they were barely able to claw their way through the channel. Before rejoining the Herald, they were becalmed again, this time between Te Ruamaahu (The Alderman Islands) and Tuhua (Mayor Island), but later reported that the fishing was excellent. Governor Hobson received the Tauranga Treaty sheet with its 21 signatures on 23 May 1840. Bunbury ended his Tauranga dispatch on a cynical note, suggesting that that the Otumoetai Treaty resistors, were unlikely to change their minds ‘until out bidden by the promise of an increased premium.’

Sources
Bunbury, Thomas, Reminiscences of a Veteran, Vol. III, London, Charles Skeet, 1861.
Evening Post, 22 October 1920: 8.
Lambourne, Alan, Major Thomas Bunbury: Envoy Extraordinary, New Zealand Soldier – Treaty Maker, Heritage Press, Waikanae, 1995.
Locker, Ronald H; ‘Thomas Scott lands in the Mahurangi’, http://www.mahurangi.org.nz › thomas-scott-and-sons
Matthew, Felton, The Founding of New Zealand, The Journals of Felton Matthew, Reed, Dunedin, 1940.
Patea Mail, 29 April, 1940: 1
Tauranga treaty copy | NZHistory, New Zealand history online, https://nzhistory.govt.nz › media › interactive › taurang...
Williams, Henry, The Early Journals of Henry Williams, 1826-1840, L. M. Rogers (comp.),  Pegasus Press, Christchurch,1961.

Illustrations
Hutton, Thomas, 'The Bishop's [Selwyn’s] schooner "Flying Fish" lying at her moorings in Orakei Bay, April 4th 1845,’ E-111-1-071, National Library of New Zealand.
HMS Herald  and steamship tender Torch, ‘Expedition to the South Sea’, Illustrated London News, 15 May 1852.
Bunbury, Thomas, Reminiscences of a Veteran, Vol. III, London, Charles Skeet, 1861: Front Cover.
Hōri Kingi Tūpaea, by Horatio Gordon Robley, c.1864. From the album of Henry Harpur Greer Digital image donated to Tauranga City Libraries in 2003 by Mike Dottridge (great, great grandson of Colonel Greer). Original painting donated to Alexander Turnbull Library (Ref: A-128-025-1). Link: http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_local_history/images/show/8961

The Brigantine Victoria and Ensign Abel Best, 1842

Early Sailing Vessels and Visitors to Tauranga

Part XII. The Brigantine Victoria and Ensign Abel Best, 1842

In 1842, the colonial vessel Victoria entered Tauranga Harbour after sailing from New Zealand’s new fledgling capital of Auckland. On board were colonial officials and British Imperial troops, intent on ending an intertribal war between Tauranga’s Ngai Te Rangi and the Te Arawa people at Maketu. The acting governor Thomas Shortland’s pretext for intervening was a report that each tribe had seized a vessel belonging to one of their enemy’s resident traders, for use as warrior transports.

Built at Deptford, N.S.W. in 1840 for Governor Hobson’s new colonial administration, the 200 ton square-rigged Victoria was well prepared for any conflict with Maori. Armed with two 18 pound carronades and a four pound cannon, there were 226 round shot and 175 rounds of grape shot and canister on board. The vessel also carried 40 soldiers of the 40th Regiment led by Major Thomas Bunbury (who had taken a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi around New Zealand for Maori to sign in 1840), and some seamen and marines from HMS Tortoise, for whom 7,100 musket ball cartridges had been loaded.

The colonial brig Victoria
Image courtesy of Keith Snow, New Zealand marine artist

Shortland established his headquarters at Maketu and began peace negotiations, but the leading rangatira at Tauranga and Maketu objected to the right of the British to interfere in their wars. Shortland managed to effect a temporary peace and the return of the cutter Nimble, seized by Te Arawa from the traders Charles Joy and Peter Lowrie. Conscious of the escalating cost of the expedition, the limited size of his military force and the intransigence of the opposing rangatira, Shortland withdrew his troops and returned to Auckland. This was the first of several occasions where British army and naval troops were called out to settle an intertribal dispute and to recover European property during the 1840s.

On board the Victoria during the initial voyage to Tauranga was Ensign Abel Dottin Best. A talented officer of the 80th regiment, Best had served on a convict ship in New South Wales and Norfolk Island. In New Zealand he was given special instructions by Bunbury to take detailed notes on the defences of all Maori pa he visited. Posted to India in 1843, Captain Best was killed in battle in 1845, not yet 30 years old. He kept a journal however, which casts further light on some of the residents, locations and vistas at Tauranga during July-August, 1842.

"July 13th Running down the coast passed close to the Islands Hausey Mercury Aldermans Mayor &c - and at Night shortened sail at times laying to.

14th The harbour of Tauronga is so remarkable that it cannot by any possibillity be mistaken. At its immediate entrance the S. E. head rises into a conical hill with a flat top of a very considerable elevation all the coast to the N. W. being low for at least 15 miles and about 12 miles off lies the island of Kawera.

Sighting Mounganui, the hill mentioned at daylight we beat in with close reefed Topsails against a strong Gale having the flood tide in our favour at half tide carrying in four fathoms. As the harbour was little known when inside Capt Richards let go his anchor in 10 fathoms. We had not long been anchored when a Canoe boarded us containing some of the people who had escaped from Taraia two of whom had been wounded one of them severely in the hand and thigh. The Canoe one of the best constructed I ever saw came down in capital style against a powerful tide her crew twenty in number keeping time to the waving of a battle axe dressed with feathers."

Captain Abel Best 1816-1845
Photo courtesy of Don Armitage, Voyages of the Colonial Brig "Victoria" 1842-3

"Shortly after Mr Browns (the resident Missionary) six oared boat arrived & we all went on shore  & were speedily introduced to Mr Brown & Miss Baker. Mr Brown having told us off to our respective Quarters Sd & Mr Clarke being allotted rooms in his house & Ed & I having the old dwelling of Mr Stack assigned to us we went to dinner and then amused ourselves untill tea wandering about. I observed that the Maories had adopted a system of imperfect Intrenchment as their system of Fortification probably owing to the nature of the ground & the deficiency of timber fit for Stockades.

In the afternoon the Brig worked in and let go her anchor opposite Otu Maitai. The Country round Tauronga for a distance of at least Ten miles is devoid of wood the first forest occurring on the road to Rotorua in which valuable timber abounds. I am of opinion that the whole of the Plains around Tauronga were once wooded but that the trees gave way to agriculture in the days when Tribes inhabiting the Bay of Plenty were in their glory. The whole appearance of the country the size of its remaining Pa's the ruins of Native forts all bespeak a time when Tauronga swarmed with thousands of Warriors and when its people were among the great of the land."

The Victoria’s master, Jeremiah William Nagle
Photo courtesy of Geoff Lloyd and Findagrave.com

"17th Sunday. Breakfast over Ed Sd Mr Clarke & I visited Otu Maitai, the main stronghold of the People of Tauronga it is situated on the Katikati about 1 1/2 miles from the Mission house. Part of the Pa is on the sea beach and part on the top of a cliff or steep bank 40 feet high. By its position naturally strong it is rendered more secure by a strong palisade and on the land side & flanks it is further protected by a deep and wide Ditch having a Stockade on its exterior side. Moreover the level of the exterior plain is somewhat lower than that of the Pa. Where it well defended its intricacy alone would render it formidable but at present there are not men in it to defend one fifth of its great extent. Nowhere have I seen so great a number of fine Canoes the care with which they preserve their fishing nets was also worthy of remark every net being placed on a little elevated platform and then securely thatched over.

18th Up at 1/2 past six and at nine shoved off in the Brigs boat for Mounga Nui which we ascended in about 20 minutes. The day was remarkably clear and the view we obtained from the summit highly interesting & extensive. To the S. W. the sacred mountain of Tarawera was distinctly visible though at a distance of at least fifty miles. Looking along the coast we distinctly saw Cape Runaway on one side and the high land near Cape Colvil on the other. Extensive plains extended some 20 miles up and down the coast running back to the hills towards Rotorua but the most striking object was White Island, enveloped in a cloud of smoke or vapour.

August 18th Taking leave of Mr Brown & his family we walked to our boat & shoved off amidst loud cries of Go to your friend the Governor at Auckland to which we replied we will go to our friend the Governor of all of us which repartee (for so it was when expressed in Maori) occasioned a hearty laugh & gave much satisfaction to this singular people who three days before would not have heard it without visible displeasure.

About 4 P.M. weighed with a light breeze and the ebb tide carrying four fathoms over the outside flat the water gradually deepening to 15 fathoms at three miles from shore.

19th Little or no wind crept up as far as the Mercury Islands inside which we passed without seeing the sunken rock reported to lie in that Passage. The water was perfectly alive with shoals of Porpoises darting about in every direction no doubt rejoicing in the fineness of the weather.

20th Found ourselves inside Cape Colvil little wind all day at night anchored off Wai Heke.

21st Weighed at dawn. Wind foul tried to make Taraias but the weather became so thick and threatening that with much reluctance Mr Shd ordered the vessel to be put about and at 3 P.M. in a heavy Gale we reached Auckland."

Sources

Armitage, Don, Voyages of the Colonial brig 'Victoria' 1842-3, sites.google.com › Home › great-barrier-island-history
Best, Ensign Abel, The Journal of Ensign Best, 1837- 1843. Nancy M. Taylor (ed.), Wellington: Government Printer, 1966.
Bunbury, Thomas, Reminiscences of a Veteran, Vol III, Charles Skeet, London, 1861.
Collinson, T. B., Remarks on the Military Operations in New Zealand, Vol III, John Weale, London, 1853: 48.