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The only known details of events surrounding the first traverse of
Rangitoto Channel and Tamaki Strait, by a European vessel, are brief
references contained in Richard Alexander Cruise’s book, Journal of a
ten months’ residence in New Zealand (London, 1823). Cruise
commanded a military detachment on HMS Dromedary when she came to
New Zealand in 1820 with Samuel Marsden on board. The Dromedary was
accompanied by the New South Wales government schooner Prince Regent
under the command of John Rodolphus Kent.
Cruise’s narrative is not easy to follow and a modern reprint with
explanatory notes fails to expand on the Waitemata Harbour diversion. As
well, many of the terms and the spelling of Maori names have a tendency to
confuse the reader.
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A modern view
of a kauri tree.
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The Royal Navy Store Ship Coromandel
had earlier sailed from the Bay of Islands to the peninsula that now
bears her name in search of kauri spars and because of the length of time
she was away concern was expressed for her safety. In August the Prince
Regent was dispatched to the Firth of Thames in search of the
Coromandel. Kent was joined by Cruise as a passenger.
In his journal, Cruise records events as
the Prince Regent proceeded south towards the Waitemata-Tamakimakaurau
area. Part of an entry for 20 August 1820 reads:
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The Barrier Islands were passed
during the night; and the course of the vessel was now directed by
Witi, who undertook to pilot her to the Coromandel. |
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A modern view of Rangitoto
looking northeast
from a point in front
of Mission Bay.
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At this period the Hauraki Gulf was
usually referred to as the River Thames; this being the name given in 1769
by James Cook during his circumnavigation of New Zealand in the Endeavour.
Cook did not have time to investigate the western side of the Gulf.
Witi, a Hokianga chief, reasoning that no one on board the Prince Regent
knew where the Coromandel might be, advised Kent that he did not
intend approaching the Coromandel Peninsula by the usual way of rounding
Cape Colville. Witi knew of a different route via a series of
channels to the west of a chain of islands.
According to Witi these islands were located ten miles eastward of the
mainland and about twenty miles parallel to it. Witi thought that by
keeping close to the western shore, that is the Takapuna-Tamakimakaurau
coastline, contacts would be made with various Maori tribes who might have
information as to where the Coromandel was located. Witi thought
they would have little chance of encountering the Coromandel by striking
out into the centre of the extensive waters of the Hauraki Gulf.
At 9 am on 21 August 1820, the Prince Regent entered Rangitoto
Channel from the north with Cruise noting:
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… at first it was not more than
three miles broad, but it soon widened to about ten. The mouth of a
large river, called the Waitemata, was passed at ten o’clock. |
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British Admiralty charts soon began to
include this term and revisions of charts almost down to the present day
display the legend “Waitemata River” – an acknowledgement by earlier
Hydrographers of the Royal New Zealand Navy of the part played in early
surveys by pioneer navigators including Kent.
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A
wood engraving by Arnold Frederick Goodwin depicting the Prince
Regent passing Rangitoto, in the year 1820.For some details
of Goodwin click HERE.
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Permission of the
Alexander Turnbull Library must be
obtained before any re-use of this image. Reference number:
A-236-01890-1978. A-236-001/006
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Cruise noted that Māori
were on the shore and some were in canoes on the water. Proceeding
cautiously with the schooner’s boat being sent ahead to take soundings
Kent anchored the Prince Regent. But finding the water deepening
rather than otherwise he weighed anchor and sailed about three miles
further which brought them under the lee of Motukorea (Browns Island),
Kent thought this might be a good place to seek information from Maori as
to whether they had sighted the Coromandel.
Kent named the passage they had traversed “Prince Regent’s Channel” as he
believed his vessel was the first to navigate it. The name appears on some
early charts, but is usually changed to “Prince Regent’s Inlet”.
Curiously, the French explorer Dumont d’Urville who traversed the same
channel in 1827 provided another name for the passage, “Astrolabe
Channel”. However, d’Urville, a well-educated man must have read Cruise’s
book and known about Kent’s name for the channel. Cruise makes no mention
of an earlier Maori name for the passage. Some writers including Admiral
J. O’C. Ross and A. W. Reed consider it unfortunate that Kent’s name
“Prince Regent’s Channel” fell into disuse.
Opposite Motukorea is the entrance to the Tamaki River. From their
anchorage Cruise noticed the absence of kauri trees on islands to the
eastward, meaning probably Motuihe and Waiheke while the mainland to the
west was low, flat and almost bare of timber.
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Samuel Marsden
[1765-1838].
Marsden was senior
chaplain
of
New South
Wales
and founder of the
New
Zealand Mission.
Oil painting by Joseph
Backler.
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Permission of the Alexander
Turnbull Library must be
obtained before any re-use
of
this image. [Ref. 13379] |
The schooner had no sooner anchored than
several canoes came alongside and two chiefs were invited on board. One of
them, Te Tata knew that the Coromandel was not far away and he
offered to act as pilot to her the next morning. Te Tata also mentioned
that Samuel Marsden had entered the Waitemata Harbour, in a small boat,
two days earlier with the intention of sailing up the harbour as far as
possible and then walking to the Bay of islands.
That evening a large canoe carrying attractive women came alongside the
schooner and Te Tata who said they were “wives” for the white men ordered
them to come on board the Prince Regent. Cruise’s narrative
continues:
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When they had formed themselves in
a line upon the deck, Te Tata walked aft to where the officers were
standing, and very politely and individually asked them to select
what number of wives they wanted. He seemed much disappointed that
this mark of attention and hospitality was declined by those to whom
he wished most to show it; and though many of the women found
husbands among the other inmates of the vessel, the chief gave
himself no trouble about them. They continued to dance and sing till
a late hour; and it was generally observed that in the harmony of
their voices, the gracefulness of their movements, as well as in
personal appearance, they had far the advantage of any other tribes
we had met with… |
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At daylight the next day, 22 August,
canoes filled with amiable men and women surrounded the schooner. They
traded potatoes for nails and similar trifling objects. Cruise describes
the people in the following terms:
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In appearance … far superior to
any of the New Zealanders we had hitherto seen: they were fairer,
taller, and more athletic; their canoes were larger and more richly
carved and ornamented. |
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Continuing the voyage, the Prince
Regent passed Motukaraka which Cruise describes in detail.
During the morning of 23 August they reached the entrance to Waiheke
Channel. Cruise describes the three passages leading into the Hauraki
Gulf with the Prince Regent, taking the most westerly route.
After locating the missing vessel at the harbour now named Coromandel, the
Prince Regent headed out on the return voyage to the Bay of Islands
on 26 August. The same afternoon they passed Waiheke Island and later
anchored under the lee of Motuihe.
On 27 August they weighed anchor and the wind being contrary to their
course for the Bay of Islands they anchored between Motukorea and the
mainland.
On 30 August they explored Motokorea and in his journal Cruise describes
the crater. Probably the best early description of the Mokoia settlement
at Panmure is contained in Cruise’s journal. The Ngapuhi under Hongi later
slaughtered these people.
No manuscript charts are known that derive from Kent’s voyage but there is
little doubt that he prepared a survey-chart of the Waitemata Harbour.
After the manuscript came into the hands of James Herd he delivered it to
J. W. Norie the London chart publisher who published it in 1827.
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J. R. Kent, Plan
of part of Waitemata Harbour, London: J.W. Norie, section of a
chart, c. 1838. John Rodolphus Kent from New South Wales carried out
a survey of part of Waitemata Harbour in August 1820. His pioneer
survey is wrongly credited to James Herd. (© National Maritime
Museum, London.)
Notice the Scottish
term in the plan: “Frith of Thames”. |
Raphael Clint a Sydney printer, well
known for copying and publishing New Zealand charts around 1840, issued a
version of Norie’s chart in 1839. A print of Clint’s chart is preserved in
the Auckland Public Library. □
Note: Clint’s chart is reproduced below and in
Auckland–Waikato Historical Journal, No. 69 (April 1997). - Clint's
chart is also reproduced in Page KAO2 with an essay - this web site - go via
Contents above.
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Clint’s 1839 copy the of Kent-Norie chart
shown above. |
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Courtesy Auckland
Public Libraries. |
A
brief note on A. F. Goodwin
Arnold Frederick Goodwin (1890-1978). Little attention has been paid to
Goodwin by art historians. However, he was an accomplished artist and
worked with wood engravings, etchings, watercolours and other forms. A
fine collection of his work is held in the Auckland Art Gallery.
Born in UK in 1890,
Goodwin studied at the Julian Academy at Paris, and the Leicestershire
School of Art in the UK. He arrived in New Zealand in 1913. He took up a
teaching position at Elam School of Fine Arts. He was a member of the
Quoin Club, a
group of Auckland artists ...
The following note has
been abbreviated from details supplied by the Alexander Turnbull Library.
The Prince Regent, the first vessel to enter what is now known as
Waitemata Harbour, passing Rangitoto, in the year 1820. [Edinburgh? 1930s].
Reference number: A-236-0011. Wood engraving, 211 x 157 mm. Part of
Goodwin, Arnold Frederick 1890-1978? :[Historical incidents in New Zealand
in 1820. Scotland ca. 1930] (A-236-001/006) Rangitoto Island in the
background, with a European sailing ship, watched from the left foreground
by two Māori
men, both with taiaha, standing near a carved gateway. Picture supplied
by courtesy John Walker & Sons, Ltd., Distillers, Kilmarnock.
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Detail
from a modern map displaying the Hauraki Gulf-Waitemata Harbour
area.
(The tracks shown do not relate to the discussion.) |
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NOTES
1. McLintock (1966, vii, 658)
is the source of details in this and the following paragraph.
2. The main chart titled 'A chart of part of New South Wales'
was published as chart 127 in J. W. Norie (1838). See entry
348 in National Maritime Museum Catalogue ... (1971,
410).
3. I am grateful to Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Young of the
Hydrographic Office of the Royal New Zealand Navy, Auckland, who
confirmed the time of low water on 21 August, 1820.
4. This name probably relates to a visit by Samuel Marsden
and John Butler to Waiheke Island in November 1820. See Barton
(1927, 100-101). But the name is placed beside Motuihe in error.
5. A print of this map is held in the Auckland Public
Library.
6. Anderson deserves to be honoured as discoverer although it
is possible earlier Europeans visited the area without leaving
records. Barr (1926, 16) includes a communication from Mr George
Graham relating to an early voyage on the Waitemata Harbour. Thomas
Maxwell (Tami Kohi a Pakeha-Maori) who settled at Maraetai in 1817
built a vessel and made a voyage as far as Brigham's Creek, landing
on the way at Shelly Beach. No evidence has been found to support
this claim.
7. Another possibility is that Herd obtained a chart direct
from Kent. According to Ross (1966, vii, 218) Kent was living at
Koutu Point, Hokianga when he was joined by some of the first New
Zealand Company settlers. Herd sailed on to Sydney after leaving
Hokianga but some of the passengers returned to New Zealand.
REFERENCES CITED
BARR, J. 1926. The Ports of Auckland
.... The Unity Press, Auckland.
BARTON, R. J. (ed.) 1927. Earliest New Zealand-The
Journals and Correspondence of the Rev. John Butler.
Palamontain & Petherick, Masterton.
CRUISE, R. A. 1823. Journal of a Ten
Months Residence in New Zealand. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and
Brown, London.
ELDER, J. R. 1932. The Letters and Journals of
Samuel Marsden 1765-1838 .... Coulls Somerville Wilkie Ltd, and
A. H. Reed for the Otago University Council, Dunedin.
HERD, J. 1832:' - Remarks on the Geographical Positions of
Several Places Visited on Voyages to the Islands of New Zealand,
made in the Years 1822, 1825, 1826 and 1827, with Explanatory Notes,
by James Herd, Commander of the Barque Rosanna,' pp. 338-343
Nautical Magazine, London.
McLlNTOCK, A. H. 1966. 'New Zealand Company' pp. 658-661, vii
in A. H. McLintock (ed.) An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. (3
vols.) R. E. Owen, Government Printer, Wellington.
NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM Catalogue of the Library. 1971.
Volume three Atlases & Cartography, (two parts) Her Majesty's
Stationery Office, London.
NORIE, J. W. 1838: The Complete East India Pilot,
from London. John William Norie, (8th ed.) London.
ROSS, R. M. 'John Rodolphus Kent' pp. 217-218, vii in A. HMcLintock (ed.) An Encyclopaedia of New
Zealand. (3 vols.) R. E. Owen, Government Printer,
Wellington.
SMITH, S. P. 1910. Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century; .
. . Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, Christchurch.
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