The Voyages of the Kukupa and the Missionary John Wilson, 1834-1837

Early Sailing Vessels and Visitors to Tauranga, Part XIII.

The Kukupa (another name for the kereru or native wood pigeon), was a large missionary sailing boat of some two and a-half tons. Constructed at the Bay of Islands in 1832 by a ‘Mr Gardiner,’ a boat builder from Deal, it was built for both speed and capacity, being able to accommodate up to seventeen Maori passengers. As with the whaling chase boats of the period, it had sharp bows fore and aft for easy access to and from sandy beaches, and in calm conditions it was powered by four oarsmen. There is no information available on the Kukupa’s mast and sail configuration, but it was likely ketch or schooner rigged with two or three masts and a bowsprit, features common to missionary vessels constructed at the Bay during the 1820s and 1830s.

Like its companion craft, the missionary sailing vessels Karere and Kahawai, the Kukupa was designed to carry Anglican missionaries, Maori passengers and their possessions safely to and from the newly established Anglican mission stations at Te Papa, Tauranga and at Puriri and Matamata which were accessed by the Thames (Waihou) River during the 1830s. The Kukupa was skippered by the missionary catechist John Alexander Wilson, an accomplished sailor who had spent ten years on Royal Navy vessels as a gentleman volunteer.

Unidentified two masted, open missionary vessel, Kerikeri mission station, circa. 1824.
Ambroise Tardieu, ‘Church of England Mission Station’, circa. 1824, Kerikeri New Zealand
Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, 1990/40

Crewed by several Ngapuhi (Wilson refers to them as ‘our men’ or ‘the boys’), the Kukupa proved a swift craft. Wilson recorded their progress after rounding Cape Brett, when he and William Fairburn made their first voyage in December 1833.

24th. -Running before the breeze we passed rapidly along the coast. The country is beautifully wooded, but near the sea often broken and sometimes very irregular. It appears quite different to any European seaboard, and its very diversity of formation gives it interest. We passed many pretty little bays and boat harbours in a run of forty-five miles. After midnight we drew our boat up at Whangarei, and pitched our tents at two o'clock in the morning.

25th. --The weather perfect. Standing before a fresh sea breeze, we passed at times through shoals of kahawai, in places covering the whole surface of the water. In these immense gatherings the fish appear in millions. They are finely formed, a model of symmetry, and are something like the mackerel. In going through these shoals the natives row quickly, and throwing a cleverly made artificial bait overboard, generally catch some.

When not overloaded with passengers, Kukupa also proved a seaworthy craft, Wilson adding that the little craft later negotiated a period of high seas and winds with an ease which would have pleased its builder.

On January 5th 1836, Wilson and William Wade took the Kukupa through the Tauranga Harbour entrance without drama, to find the local tribes in turmoil. The leading Ngati Haua rangatira Te Waharoa was rumoured to be preparing to cross the Kaimai Range from Matamata with a 1000 strong intertribal musket taua for their campaign against the Te Arawa people at Maketu.

In March, Wilson and Wade sailed the Kotuku past Maungatapu Pa in the inner harbour and landed at Rangitaua Bay below the great fortress of Maungamana (Mangatawa) now occupied by Te Waharoa’s army. Located at the northern end of the Papamoa Hills this great fortress complex has almost been completely destroyed by Ministry of Works quarrying for local roads from the 1950s. There, they met with Te Waharoa, who was carrying his favourite weapon, a long-handled battle-axe, but their attempts to dissuade him were unsuccessful.

Historic Drawing of Mangatawa Pa showing the area in green that was taken by Ministry of Works quarrying. Bryce Brown, ‘Mangatawa Pa, Paintings of Historic Places and Events in Tauranga’, www.brycebrownart.com/arts/news/from-the-archive

Later that month Maketu Pa fell to the invaders with great slaughter. When Wilson sailed Kukupa around Mount Maunganui and down the coast to Ngai Te Rangi’s Te Tumu Pa, he met with Phillip Tapsell, the resident flax trader from nearby Maketu Pa which was still in flames.

He is a strong, powerful-built Dane, not much cowed by all that he had witnessed and lost. He had on a straw hat, shirt and trousers, the only things the marauders had left him out of £2,000 or £3,000 worth of property. He was attended by a handsome young Maori woman, his wife, whom Te Waharoa had permitted to leave the pa with him, although a native of Rotorua.

As the intertribal fighting in the Tauranga region escalated, Wilson and the missionaries Alfred Brown and James Stack at Te Papa, sent their families aboard the missionary brig Columbine for safety on 31st March 1836. They remained at the Bay of Islands and did not return until the following year. After visiting the Rotorua mission station which was subsequently looted and burned by Ngati Haua, Wilson departed Tauranga for the Bay of Islands. Returning to the abandoned Te Papa mission station with Mr. Ashwell in March, 1937, he found Tauranga still wracked by intertribal musket warfare, and fearing for his own safety, recalled:

At night I used to place two young men in my boat, and anchor it off the end of an old fortification which formed part of the settlement. In the boat I also placed a change of clothing, and my dog. The clothing was necessary in the event of my house being attacked during the night, not knowing but that I might be treated with as little ceremony as the missionaries at Rotorua had been some months previously, who were stripped to their shirts and trousers. Mr Ashwell and myself having arranged for our return to the Bay of Islands, I gave over the station in charge to Tahu. He was formerly a priest or Ariki [paramount or high chief, or first born in a leading aristocratic family].

Haka outside Maketu Pa circa 1865
This fortress fell to an invading Waikato taua during Wilson’s 1836 visit
Robley, Horatio Gordon, ‘Maketu 1865? A-080-051, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington

On March 30th 1837, Wilson and Ashwell sailed away from Te Papa at first light, first visiting Otumoetai Pa on their way to the Katikati harbour entrance. At Otumoetai they were boarded by Te Waharoa and his armed personal retinue, the overloaded Kotuku narrowly avoiding disaster.

The wind was strong from the westward, and being met by the flood tide, occasioned a short breaking sea. The natives, though wet through by every spray, pulled well. At last a heavy sea struck the boat in the waist, more than half filling her with water; we were not far from an island [Matakana] at the time, but it was with difficulty we escaped and got on shore.

Wilson left a very brief description of his return voyage to the Bay of Islands in March-April 1837, so I have included part of his journal description of his January 1833 return voyage in the Kotuku. Forced to seek shelter in the Hauraki Gulf, Wilson’s account provides some idea of the challenges encountered by missionaries returning from their stations in open sailboats.

John Alexander Wilson
Wilson, John Alexander, Missionary Life and Work in New Zealand, 1833-1862, C. J. Wilson (ed.), Star Office, Auckland, 1889, Title Page

4th. --Reached an island called Waiheke where we had breakfast. After rowing ten or twelve miles came to a second island - Tiritiri Matangi [off the Whangaparoa Peninsula]. Here our men caught some penguins among the rocks, which hunger made palatable.

Sunday, 5th. --A day of rest! How great is the mercy of God, who in His goodness has set apart this day for man's spiritual and temporal use; for indeed, both body and mind are refreshed. The day was very hot. We held Maori service under some fine trees; afterwards we read the English service.

6th. --Before day dawned we stowed the boat. After sunrise the wind freshened to a gale; in a few hours the sky darkened, and we, with difficulty, stood along the coast. By 11 a. m. it became nearly impossible to keep the boat's head to the sea. We had seventeen natives on board, besides luggage and provisions; our little vessel being sharp both fore and aft, laboured greatly. The wind became so heavy in the squalls that to lighten her we threw part of the potatoes and fresh water overboard. At 4 p. m. we reached a small haven, many miles from Tiritiri Matangi; here we landed for the night. The natives, after the fatigue of the day, wandered about seeking shell-fish and birds.

8th. --Yesterday we were weather-bound. To-day we stood across the next bay, the wind still strong and sea high. After a run of about fifty-five miles, we reached the headland of the Bay of Islands; all very weary. We had fasted nearly the whole day and were glad to rest at this place for the night.

9th. --Crossed the broad entrance of the Bay, landed at Te Puna 10 a. m. Thankful to find my dear wife and the boys quite well. We had sailed some two hundred and fifty miles in an open boat on a coast nearly unknown, without an accident.

Wilson’s wife Anne, died on 23 November 1838 and was the first Pakeha buried at the mission cemetery  at Otamataha Pa, Tauranga. John raised their four young sons at Te Papa and the mission station he established at Opotiki in 1840. In 1852 he was appointed by the Central Committee of the CMS to the charge of the Auckland missionary district which extended from Whangarei to Taupo. In 1860, he was a missionary-chaplain to Maori war parties at Waitara, Taranaki. John Alexander Wilson left New Zealand in 1866, and his connection with the Church Missionary Society ended on 21 January 1868.  He died on 5 June 1887 on Jersey, Channel Islands. Like its companion missionary vessels Karere and Kahawai, the fate of Wilson’s Kotuku is unknown.

Sources

Basset, Heather, “Mangatawa”, Research Report Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal foe Wai, December 1996, forms.justice.govt.nz
Marshall, W. B.  Personal Narrative of Two visits to New Zealand in His Majesty’s ship Alligator A.D. 1834. London: James Nesbett and Co. 1836.
Wade, William. A Journal of Travel in the North Island of New Zealand. Hobart: George Rolwegan, 1842.
Williams, Henry. The Early Journals of Henry Williams 1826-1840. L. M. Rogers, (comp.), Christchurch; Pegasus Press, 1961.
Wilson, John Alexander, Missionary Life and Work in New Zealand, 1833-1862. C. J. Wilson (ed.), Star Office: Auckland, 1889.