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© Brian Hooker 2006. The text that follows is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, no part may be reproduced without prior permission.

New Zealand unveiled, is in three parts - Part A contains preliminaries and the bibliography ; Part B contains Sections 1 to 13; Part C contains Sections 14 to 23.

Contents

Author's preface
Preliminary data
List of sections
Bibliography (Part A)
Further reading

Sections 1 to 23

Preface

The purpose of these pages (in parts A, B, and C) is to present a series of brief reviews that focus on early exploration as it relates to the finding and the early coastal examination of New Zealand. This condensed coverage which extends to around 1840, has involved considerable concentration in presentation and economy of expression in the text.

No claim is made that every minor voyage of exploration or survey is mentioned but nothing of significance has been omitted. Readers interested in further elucidation are referred to the bibliography or the list for further reading. Many of the books listed also contain extensive reading lists.

New Zealand territory today includes, as well as the main group of islands, Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, The Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island. Thus, discoveries related to these islands are also reviewed.

Part of the story of early Pacific exploration and the discovery of New Zealand is the quest from ancient times for a reliable or scientific method of navigation. I do not agree with people who claim early Polynesian voyagers navigated back and forth over long distances. Scholars who suggest that there must have been some deliberate navigation to New Zealand in order to account for their ancient navigation to New Zealand in order to account for their ancient settlement overlook the fact that New Zealand was encountered accidentally by both early Polynesian voyagers and the first European to reach these shores, Abel Tasman. Tasman fixed New Zealand's position in relation to latitude and longitude and recorded the details, which enabled James Cook to later find the land. However, there was no method whereby an ancient race without instruments and without knowledge of mathematics and geodesy could relocate a remote position.

The volume of writing on the subject of Pacific and New Zealand exploration and discovery is immense but special mention must be made to the valuable contributions of the Hakluyt Society, London, the Linschoten Society, The Netherlands, and the Society for the History of Discoveries, USA, through their publications.

I have not attempted in the main text, or in the appendices to cite authority for statements, but the sources I consulted are listed in the bibliography with a note of the relevant section or sections after each entry.

Although neither sailor nor navigator, I have long been fascinated by early maps and the history of geographical exploration. While I have inspected many of the remote places in New Zealand visited by the early explorers and viewed vast stretches of the Pacific from the air most of my exploring has perforce been done in libraries.

BH

1 January 2004.

Contents

Author's preface
List of sections
List of maps and figures
Preliminary data
Bibliography
Further reading

List of Sections

  1.  A small matter of centuries
  2.  The Polynesians arrive

  3.  1455: The "Big Bang" in exploration - Portugal's
       eastward thrust begins
  4.  1493: Pope Alexander VI draws the line - the Moluccas
  5.  Balboa says "It's all for Spain"
  6.  Magellan swaps sides
  7.  Mercator's myth
  8.  1560s: Mendaña's dream
  9.  1577: Sea dogs set loose
10. Mendaña's nightmare
11. 1595-1602: Dutch treats
12. 1605: Quirós the inquisitive

12. 1605: Quirós the inquisitive
13. 1606: Dutch courage
14. 1740: Davis Land, where are you?
15. 1645: On the map at last
16. 1768: Cook's tours begin 
17. 1769: Coasts, contours, confrontations
18. 1772: Back again - and again in 1777
19. 1785: Gone but not forgotten
20. 1792: The entrepreneurs move in
21. 1788: Timber!
22. 1820: Flax finds favour
23. 1827: Naval detail

Preliminary data

Names: an orthographical note

World and Pacific place-names follow National Geographic Society (Washington, D.C.) current maps. New Zealand place-names have been copied from current maps issued by the New Zealand Department of Survey and Land Information. Names of early navigators and ships are the same as those used in catalogues published by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Dates

Dates are noted as given in the original authorities. Many of these give times of day according to ship's time measured from noon to noon, others in civil time measured from midnight to midnight. Since doubt frequently arises as to whether an event happened before or after midnight or before or after noon, it is not possible to be certain that all dates are accurate to the day.

Distances

Distances are given in geographical miles except where they are stated to be otherwise. The miles in the quoted Dutch material convert to geographical miles by a multiplication factor of approximately four.

Glossary

Almiranta. In Spanish references the second ship; the flagship was termed the capitana.

Bark or barque. A three-masted vessel with her foremast and mainmast square-rigged and her mizzenmast fore-and-aft rigged.
Brig. A square-rigged sailing ship with two masts.
Buccaneer. Usually a piratical adventurer in the West Indies during the 17th century but also one who operated in the Pacific, chiefly plundering the Spaniards.
Bonnets. These were additional pieces of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to catch more wind.
Cable. 1/10th of a nautical mile.
Capitana. See Almiranta.

Caravel. A small ship with lateen (triangular) sails - a fast sailer often used in the 15th and 16th centuries - especially by the Portuguese.
Careen. To turn (a ship) over on the side for cleaning or repairing.
Cat-built. A type of north-England merchant ship with a very round bow and almost flat bottom.
Chronometer. Marine timekeeper; an instrument for accurately measuring time.
Clepsydra. A water clock.
Cock-boat. A ship’s small boat.

Cock-boat. A ship’s small boat.
Corvette. A flush-decked vessel with one tier of guns. Scientific expeditions usually included corvettes in name only – without the guns.
Cutter. A small sailing ship with one mast.
Dead-reckoning. Estimating a ship’s position by observing her courses and distances run.
Dog-watch. See under Watch names.
Flute. A warship carrying only part of her armament, acting as a transport vessel.
Flyboat. A long, narrow, swift boat, usually used on canals.

Frigate. A speedy warship rigged as a ship; with three square-rigged masts.
Galleon. A large vessel with lofty stem and stern used by the Spanish but also developed in England modelled on Venetian vessels.
Geographical mile - see Nautical mile
Gnomon. An upright rod for taking the sun’s altitude by its shadow.
Hippah or pa. A fortified Maori village.
Horse latitudes. Two oceanic zones about 30 degrees north and south, especially the belt of calms and light airs which border the northern edge of the north-east trade-winds.
Jacht. Yacht.

Jacht. Yacht.
Kedge-anchor. A small anchor with an iron stock used in mooring or warping.
League. (English) A measure of distance, usually about three modern nautical miles. The English league was equal to 1/20th of a degree. The league varied between different European nations but the French league was very similar to the English measurement.
Log. An apparatus (originally a block of wood) for ascertaining the speed of a vessel.
Longboat. The

boat. The largest boat carried aboard a sailing ship.
Mile - see Nautical mile.
Nautical mile. One minute of longitude measured along the equator.

Mile - see Nautical mile.
Nautical mile. One minute of longitude measured along the equator. In practice today the British Admiralty nautical mile or “sea mile” is 1.8532 km and the international nautical mile is 1.852 km.
Parang. A heavy Malay knife.
Pinnace. Auxiliary ship’s boat.
Sail-yards. One of the yards or spars on which the sails are spread.
Sea-dog. An experienced sailor; a pirate.
Schooner. A sharp-built, swift-sailing vessel, generally two-masted, fore-and aft-rigged, or with top and topgallant sails on the foremast.
Sextant. An instrument with an arc of a sixth of a circle for measuring angular distances.
Shallop. A small or light boat.

Shallop. A small or light boat.
Ship. A general term for a large vessel but the term can be used specifically for a three-masted square-rigged sailing vessel.
Supercargo. A person on a ship placed in charge of the cargo and managing all commercial transactions of the voyage.
Taiaha. A Maori long wooden weapon with a blade and a stabbing spear-point.
Tingangh sail. A small boom-sail or yard-sail, as carried by tingangs (small Indian vessels).
Topsails breeze. A wind in which topsails could be set without danger.
Watch names. On Dutch vessels the first watch was from 8 pm till midnight; the second watch or dog-watch was from midnight till 4 a.m. - the day watch was from 4 a.m. till 8 a.m. On many ships the term dog-watch applied to two short or half watches from 4 - 6 p.m. or 6 - 8 p.m. - thus consisting of two hours only instead of four.
Zabra. A small coastal vessel used mostly by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Bibliography

This list provides a guide to the principal printed works consulted during the preparation of this book. The relevant section or sections are noted in brackets at the end of each entry.

Admiralty manual of navigation 3 vols. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1959 – 1973. (App. B)

Amherst of Hackney, Lord, and B. Thomson, eds The discovery of the Solomon Islands by Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568. Translated from the original Spanish manuscripts. 2 vols, Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. Vols 7 and 8. London, 1901. (8)

Beaglehole, J. C. ed. The journals of Captain James Cook on his voyages of discovery 1 The voyage of the “Endeavour”
1768 – 1771. 2d ed. Hakluyt Society Publications, extra ser. vol. 34. London, 1968. (16, 17)

............., ed. The journals of Captain James Cook on his voyages of discovery 2 The voyage of the “Resolution” and “Adventure “ 1772 – 1775. Hakluyt Society Publications, extra ser. vol. 35. London, 1969. (18)
----------, ed. The journals of Captain James Cook on his voyages of discovery 3 The voyage of the “Resolution” and “Discovery” 1776 – 1780. 2 parts. Hakluyt Society Publications, extra ser. vol. 36. London, 1967. (18)

Brown, L.A. The story of maps. New York, N.Y., Dover, 1979. (4, App. B)

Burnell, A.C. ed. vol. 1; P.A. Tiele, ed. vol. 2 The voyage of John Huyghen Van Linschoten to the East Indies. 2 vols. Hakluyt Society Publications, 1st ser. vols. 70, 71. London, 1885. (11)

Carrington, H., ed. The discovery of Tahiti: A journal of the second voyage of “H.M.S. Dolphin” around the World, under the command of Captain Wallis, R.N., in the years 1766, 1767 and 1768 written by her master George Robertson. Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vol. 98. London, 1948. (14)

Crone, G.R. Maps and their makers, London, Hutchinson.
(4th ed.), 1968 (4, App. B)

Dalrymple, Alexander An account of the discoveries made in the South Pacifick Ocean previous to 1764. London: A. Dalrymple (printed, 1767), 1769. (16)

David, A.C.F., ed. with assistant editors for the views, Rüdiger Joppien and Bernard Smith, The charts and coastal views of Captain Cook’s voyages. The voyage of the “Endeavour”, 1768 – 1771. Hakluyt Society Publications, extra ser. vol. 43. London, 1988. (16)

.................., ed. with assistant editors for the views, Rüdiger Joppien and Bernard Smith, The charts and coastal views of Captain Cook’s voyages. The voyage of the "Resolution" and the "Adventure", 1772 – 1775. Hakluyt Society Publications, extra ser. vol. 44. London, 1992. (18)

Davidson, Janet, The prehistory of New Zealand, Auckland: Longman Paul, 1984. (1, 2)

Day, A. The Admiralty Hydrographic Service 1795 – 1919. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1967. (20, App. B)

Debenham, F., ed. The voyage of Captain Bellinghausen to the Antarctic Seas 1819 – 1821. 2 vols. Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d

ser. vols. 91, 92. London, 1945. (21)

Dunmore, J. French Explorers in the Pacific. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, vol. 1, 1965; vol. 2, 1969. (14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Gallagher, R.E., Byron’s journal of his circumnavigation,
1764 – 1766. Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vol. 122.
London, 1964 (14)

Grady, D. Sealers and whalers in New Zealand waters. Auckland: Reed Methuen, 1986. (19, 20)

Heeres, J.E. “Abel Janszoon Tasman: His life and labours” in, Abel Tasman’s journal. Amsterdam: Frederik Müller & Co.,
1898. (13, App. A)

Hooker, Brian, “New light on the mapping and naming of New Zealand” (in) The New Zealand Journal of History 6, no. 2 (October 1972), 158-67. (15, App. C)

--------------, “The Waitemata Harbour unveiled – 1820,” (in) New Zealand Geographer 42, no. 2 (October, 1986): 70-72. (21)

-------------,  “A preliminary list of survey-charts by Thomas Wing,” (in) Archifacts 1988/4 & 1989/1: 30 – 32. (22)

-------------, “Identifying Davis’s Land in maps” (in) Terrae Incognitae 21 (1989): 55 – 61. (14)

-------------, “Two sets of Tasman longitudes in seventeenth and eighteenth century maps” (in) The Geographical Journal 156 (1), (March 1990), 9 – 10. (13, App. C)

-----------, “Early New Zealand coastal views by John Rodolphus Kent” (in) Archifacts (October, 1990), 17 – 20. (22)

-----------,  “An early French encounter with Northland” (in) Auckland–Waikato Historical Journal, no. 56 (April 1990) 9 – 10 (22)
 

------------, “The origin of ‘Taranaki Bay' in early New Zealand maps” (in) New Zealand Geographer vol. 46, no. 2 (October 1990), 92 – 94. (22)

------------,  “Thomas Anderson: the little-known European discoverer of the Waitemata Harbour in 1820” (in) Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal No 58 (Apr. 1991). 18 – 20 (22)

-----------, “Finding Port Nicholson: A new look at European discovery and naming claims” (in) The Mariners’s Mirror (May, 1993) 179 – 91. (22)

-----------,  “Ptolémée connaissait-il Austalie?” (“Did Claudius Ptolemy know about Australia?”) (in) MappeMonde 59, September 2000, pp. 37 – 40. (7, App. B)

_______. "James Cook's secret search in 1769" (in) Mariner's Mirror, vol. 67, 2, (August 2001). (16)

IJzerman, J.W., ed. De Reis on de wereeeld door Olivier van Noort,1598 – 1601. ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1926 (Werken uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging; vols 27, 28). (11)

Jack-Hinton, C. The search for the Islands of Solomon 1567 – 1838 London: Oxford University Press, 1969. (8)

Joyce, L. E., ed. A new expedition and description of the isthmus, by Lionel Wafer, surgeon on buccaneering expeditions in Darien, the West Indies, and the Pacific, from 1680 to 1688; with Wafer's secret report, Indies, and the Pacific, from 1680 to 1688; with Wafer's secret report, 1698, and Davis's expedition to the gold mines, 1704, Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vol 73. London, 1934. (14)

Lamb, W.K., ed. George Vancouver – A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and round the world 1791 – 1795. 4 vols. Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vols 163, 164, 165, 166. London, 1984. (19)

Lewiston, M., R. G. Ward and J. W. Webb, The settlement of Polynesia - A computer simulation. Minneapolis: The university of Minnesota, 1973. (1, 2)

McCormick, Eric. Tasman and New Zealand – A bibliographical study, Alexander Turnbull Library Bulletin No. 14, Wellington: Govt. Printer, 1959.

Markham, C.R., trans and ed. The voyages of Pedro Fernandez De Quiros 1595 to 1606. 2 vols, Hakluyt Society Publications, 1st ser. vols 14, 15. London, 1904. (10, 12)

Morison, S.E. The European discovery of America – The southern voyages 1492 – 1616. New York, OUP, 1974. (6, 12)

Morton, H. The whale’s wake. Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1982. (19)

New Zealand Herald “Rat fossils clue to pre-Maori visitors”, 19 March 1998, (1)

------------------,  “Rats theory turns history on its head”. (citing Nature) 2 December 1996, (1)

Ollivier, I., and C. Hingley. Transcribers and transl. Early eyewitness accounts of Maori life. 1 Extracts from journals relating to the visit to New Zealand of the French Ship “St. Jean Baptiste” in December 1769 under the command of J.F.M. de Surville. Wellington: Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust in association with the National Library of New Zealand, 1982. (17)

Ollivier, I., transcriber and transl. Early eyewitness accounts of Maori Life. 2 Extracts from journals relating to the visit to New Zealand in May-July 1772 of the French ships “Mascarin” and “Marquis de Castries” under the command of M.J. Marion du Fresne. Wellington: Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust with Indosuez N.Z., 1985. (17)

------------,  Transcriber and transl. Early eyewitness accounts of Maori life. 3 and 4 Extracts from New Zealand journals written on ships under the command of d’Entrecasteaux and Duperrey 1793 and 1824. Wellington: Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust with IndosuezN.Z., 1986. (19, 21)

Schilder, G. Australia unveiled. Amsterdam: Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm, 1976. (11, 13)

Sharp, A. Ancient voyagers in the Pacific, Wellington: Polynesian Society, 1956. (1, 2, App. B)

________. The discovery of Australia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968. (13)

-------------,  The voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968. (13)

-----------,  ed. The journal of Jacob Roggeveen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. (15)

------------,  ed. Duperrey’s visit to New Zealand in 1824. Wellington: Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust, H.B. Fleck Memorial Fund, 1971. (21)

Stanley of Alderley, Lord, ed. The first voyage round the world by Magellan. Hakluyt Society Publications, 1st ser. vol. 52, London, 1874 (6)

Stevens, H.N., ed. New light on the discovery of Australia as revealed by the journal of Captain Don Diego De Prado Y Tomar. Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vol. 64. London, 1930 (12)

Tarlton, K. “The search for and discovery of anchors lost in 1769 by the French explorer de Surville at Doubtless Bay, New Zealand” (in) The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology & Underwater Exploration vol. 6 (1) Feb. 1977, pp. 64 – 70. (17)

Vaux, W.S.W. , ed. The world encompassed by Sir Francis Drake; being his next Voyage to that to Nombre de Dios Collated with an unpublished manuscript of Francis Fletcher, chaplain to the expedition. Hakluyt Society Publications, 1st ser. vol. 16, London, 1854. (9)

Villiers, J.A.J. , trans. & ed. The East and West Indian Mirror. Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vol. 18, London, 1906. (12)

Wallis, H., ed. Carteret’s voyage round the World 1766 – 1769. 2 vols, Hakluyt Society Publications, 2d ser. vols. 124, 125, London, 1965 (14)

Warnsinck, J.C.M. ed. De reisom de Wereld van Joris van Silbergen 1614 – 1617 ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1943 (Werken Uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging; vol. 47). (11)

Warnsinck, J.C.M. ed. De reisom de Wereld van Joris van Silbergen 1614 – 1617 ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1943 (Werken Uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging; vol. 47). (11)

Wroth, L.C. The early cartography of the Pacific. The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 38, no. 2, New York, N.Y., 1944. (4, 7, App B)

Further general reading

The following list contains items also consulted during the preparation of the present volume but the books noted here cover the subject in general rather than relate to one explorer or a single aspect of discovery.

Beaglehole J.C. The discovery of New Zealand. London; Oxford,
2nd ed 1961
____________. The exploration of the Pacific, 3rd ed. London: A. & C. Black, 1966.

Boxer, C.R. The Dutch seabourne empire 1600 – 1800 London: Hutchinson, 1965.

Friis, Herman R. (ed) The Pacific Basin – A history of its geographical exploration.

New York: American Geographical Society – special publication no. 38, 1967.

McNab, R. Murihiku and the southern islands. Invercargill: William Smith, 1907.

. ..............From Tasman to Marsden. Dunedin: Wilkie & Co., 1914.

Parry, J.H. The age of reconnaissance. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1966.

.................The Spanish seabourne empire. London’; Hutchinson, 1966.

Penrose, Boies, Travel & discovery in the renaissance 1420 – 1620. New York: Athenium, 1975.

Ross, J. O’C. This stern coast. Wellington: A.H. & A. W. Reed, 1969.

Sharp, Andrew, The discovery of the Pacific Islands. Oxford: Clarendon, 1960 (corrected edition, 1969).

Shirley, R. The mapping of the world. London: Holland Press, 1983.

Skelton, R.A. Explorers maps. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958.

Spate, O. H. K. The Pacific since Magellan 1 The Spanish Lake. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1979.

____________. Monopolists & Freebooters. Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1983.

PART B

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