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.
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‘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.
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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.”
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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.
