Explorers charts of New Zealand
Part A

By

Brian Hooker

© Brian Hooker 2006. The text that follows in all parts is copyright. The illustrations must not be copied or reproduced. Any proposal involving the illustrations should be directed to the owner of the original work. The name of the relevant repository is given in the preliminary data associated with each chart, plan or view. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, no part may be reproduced without prior permission.

This work is in three parts - Part A contains preliminaries and the introduction; Part B contains Plates 1 to 19 with remarks on the Plates ; Part C contains Plates 20 to 37 with remarks on the Plates; Part D contains Plates 38 to 60 with remarks on the Plates, and Part E contains Plates 61 to 74  with remarks on the Plates plus a copy of the footnotes and the bibliography. To go to any part first click on Contents above and in that page scroll down to  Explorers Charts and Views of New Zealand  in Section A, and click on the title  required.

Preface

the main purpose of this part of my website is to bring together a selection of charts, plans and views of New Zealand, executed up to 1840. A novelty in this book is the fact that all the items are manuscripts.

Many are displayed on this web site for the first time. A large number of early manuscript charts, plans and views of New Zealand are preserved in libraries and archives. In selecting the examples for reproduction and review, I have endeavoured to provide a balance between geographical coverage and intrinsic historical importance. At the same time, in the selection process, I weighed up other factors, including the reputation of the cartographer or surveyor, the association with an eminent navigator or a particular aspect of European interest in early New Zealand.

The search for early charts has extended over many years; the final selection for this book was made after considering some hundreds of works scattered in libraries and other repositories in many countries.

The reproductions vary in quality from excellent to poor. I have gone to considerable effort to try to enhance the poorer illustrations but regret I have not been too successful. However, the reader should realize that the illustrations are a reference only and not intended for detailed study.

The aim of the text under the sub-title "Historical setting"  is to outline New Zealand exploration and marine surveying up the 1840s. While I have not attempted in this introduction to cite authority for statements, the sources I consulted are listed in the bibliographies that accompany the reviews.

I wish to acknowledge the encouragement  given to  me by the late Dr Stuart Duncan, Geographer, Melbourne, while I was preparing  Explorers' charts and views of New Zealand 1642-1840. Stuart made a number of useful suggestions which I have incorporated in the work.

B H December 2006.

Barque. Same as bark; technically a vessel with three masts, the mizzen-mast being fore-and aft rigged.
Brasse. Early French expression of depth; the length of two arms outstretched; about 1.66 metres or 5.4 feet; about six to eight inches less than the English fathom.
Cable. One tenth of a nautical mile.
Cat-built. A type of north-England merchant ship with a very round bow and almost flat bottom.
Cockboat. A ship's small boat.
Corvette. A flush-decked vessel with one tier of guns; but scientific expeditions usually included corvettes in name only – without the guns.
Fathom. Originally the reach of outstretched arms; in more recent times a measure of depth of water, equal to 6 ft.
Flute. A warship carrying only part of her armament, acting as a transport vessel.
Flyboat. A long, narrow, swift boat usually used in canals.
Frigate. A speedy warship rigged as a ship; that is with three square-rigged masts.
Frith. A variation of the term firth.
Hippah or pa. A fortified Maori village.
Jacht. A small three-masted Dutch vessel.
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 countries but the French league was very similar to the English measurement.
Longboat. The largest boat carried aboard a sailing ship.
Master. The navigating officer of a ship of war, ranking next below a lieutenant.
Master's mate. Navigating officer subordinate to the master.
Mercator's projection. Named after Gerard Mercator, a 16th century cartographer. In a Mercator-chart the meridians are constantly parallel to each other. By increasing the distances between parallels of latitude proportionally to the increases in the intervals between the meridians of longitude, Mercator was able to make a chart where a constant bearing could be laid down as a straight line with a ruler.
Nautical mile. One minute of longitude measured along the equator. In practise today the British Admiralty nautical or "sea mile" is 1.8532 km and the international nautical mile is 1.852 km.
Neap tides. Those semidiurnal of least range that occur in each period from new to full moon and vice versa.
Pied. French measure in use previous to the introduction of the metric system; approximately equivalent to the English foot.
Pinnace. Auxiliary ship's boat.
Schooner. A sharp-built, swift-sailing vessel, generally two-masted, fore-and-aft rigged, or with top and topgallant sails on the foremast.
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 in a ship placed in charge of the cargo and managing all commercial transactions of the voyage.

List of sections and plates

Section 1 - Tasman - 1642-43

Plate 1. Part of the west coast of New Zealand, by Franchoys Jacobsen Visscher, 1643.

Plate 2. Part of the west coast of New Zealand, anonymous, 1643.

Plate 3. Series of South Island west coast views, attributed to Isaac Gilsemans, 1642.

Plate 4. Views of Three Kings Islands, attributed to Isaacs Gilsemans, 1643.

Section 2 - Cook 1769-70 and 1773

Plate 5. New Zealand, by James Cook and Isaac Smith, 1770.

Plate 6. Part of the central-east coast of the North Island, by James Cook and Isaac Smith, 1769.

Plate 7. Tolaga Bay, by James Cook and Isaac Smith, 1769. Plate 8. Coastal view: parts of Tolaga Bay, by Herman Diedrich Sparing, 1769.

Plate 9. The arched rock at Tolaga Bay, by Herman Diedrich Sparing, 1769.

Plate 10. North Island east coast; Cavalli Islands to Waihou River entrance, by James Cook, 1769.

Plate 11. North Island east coast; Bay of Islands to Coromandel Peninsula, by Richard Pickersgill, 1769.

Plate 12. Mercury Bay, by Richard Pickersgill, 1769.

Plate 13. View of a perforated rock fortified on the top, Mercury Bay, by Herman Diedrich Spöring, 1769.

Plate 14. Cook Strait by lames Cook and Isaac Smith, 1770.

Plate 15. Queen Charlotte Sound, by lames Cook and Isaac Smith, 1770.

Plate 16. Part of the lower South Island and Stewart Island, by Robert Molineux, 1770.

Plate 17. Dusky Sound and Pickersgill Harbour, by lames Cook, 1773.

Plate 18. View of Dusky Sound from the sea, by William Hodges, 1773.

Section 3 - De Surville 1769

Plate 19. Northern New Zealand, attributed to Jean Francois Marie de Surville, 1769.

Plate 20. Doubtless Bay, attributed to Jean Francois Marie de Surville, 1769.

Section 4 - Du Fresne 1772

Plate 21. North-western part of Northland by M.-J. du Fresne, 1772.

Plate 22. Bay of Islands, by Ambroise Bernard Marie Le Jar Du Clesmeur, 1772.

Plate 23. Parts of the west, north and east coasts of the North Island, by Ambroise Bernard Marie Le Jar Du Clesmeur, 1772.

Section 5 - Malaspina 1793

Plate 24. Doubtful Sound, by Don Felipe Bauza, 1793.

Section 6 - D'Entrecasteaux 1793

Plate 25. Northern coast of Aupouri Peninsula and Three Kings Islands, by Miroir de Jouvency, 1793.

Plate 26. Kermadec Islands, by C.-F. Beautemps- Beaupre, 1793.

Section 7 - Waterhouse 1800

Plate 27. Antipodes Islands, by Henry Waterhouse, 1800.

Section 8 - Wilson 1801

Plate 28. Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel Peninsula, by William Wilson, 1801.

Section 9 - Smith 1804

Plate 29. Foveaux Strait, by Owen Folgar Smith, 1804.

Section 10 - Bunker 1809

Plate 30. Parts of southern New Zealand, by Eber Bunker, 1809.

Section 11 - Hasselberg 1810

Plate 31. Campbell Island, by Frederick Hasselberg, 1810.

Section 12 - Murray 1813

Plate 32. Bluff Harbour, by Robert Williams, 1813.

Section 13 - Skinner 1820

Plate 33. North Island east coast from Doubtless Bay to Cape Brett, by George Fairfowl, 1820.

Section 14 - Kent 1820-1824

Plate 34. Entrance to Hokianga Harbour by J. R. Kent, 1820 or 1823.

Plate 35. View of the land from Cape Palliser by J. R. Kent, 1824.

Plate 36. View of the West Cape together with a view of Codfish Island, by 1. R. Kent, 1823.

Section 15 - Downie 1821

Plate 37. Hauraki Gulf by James Downie, 1821.

Section 16 - Edwardson 1822-1823

Plate 38. Part of southern New Zealand and Stewart Island by W. L. Edwardson, 1822-23.

Plate 39. Henrietta Bay, Ruapuke Island, Foveaux Strait, by W. L. Edwardson, 1822.

Section 17 - Herd 1822 and 1826

Plate 40. Hokianga Harbour, by James Herd, 1822. Plate 41. Otago Harbour, by James herd, 1826.

Section 18 - Duperrey 1824

Plate 42. Bay of Islands by de Blois, de Blosseville and Berard 1824

Section 19 Barnett 1826

Plate 43. Port Nicholson by Thomas Barnett, 1826.

Section 20 - Dumont d'Urville 1827 and 1840

Plate 44. Torrent Bay, by P. E. Guilbert, 1827.

Plate 45. Cook Strait by P. E. Guilbert, 1827.

Plate 46. Hauraki Gulf  by V. C. Lottin, 1827.

Plate 47.  Northern  New Zealand, by  Dumont d' Urville  and  V  . C. Lottin, 1827.

Plate 48. Auckland Islands, by C. A. Vincendon-Dumoulin.

Plate 49. Southern New Zealand and islands east and south of New Zealand, by C. A. Vincendon-Dumoulin, 1840.

Plate 50. Southeast of the South island and eastern Stewart Island with an inset chart of the Snares, by C. A. Vincendon-Dumoulin, 1840.

Section 21- Laplace 1831

Plate 51. Western Bay ofIslands and the entrance to the Kawakawa River, by E.-F. Paris, 1831.

Section 22 - Royal Navy surveys 1834-1840

Plate 52. Whangaroa Harbour with an inset view of the harbour entrance, by Thomas Woore, 1834.

Plate 53. Port Hardy D'Urville Island, by Thomas Woo re, 1834.

Plate 54. Mahurangi Harbour, by E. A. Cudlip, 1834.

Plate 55. Tutukaka Harbour and the Ngunguru River, by N. C. Phillips, 1837.

Plate 56. Pelorus Sound and the entrance to the Pelorus River, by David Craigie, 1837.

Plate 57. Port underwood, Cloudy Bay, by Johnson and Read, 1837.

Plate 58. Waitemata Harbour by Fisher, Bean and Bowen, 1840.

Plate 59. Waitemata Harbour with an inset view, by Stanley and Hill, 1840.

Plate 60. Entrance to Tairua Harbour, Slipper Island, and adjacent areas, by Thomas Bowen, 1840.

Plate 61. Akaroa Harbour with an inset view of the entrance, by Stanley and Hill, 1840.

Plate 62. Pigeon Bay, by Owen Stanley and J. S. Hill, 1840.

Section 23 - Wing 1835 -1837

Plate 63. Tauranga Harbour with a coastal view, by Thomas Wing, 1835.

Plate 64. Manukau Harbour with an inset view, by Thomas Wing, 1836.

Plate 65. Kawhia Harbour entrance, by Thomas Wing, 1836.

Plate 66. Raglan Harbour entrance, by Thomas Wing, 1836.

Plate 67. Ahuriri, Napier Harbour and part of the central-east coast of the North Island by Thomas Wing, 1837.

Section 24 - McDonnell 1836

Plate 68. Kaipara Harbour with an inset view, by McDonnell, 1836.

Section 25 - Du petit- Thouars 1838

Plate 69. Bay of Islands with an inset view, by Dortet de Tessan, 1838.

Section 26 - Cecille 1838

Plate 70. Lyttelton Harbour and Port Levy with two coastal profiles, by Foumier and de Durand-Dubraye, 1838.

Plate 71. Chatham Islands, by Fournier and de Durand-Dubraye, 1838.

Section 27 - Chaffers 1839

Plate 72. Tory Channel, by E. M. Chaffers, 1839.

Section 28 - McKenzie 1839

Plate 73. Cloudy Bay, by Daniel McKenzie, 1839.

Section 29 - Stewart - Heaphy - 1809-1841

Plate 74. Port Pegasus, Stewart Island, by Charles Heaphy (1841) after William Stewart (1809).

the starting point for the story of New Zealand's discovery and early surveys by Europeans in the brief review that follows, is the period of Abel Tasman's preparations and departure from Batavia, now known by its original name of Jakarta. But Tasman's discovery was at the end of the first phase in the long process of European discovery that started around 1455. Thus it took nearly two hundred years of eastward probing for Europeans to reach Batavia from western Europe

Abel Janszoon Tasman discovers part of New Zealand, December 1642

Early in 1642, Franchoijs Jacobszoon Visscher, a well known and experienced pilot of Batavia (Jakarta), wrote a treatise that  outlined several alternative plans for discovering the "Southland."

One of Visscher's ideas was to strike south from Mauritius to latitude 52o S or 54o S and then east if no land was encountered to the longitude of the "Solomon Islands." This was not a reference to the Solomon Islands discovered by Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568 but to a more easterly group of islands portrayed below the name "Islas de Salomon" in a chart carried by the expedition.

A second proposition was to head south from the Cape of Good Hope to approximately latitude 54 degrees Sputh, and then east, following the first plan. A third scheme was to sail east from Staten Landt (present-day Isla de los Estados, southeast of the southern tip of South America), across the South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans to the longitude of the "Solomon Islands." Another proposal was to head south from the "Solomon Islands" as far as latitude 50 degrees S and then east. South America might be reached if other lands were not discovered beforehand. All Visscher's plans were extremely bold but probably the most practical idea was the one to steer an easterly course after sailing to 52 degrees S or 54 degrees S, south of Mauritius, which was the plan adopted. The Dutch East India Company authorities decided to send two vessels, the jacht Heemskerck and the fluyt Zeehaen with Tasman in command and Visscher as navigator and chief adviser. The expedition sailed from Batavia on 14 August 1642, called at Mauritius, leaving there on 8 October making south. Tasman and Visscher calculated longitude by dead-reckoning; their eastings and westings were expressed in degrees of longitude east of the meridian of the Peak of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
 

After reaching 49º S encountering very cold and stormy weather, it was resolved on Visscher's advise, to return to 44º S and turn east. This course brought the expedition to discover part of Tasmania. After leaving Tasmania it was decided to continue on the easterly course.
 

On 13 December while sailing a course east-by-north, toward noon, Tasman sighted the west coast of the South Island in the Hokitika-Abut Head area. In good weather, Tasman shaped his course northwards; on 15 December a conspicuous point was named "Clippije Hoeck" (Rocky Point); the present-day Cape Foulwind. On 18 December the ships cast anchor in a bay. The next day during an encounter with Maori, a cock-boat from the Zeehaen was attacked and four Dutchmen were killed. The bay was named "Mordenaers Baij" (Murderers Bay - modern Golden Bay). The ships continued to follow the coast seeking a suitable place to land and obtain provisions and water.

In the area of the entrance to Cook Strait, Tasman suspected that a passage existed. The name "Seehaens bocht" (Zeehaen's Bight) was given to the coast north and south of the Manawatu‑Rangitikei area on the southwest coast of the North Island. The explorers proceeded north until on 4 January 1643 they reached the northernmost point on the west coast, naming it "Caabo maria van diemen" (Cape Maria van Diemen) in honour of the wife of the Governor-General at Batavia. The final name given was "drie koonijgh eylant" (Three Kings Islands) which they sighted on 4 January, and left the vicinity of, on 6 January.

Tasman named the western littoral he discovered "Staten landt" in honour of the States-General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, because he believed it was possible but not certain that this land joined to Staten Landt, east of Le Maire Strait.

The expedition continued on a northeasterly course making important discoveries in the Tonga group and the Fiji Islands. Then heading west and sailing north of New Guinea Tasman arrived back at Batavia on 15 June 1643.

There was little delay before part of New Zealand appeared on world and Pacific maps. Some Amsterdam map publishers, who were eager to include the latest geographical information in their maps, incorporated New Zealand data, surreptitiously obtained from the Dutch East Indies. Maps published most likely as early as 1645 include Tasman's name "Staten Landt," inscribed beside part of New Zealand's west coast. The name "Zeelandia Nova" was devised later, almost certainly by the Amsterdam map publisher, Joan Blaeu, in association with officials of the Dutch East India Company. Blaeu held the position of official cartographer to the Company.
 

Thus Tasman's discovery placed New Zealand on world and Pacific maps and globes and set an objective for later Pacific explorers.

The three Pacific voyages of James Cook – 1768-71, 1772-75, 1776-80

James Cook, a practical seaman, was particularly interested in navigational theory and to some extent in astronomy. He impressed the Royal Society when he presented a paper to the Society on determining longitude through an eclipse of the sun in 1766, at Newfoundland. When the Royal Society and the Admiralty decided to send a vessel to observe the transit of Venus in the South Pacific, Cook was appointed to its command with the rank of first lieutenant.

The vessel selected for the voyage, the Endeavour, built at Whitby, in Yorkshire, was "cat-built," bluff-bowed and strong. The expedition was to have been under the charge of Alexander Dalrymple, the noted geographer, but Dalrymple also demanded command over a Royal Navy ship, an idea which the Admiralty found unacceptable. While the expedition was preparing to leave, Wallis brought news of his discovery of Tahiti and the sighting of supposed land to the south. It was then decided that the transit should be observed at Tahiti and Cook received secret instructions to look for land to the south after observations were concluded.

The Endeavour sailed from Plymouth in August 1768; Zachary Hicks was second-in-command under Cook and Robert Molineux who had been with Wallis' expedition on the Dolphin, was master. Richard Pickersgill who had been master's mate on the Dolphin sailed on the Endeavour as master's mate. With Cook, sailed a civilian party headed by Joseph Banks, a wealthy man devoted to botanical and scientific observations and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Another Fellow of the Royal Society in the civilian party was Daniel Carl Solander. Sydney Parkinson was engaged by Banks as an artist and Herman Spöring, another civilian was also an accomplished artist.

The Endeavour sailed into Wallis' anchorage at Matavai Bay, Tahiti, on 13 April 1769, leaving plenty of time to set up the observatory on shore.

After observing the transit of Venus, Cook set about the second part of his task which was revealed to him when he opened a sealed Admiralty packet. He was directed first to search the South Pacific between 35º S and 40º S for the supposed southern continent. If he failed to find it he was to fall in with the eastern side of New Zealand. Cook was unsuccessful in finding the continent but came in sight of the North Island of New Zealand in latitude 38º 51' S, early in the afternoon of 7 October 1769, at Poverty Bay.
 

Cook anchored the Endeavour in Poverty Bay and a party including Cook landed. After a four-day stay, the Endeavour left Poverty Bay and followed the coast south. On 13 October, Cook rounded Portland Island and sailed close to the coast of Hawke Bay. On reaching Cape Turnagain, Cook abandoned a search for a gap in the coastline and decided to come north again. In need of water, Cook followed the coast to land again at Anaura Bay where he found a fresh-water stream. But friendly Maori directed him to a more suitable watering place at Tolaga Bay. Just around the southern headland of this bay, Cook found a snug haven, now known as Cook's Cove. The explorers remained there from 23 October to 29 October.
 

From Tolaga Bay, Cook continued on north, rounded East Cape, and after being followed by a large double canoe for a time near Motuhora, entered Mercury Bay on the east coast of Coromandel Peninsula. Cook anchored in the bay from 4 to 15 November 1769. The transit of Mercury was observed on 9 November and Cook took possession of the neighbourhood in the name of the king.

Leaving Mercury Bay, the Endeavour came round Cape Colville into the head of the Firth of Thames. Cook did not discover Waitemata Harbour, screened by the islands on the western side of the gulf, but he suspected that harbours existed in the general area.

Proceeding on his northerly course, Cook failed to discern the entrance to Whangarei Harbour and continued on past Tutukaka and Whangaruru Harbours; then encountering a northwesterly gale off the Cavalli Islands he decided to seek shelter and gain some further knowledge of the country.

Entering the Bay of Islands, Cook anchored the Endeavour near Tapeka Point, from 29 November to 5 December 1769. Landings were made on the mainland and the islands of Motu Arohia and Moturua. Leaving the Bay of Islands, Cook resumed his northward coasting and passed between Cavalli Islands and the mainland. He saw into Doubtless Bay and sailed on past Cape Karikari. Variable winds off North Cape probably caused Cook to miss sighting the Frenchman, Jean de Surville, in the Saint Jean Baptiste. Cook, Banks, and others, recognised Three Kings Islands from published versions of Tasman's chart.

The Endeavour then sailed south along the west coast of the North Island but Cook missed sighting the entrances to Hokianga, Kaipara, and Manukau Harbours. He first suspected the existence of a harbour entrance at Kaipara but later changed his mind.
 

Continuing south, on 9 and 10 January 1770, Cook saw Mount Karioi, Albatross Point, and the entrance to Kawhia Harbour. He sighted and named Mount Egmont (Mount Taranaki) which had not been seen by Tasman in 1642.

Continuing on a southerly course, the Endeavour reached Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound where Cook stayed from 16 January to 6 February 1770 during which time the ship was careened and repaired. Cook, Banks and others explored; on 22 January Cook climbed a high point and saw what he thought was a passage to the east, leading to the open sea. An old Maori who confirmed Cook's belief also gave Cook two place-names, "Tovy‑poenammu" and "Aeheino mouwe," which Cook interpreted as names for the two islands, north and south of the strait. On 31 January, Cook took possession of the sound and the adjacent country, in tile name of the king.

On 7 February, the Endeavour left Queen Charlotte Sound, traversed Cook Strait and sailed north as far as Cape Turnagain. Thus it was proved that the northern land was an island and established beyond doubt that land did not extend eastward as some officers suggested it might.

The Endeavour then sailed south along the east coast of the South Island, and on 14 February, Cook passed Kaikoura Peninsula. Rounding Banks Peninsula, Cook noticed the entrance to Akaroa Harbour but he believed that the land he saw was an island. Continuing past Cape Saunders and Otago Peninsula, Cook apparently thought the approach to Otago Harbour was a bay on the north side of the peninsula.

On 6 March, Ruapuke Island was seen and named Bench Island, and on 9 March the Traps were sighted. Cook coasted Stewart Island on the south side on 10 March without establishing its insularity. The following day he sighted and named Solander Island and again sighted the mainland coast of the South Island.
 

On 12 and 13 March, Cook stood off the coast in heavy weather and did not see the entrance to either Preservation Inlet or Chalky Inlet. On 14 March, he unsuccessfully tried to get into Dusky Sound and on the same day he saw the white cliffs of Chalky Island to the south. The Endeavour passed the entrance to Doubtful Sound and continued along the coast to the north; and on 17 March, Cascade Point was sighted.

Cook rounded Farewell Spit and continued on to the Cook Strait area where he passed Stephens Island and then visited Admiralty Bay to take on water.

Cook left the vicinity of New Zealand on 1 April 1770 on the way to his discovery of the east coast of Australia.

Traversing Torres Strait as the first navigator since Torres' discovery, one hundred and sixty-four years previously, the Endeavour reached Batavia on 11 October 1770, and returned to England on 13 July 1771.

Cook's New Zealand survey has been described as one of the finest surveying feats ever performed. Cook charted the coasts of New Zealand on a continuous running survey from the ship with frequent compass bearings or sextant angles taken on prominent shore features. In circumnavigating the islands, he estimated his "distance run" from the chart he was making and not by the log. His track was plotted by fixing the ship's position from his courses and from intersecting rays on landmarks and adjusted from time to time to the astronomical observations.

Many entries in the journals show that Cook and his master spent a good deal of time at the masthead, and there are innumerable references to his ascent of hills "to take a view of the country."

Cook's main contribution on his first visit was the general description of the coastline and the charts he prepared. He also proved that New Zealand was unconnected to any supposed southern continent. Two significant errors in his chart were the delineation of Banks Peninsula as an island and of Stewart Island as a peninsula. A major discovery was Cook Strait. Cook missed many of the harbours but detailed coastal investigations and harbour surveys he left for later surveyors. New Zealand charts which survive from the first voyage include works by Cook, Isaac Smith, Richard Pickersgill and Robert Molineux.
 

Charts of New Zealand, River Thames (Hauraki Gulf), Cook Strait, Tolaga Bay and Bay of Islands, which derive from surveys carried out from the Endeavour were published in 1773 in John Hawkesworth's edited account of Cook's 1768-1771 voyage.

Promoted to captain. Cook left on his second Pacific voyage in command of an expedition consisting of two ships. HMS. Resolution and HMS Adventure. Tobias Furneaux took charge over the Adventure. On this voyage, John Reinhold Forster and George Forster, two scientists, made notable contributions to knowledge of New Zealand's botany and William Hodges the official artist sketched a number of New Zealand views.

Also accompanying Cook on the Resolution during this voyage was William Wales an astronomer while his colleague William Bayly was posted to the Adventure. They were given the important task by the Board of Longitude of checking the accuracy of the newly-developed marine timekeepers used in determining longitude.

The Resolution approached New Zealand from the west and entered Dusky Sound on 26 March 1773. In this remote southwest corner of New Zealand, Cook met and became friendly with local Maori.

Leaving a comfortable anchorage at Pickersgill Harbour on 29 April, the Resolution regained the open sea through Breaksea Sound after discovering and traversing Acheron Passage. On 19 May, Cook reached Queen Charlotte Sound where the Adventure was anchored; the two ships had become separated earlier in the voyage.
 

Cook and Furneaux then sailed for Tahiti in the Society Islands. After a short stay, Cook continued exploring and discovered some islands in the Cook group, visited Tonga, and on 21 October 1773, once again came in sight of New Zealand near Mahia Peninsula. On 30 October the Adventure became separated from the Resolution a second time, and Furneaux eventually returned to England without re-joining Cook.

On 3 November 1773, Cook tried to get into the entrance to Port Nicholson but when the tide turned he gave up the attempt. He then steered towards the South Island and revisited Queen Charlotte Sound from 3 November to 25 November.

After leaving New Zealand, Cook made an extensive sweep of waters east of the islands; thus he proved conclusively that no southern continent existed in this part of the South Pacific.

After visiting widely‑separated Pacific islands, Cook came via Norfolk Island to New Zealand once more, making landfall near Cape Egmont on 17 October 1774, and anchoring the next day in Queen Charlotte Sound. He departed again on 10 November.

The only New Zealand chart published following the expedition's return to England in 1775 was a plan of Dusky Sound included with the 1777 account of the second voyage, written by Cook.

On his third Pacific voyage Cook commanded an expedition consisting of HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery. The Discovery was placed under the charge of Charles Clerke. George Vancouver, who was to lead his own expedition to New Zealand in 1791, sailed on the Discovery as a midshipman.

John Webber sailed with Cook as the expedition's official artist and William Bayly had again been appointed by the Board of Longitude to work on longitude calculations. Henry Roberts, who became well known for his world chart published in 1785 was master's mate on the Resolution. On this voyage, Cook once more approached New Zealand from the west and on 12 February 1777 reached Queen Charlotte Sound where he remained until 25 February. This was Cook's last sight of New Zealand; he was killed at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii later in the voyage on 14 February 1779.

No New Zealand charts were published with the Admiralty account of Cook's third voyage.
 

Surveys in New Zealand waters in the 1790s

George Vancouver commanded an expedition consisting of two, ships, HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham (Robert Broughton), when he came to anchor in Dusky Sound on 2 November 1791. Vancouver had not planned to visit New Zealand, but when, south of Tasmania, he became concerned about the health of his crew he decided to call at Dusky Sound in search of fresh provisions.

During a three weeks stay, Vancouver surveyed Anchor Island Harbour, and Broughton surveyed Facile Harbour. Later they explored together the upper arm of Breaksea Sound which Cook had been unable to investigate fully. They found that it divided into two branches both of which ended in small coves, and neither of which communicated with Doubtful Sound.

After leaving New Zealand, the two ships became separated in a storm; and on 23 November 1791 both Vancouver and Broughton independently discovered the Snares. On 29 November, Broughton came in sight of the main island of the Chathams.

Charts of parts of southern New Zealand and the Chatham Islands which derive from surveys made in 1791 by Vancouver and Broughton were published in the folio atlas which accompanies the 1798 account of Vancouver's voyage, edited by George's brother, John Vancouver.

On 5 January 1792, HMS Gorgon commanded by John Parker, sailed between Northland and Three Kings Islands but Parker made no attempt to land. It is possible that some coastal information obtained by Parker found its way into early published charts.

In February 1793, a Spanish scientific expedition, consisting of two corvettes, the Descubierta and the Altrevida, commanded by an Italian, Don Alessandra Malaspina, arrived off southwest New Zealand. The primary aim in coming to New Zealand was to repeat at Dusky Sound, gravity measurements already conducted elsewhere. Unable to get into Dusky Sound, the two ships briefly visited Doubtful Sound instead. The expedition's chief navigator, Don Felipe Bauzà, made a reconnaissance of the Sound in an armed longboat and produced a sketch of the area; Bauzà's plan was published by the British Hydrographer in 1840.

D'Entrecasteaux's 1793 inspection of the northern coast of Northland and the expedition's Kermadec discoveries are mentioned  below, under the sub-heading "French surveys."

Thaddeus von Bellinghausen visits New Zealand in the Vostok and the Mirnyi, 1820

Thaddeus von Bellinghausen, the Russian explorer, was an interesting early visitor to New Zealand; he commanded an expedition consisting of two ships, the Vostok and the Mirnyi. On 24 May 1820, coming from Port Jackson for Rapa, in the Tubuai Islands, von Bellinghausen sighted the North Island near Cape Egmont.

The expedition then visited Queen Charlotte Sound from 28 May to 4 June, during which time a number of valuable observations of Maori life were made. After setting sail on 4 June, the ships were blown about in Cook Strait for several days. Bellinghausen saw the seaward shores of the Wellington area at close quarters before passing Cape Palliser on 10 June 1820.
 

HMS Warspite and HMS Volage traverse Cook Strait in 1827

In the course of a voyage around the world, HMS Warspite, a British battleship accompanied by HMS Volage, a corvette, traversed Cook Strait. The Warspite and the Volage were in the Cook Strait area from 14 to 20 January 1827.

Surveys by spar-ships

Reports of fine timber-trees which appeared in published accounts of Cook's voyages soon attracted the attention of entrepreneurs; and later, Royal Navy expeditions were dispatched to New Zealand.

Several ships loaded spars in Hauraki Gulf in the 1790s but records are sketchy concerning most of these early visitors. However, an inspection by a timber-ship which is well known is the 1801 survey, carried out by William Wilson who commanded the East India Company's ship, Royal Admiral.

In 1822, James Herd, in the ship Providence, arrived at Hokianga in search of spars. While at the harbour he carried out a survey, details of which came into French hands at the Bay of Islands, in 1824 (see below, under "French surveys").

From the days of the Seven Years War (1756-1763), Royal Navy ships were instructed to carry out surveys of harbours they visited; and in accordance with this directive, several Royal Navy timber-gathering ships surveyed harbours when they visited New Zealand, in the 1820s and 1830s.

In the summer of 1819-20, Richard Skinner, in the Dromedary, searched for kauri spars and charted parts of Northland's east coast; he also surveyed Whangaroa Harbour.

Later in 1820, James Downie commanded HM Store-Ship Coromandel during a search for kauri logs in  Hauraki Gulf; Downie surveyed extensively in the gulf and his extended stay at Coromandel Peninsula prompted a search for the ship by John Rodolphus  Kent in the New South Wales government schooner, Prince Regent. Coasting southwards from the Bay of Islands, Kent sailed through Rangitoto Channel and into Waitemata Harbour which he was the first to survey. His original sketch-plan has not been found but a copy was delivered by Herd to the London publisher J. W. Norie who included the plan in his East India Pilot of 1838, and credited Herd with the survey.

Two other Royal Navy ships that searched for timber and surveyed North Island harbours were HMS Alligator, and HM Store-Ship Buffalo. The Alligator (George Lambert) entered Whangaroa Harbour, where the master, Thomas Woore, carried out a survey of the harbour. The Buffalo made several voyages to New Zealand before she was wrecked on Buffalo Beach, Mercury Bay, in 1840. In 1834, F. A. Cudlip, master of the Buffalo, surveyed Whangaroa and Mahurangi Harbours, in Northland; and:in 1817, N. C. Phillips, second master of the Buffalo, surveyed Tutukaka Harbour, Northland. In 1840, Thomas Bowen, second master of the Buffalo on its final voyage, surveyed Tairua Harbour on the east coast of Coromandel Peninsula.

Charts derived from Royal Navy surveys of Whangaroa, Tutukaka and Mahurangi Harbours were published by the British Hydrographer in the 1830s and 1840s.

James Herd's 1826-27 survey

After his visit to New Zealand in 1822 described above, James Herd returned to England, where he was involved in the formation of the first New Zealand Company. In August 1825, he sailed from London, in command of the Rosanna, carrying immigrants to New Zealand, in company with the cutter Lambton (Thomas Barnett).

Their first port of call in New Zealand was Port Pegasus, Stewart Island, where they arrived on 25 March 1826. During a month's stay at Port Pegasus, Herd met sealing captains, including William Stewart, who had surveyed Port Pegasus in 1809 and who possessed an intimate knowledge of large stretches of New Zealand's coastlines.

Leaving Port Pegasus, Herd's expedition visited in turn' "Molineux Harbour" (the vicinity of the entrance of the Clutha River), Otago Harbour, Ship Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound, Cloudy Bay, Manganui Harbour (Port Underwood), Port Nicholson, Mercury Bay, Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Islands and Hokianga Harbour. None of these appear to have been acceptable as a site for the proposed settlement, and the ships moved on to Sydney where they arrived on 11 February 1827.

Herd made a notable contribution to the early charting of New Zealand. His most important harbour surveys were of Otago Harbour and Port Nicholson. After his return to England he supplied J. W. Norie with charts derived from his own surveys in New Zealand waters as well as plans drawn by other surveyors including J. R. Kent. Herd provided information which enabled Norie to be the first to lay down the east coast of the northern half of the South Island and both coasts of the southern part of the North Island correctly, on printed charts of the Pacific.

Surveys by sealing and whaling captains

Seals  were first reported in New Zealand by Cook who found a large number in Dusky Sound. In 1792-93, a party of sealers spent ten months in the Sound securing seals for the China market.

Sealing later spread to islands in Foveaux Strait, to Stewart Island, and to the deep harbours of the west coast. In the second decade of the nineteenth century intense sealing activity occurred in the Bounty, Auckland, Chatham and Campbell Islands.
                                                                                

Whaling commenced in New Zealand waters only twenty-five years after Cook's first visit. From that time a large number of ships of different nationalities either whaled in New Zealand waters or called at the ports for provisioning. A number of sealing and whaling captains closely inspected sections of coastline and carried out limited harbour surveys.

Owen Folgar Smith, an American, discovered Foveaux Strait in 1804 while searching for seals. This was a major discovery in that it corrected the mistake made in 1770, when Cook drew an isthmus in his chart, linking Stewart Island to the South Island.

Smith conveyed the information to Governor King when he revisited Sydney in 1806. A copy of his chart was presented to the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, by the Surveyor General of New South Wales, in 1931.

Another American, Eber Bunker, called at Doubtless Bay in 1791, while in command of the whaler William and Mary. He returned to New Zealand waters in 1808-09, in the sealer, Pegasus, with his primary objective the locating and recording of seal colonies. He surveyed extensively in southern waters, including the Foveaux Strait region.

                                                            
In August 1809, the Pegasus returned under the command of Samuel Chase and anchored in Port Pegasus, Stewart Island. Supposedly on a sealing voyage, Chase and William Stewart, the first officer, concentrated to a large degree on surveying. Stewart's chart of Port Pegasus was sent to London and published in 1815, in Whittle and Laurie's Oriental Navigator.

After completing her work at Stewart Island the Pegasus sailed to the Chatham Islands searching for seals. Chase added to Broughton's 1791 survey by sailing along the southern coast of the main island. Chase then intended to inspect "Banks Island" but sailing the Pegasus southward along the east coast of the South Island in October 1809 he discovered that Cook's island was in fact a peninsula. The name Pegasus Bay, north of Banks Peninsula commemorates events of the period.

Cloudy Bay and Port Underwood attracted sealing and whaling ships of many nations, especially around the period 1831 to 1839.

Several American captains produced plans of Cloudy Bay and other parts of New Zealand which are preserved today in museums on the eastern seaboard of the U.S.A. A survey of Cloudy Bay carried out in 1837 by an Englishman named Rossiter who was sailing-master of the French whaler Mississippi is known through Rossiter's plan preserved in the map collection of the Royal Geographical Society, London.

Surveys by flax-gathering captains

Cook and Banks recorded the presence of flax in New Zealand during Cook's first voyage; and J. R. and G. Forster, botanists on Cook's second voyage carried out a study of the plant and the Maori use of the leaves. Although Sydney merchants sent ships to New Zealand to collect fibre from 1810, the trade with Sydney did not become established until the 1820s.
 

In 1822, William Lawrence Edwardson was sent by the government of New South Wales, in the sloop Snapper, to collect a cargo of dressed flax from New Zealand. Edwardson prepared a number of detailed charts from surveys he made in the Foveaux Strait region. Some of his charts came into French hands, at Port Jackson in 1823, when Duperrey's expedition called there; they were published in 1827 in the Atlas Hydrographie issued to accompany the printed account of Duperrey's voyage. In the French charts, Edwardson is credited as the author. Subsequently, they were copied and published by the British Hydrographer, who omitted references to Edwardson's authorship.
 

Edwardson surveyed Henrietta Bay, Ruapuke Island, in 1822 and the plan he prepared came into the possession of the British Admiralty; it was published, again without acknowledgement to Edwardson by the Hydrographic Office, in 1840.

During an expedition to the Foveaux Strait area in 1823 by the Perseverance (Captain Murray), Robert Williams, a rope‑making expert from Sydney, closely investigated the area around Bluff Harbour. Williams, a convict in the penal settlement of Port Jackson, was released by the Governor who supported the investigation of New Zealand flax.

Williams and Murray were the first to survey the harbour although its existence was almost certainly known to sealers. A copy of the plan produced by Williams is preserved in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

The most detailed surveys. associated with flax-gathering expeditions were carried out by J. R. Kent in the 1820s but the only sketch of Kent's to reach print was the plan of Waitemata Harbour mentioned above, that was credited to Herd.

Kent was initially in the service of the government of New South Wales but later he became commercially employed. He commanded a number of ships in the 1820s and 1830s and engaged at different times in sealing, trading in general merchandise and flax-gathering. Kent closely investigated several New Zealand harbours as well as long stretches of coastline and off-shore islands. Some of Kent's coastal sketches are preserved in the Hydrographic Office, Taunton, Somerset.

Surveys by Thomas Wing

Thomas Wing came to New Zealand as chief officer of the Independence in 1834. Returning to England in command of the same ship he was interviewed and commissioned by the British Admiralty to carry out a number of surveys of New Zealand harbours.

In 1835 Wing surveyed Tauranga Harbour in the schooner Fanny; and in 1836 he surveyed Kaipara, Manukau, Raglan, and Kawhia Harbours also in the Fanny. In 1837 he surveyed Ahuriri, Napier Harbour and investigated part of the central east coast of the North Island in the schooner Trent. In 1844 he examined the Foveaux Strait area in the brigantine, Deborah.

The Hydrographic Office published none of Wing's sketches, but some of his data reached the public through maps issued by John Arrowsmith, the London map publisher.

French surveys in New Zealand waters.

During the second half of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries, France made a major contribution to maritime surveys in New Zealand waters. The French were mainly seeking geographical knowledge and, in terms of scientific personnel some of their expeditions were the most strongly manned ever to leave Europe. There are a great many manuscripts relating to voyages to New Zealand preserved in French archives.

The first French explorer to reach the shores of New Zealand was Jean François Marie de Surville in command of the ship Saint Jean Baptiste. The voyage was a privately-organised trading enterprise that originated from Pondicherry, in India, and de Surville visited New Zealand primarily to rest sick crew members' and to obtain fresh supplies.

The St Jean Baptiste doubled the northern tip of New Zealand from west to east, on 17 December 1769, at the same time that James Cook in the Endeavour was trying to round it from east to west. The explorers passed without sighting each other. The French expedition entered Doubtless Bay where the visitors stayed a fortnight before sailing east from New Zealand. De Surville charted parts of Northland's coasts and prepared a plan of Doubtless Bay.

A wealthy mariner, Marc Macé Marion du Fresne was keen to make discoveries in the Pacific when he commanded an expedition of two flyboats, the Mascarin and the Marquis de Castries. With Marion in the Mascarin was his second-in-command, Julien Crozet while Chevalier Du Clesmeur commanded the escort. Marion knew nothing about either Cook's or de Surville's voyages to New Zealand; only Tasman's reports were available to him.

The explorers made a landfall near Cape Egmont on 25 March 1772. Sailing north, they sighted the entrance to Kaipara Harbour, before doubling Cape Maria van Diemen and anchoring off Spirits Bay on 15 April. Du Clesmeur partially surveyed the bay before the ships moved on, rounding North Cape and then sailing south. The expedition anchored in the Bay of Islands on 4 May. Marion and his men carried out a survey of the bay and explored in the area.
 

On 12 June, Marion and a party of his men landed at Manawaora Bay, with the intention of fishing. They were ambushed by Maori and massacred; except one man who escaped to relate the story. Crozet took charge of the expedition and carried out violent retribution before preparing to leave. The two ships  quitted the bay on 14 July. Charts of parts of Northland deriving from the 1772 surveys were published in Crozet's brief account of the voyage, published in 1783.

The expedition sent to search for the lost French explorer, La Pérouse was led by A. R. J. Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, and consisted of two frigates, the Recherche and the Espérance (Raoul de Kermadec). After exploring the southwest coast of Western Australia and visiting Tasmania, the expedition passed close to the northern tip of the North Island on 11 March 1793, but did not land. The ships discovered and named Esperance Rock and Raoul Island in the Kermadec Islands. Both commanders died before the voyage was over, but the charts made by Charles‑François Beautemps‑Beaupré, later a distinguished hydrographer were published in 1807, in the Atlas du Voyage that accompanied the printed account of the voyage.

On 3 April 1824, a French corvette, la Coquille under the command of Louis Isidore Duperrey, anchored in Manawaora Bay, Bay of Islands. Accompanying Duperrey on this voyage as his second‑in‑command was J. S. C. Dumont d'Urville; and other officers included C. R. Jacquinot, Auguste Bérard, R. P. Lesson, T. J. De La Calande de Blois, J. A. R. P. de Blosseville and V. C. Lottin. Some of these men returned to New Zealand on later expeditions.

An observatory was established on the beach at the centre of Orokawa Bay, and Bérard, de Blois and de Blosseville worked on a survey of the Bay of Islands. Duperrey and his officers received a considerable amount of geographical information about New Zealand from missionaries before the Coquille left the Bay of Islands on 17 April for further exploration in the Pacific.

Duperrey's Atlas Hydrographie, published in 1827, to accompany the account of the voyage, is notable not only for charts of the Bay of Islands, but also for charts of parts of New Zealand that derive from surveys carried out by James Herd and W. L. Edwardson.

Dumont d'Urville returned to New Zealand three years later, in command of the same corvette, now renamed Astrolabe, in memory of La Pérouse's lost flag-ship. Part of the object of the expedition was another attempt to try and solve the mystery of La Pérouse's disappearance. D'Urville carried out the most extensive of all the French surveys in New Zealand waters. His aim was to explore those parts of the coast left doubtful by Cook. Among the officers accompanying d'Urville and contributing to surveys were V. A. Gressien, E-F. Pâris, P. E. Guilbert, G-D. Gustave and V. C. Lottin.

The French explorers sighted the west coast of the South Island in the vicinity of the Grey River on 10 January 1827; then they sailed north, rounded Farewell Spit and prepared to closely examine Tasman Bay. On 18 January, d'Urville left the Astrolabe anchored in the bay, climbed to the top of a hill, and saw across Tasman Bay on the eastern side, a deep opening which made him suspect a passage existed through to Admiralty Bay.

At enormous risk, after two unsuccessful attempts, d'Urville sailed the Astrolabe through the narrow gap on 28 January, and named the channel "Passe de Francais." His officers insisted that the island revealed be named D'Urville Island. On 29 January, contrary winds prevented d'Urville from investigating an indentation in the coastline between Cape Terawhiti and Turakirae Head; thus he missed the opportunity of exploring Port Nicholson.
 

The explorers continued through Cook Strait and headed north, following the east coast of the North Island. D'Urville and his officers carried but a number of detailed surveys as they proceeded. The original intention when sailing north had been to anchor in Whitianga Harbour on Coromandel Peninsula, but because of unfavourable winds and earlier delays, d'Urville decided to make for Hauraki Gulf. When the wind changed he was forced to head north and anchor in Bream Bay.

Finally on 24 February, the Astrolabe approached the Waitemata Harbour from the north, sailing between Tititiri Matangi Island and Whangaparaoa Peninsula. On 25 February, the Astrolabe passed Rangitoto and anchored. Lottin established a survey station on the summit of a hill, probably present-day Mount Victoria on Auckland's North Shore.

On 26 February, d'Urville learnt from the Maori chief Rangui, of the existence of Manukau Harbour. Very keen to verify this important piece of information, he sent an exploring party under the charge of Lottin, in a whaleboat with a Maori escort. They followed the Tamaki River upstream for five or six kilometres and then arrived at Manukau Harbour. Thus Lottin confirmed that only a narrow isthmus separated the two oceans in this part of the North Island.

In early March after leaving Hauraki Gulf, the Astrolabe sailed north and d'Urville and Lottin charted the east coast of Northland. On 18 March 1827, the Astrolabe set a course for Tonga.

Fourteen New Zealand charts and plans are included in the Atlas Hydrographique, dated 1833, published to accompany the account of d'Urville's voyage.

C. P. T. Laplace, in command of the French corvette La Favorite, approached New Zealand from the west in late September 1831. Laplace sighted Three Kings Islands and doubled North Cape on 30 September; then he followed the coast and anchored in the Bay of Islands on 2 October.

A temporary observatory was erected on Kaiarara Island by Pâris, the hydrographer who had sailed with d'Urville on the 1826‑29 voyage. One of the main reasons for visiting New Zealand was to allow sick members of the crew a few days rest; but the opportunity was taken of working on a number of scientific projects including a detailed survey of the Kawakawa, River.

Laplace quitted the Bay of Islands on 11 October and continued on his Pacific voyage, following an easterly course. Pâris' Kawakawa River plan is included in the Atlas Hydrographique, dated 1833, published to accompany the account of Laplace's voyage.

The corvette Heroïne, under the command of J. B. Cecille  on a Pacific voyage to show the French flag and to offer protection to French whaling vessels, arrived at the Bay of Islands on 20 May 1838, Céci11e was accompanied by a hydrographer, N. Fournier and his assistant; L. A. Durand-Dubraye.

No account of Cécille's voyage was published, but from the evidence of manuscripts preserved in French archives and charts published in 1840, by the Dépôt-général de la Marine, it is known that the  Heroïne, visited Akaroa and the Chatham Islands.

In 1838, the French government sent Abel Aubert Dupetit‑Thouars in the frigate Vénus, to assist French whaling captains, if they should need help in maintaining discipline or in solving diplomatic problems. Accompanying Dupetit-Thouars on this Pacific expedition was Dortet de Tessan an experienced hydrographer. The ship anchored off Kororareka, in the Bay of Islands, on 13 October 1838, and during a month-long stay underwent extensive repairs. In this time Tessan made yet another survey of the Bay of Islands, which is included in the Atlas Physique et Hydrographie, published In 1845 with the official account of Dupetit-Thouars' voyage.

Late in 1836, Dumont d'Urville judged the time opportune, for a circumnavigation and submitted a modest proposal to the French authorities. The king (Louis-Philippe) enlarged on the original plan and suggested that new exploration should include the Antarctic. The Astrolabe was again selected and a second corvette, the Zélée joined d'Urville's expedition. A noted hydrographer, Clement Adrien Vincendon-Dumoulin, sailed with d'Urville.
 

It was two-and-a-half years after the expedition left Toulon before the two corvettes approached the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand, in March 1840. The two ships anchored in the Bay of Sarah's Bosom (now known as Port Ross), while Vincendon‑Dumoulin made observations and carried out a survey.

Leaving the Auckland Islands, the explorers came within sight of the Snares on the evening of 22 March; Stewart Island was passed and eight days later they anchored in Otago Harbour. D'Urville allocated three days at Otago Harbour to establish its longitude and for surveys to be carried out.

By 8 April d'Urville was approaching the southern shore of Banks Peninsula. He was confused by the English charts he consulted which wrongly portray Akaroa Harbour on the eastern side of the peninsula. Eventually safe anchorages were reached in the harbour by the Astrolabe and the Zélée.

D'Urville was again following the coast northward by 17 April; and on 21 April the two corvettes were off Cape Campbell which was the limit set earlier for survey work.

When the expedition arrived off Kororareka on 26 April d'Urville was without instructions from France that would help him in his dilemma at the Bay of Islands, whether or not to recognise William Hobson as governor of a British colony. He decided he could not, and when he called on Hobson, as a British naval officer, Hobson took care to avoid embarrassment by being away. The expedition left New Zealand on 4 May, making for Torres Strait.
 

Four New Zealand charts are included in the Atlas Hydrographique, dated 1847, published to accompany the account of d'Urville's voyage, 1837 to 1840.

The Dépôt-général de la Marine, as the French state hydrographic service, was founded in 1720, seventy-five years before the British Admiralty appointed Alexander Dalrymple to the post of first Hydrographer to the Navy. During the nineteenth century the Dépôt-général de la Marine published a series of very fine New Zealand charts. Most of the charts had been published previously, in the atlases mentioned above which accompany the official accounts of voyages.

A study of early French charts of parts of New Zealand provides no evidence in support of an idea that the hydrographic departments of Britain and France co-operated at this period but several nineteenth century British printed charts of parts of New Zealand derive from French surveys and a number of French printed charts and plans derive from British surveys.  

                                                                                      
All the French charts reviewed in this study take the longitude of Paris as their prime meridian. In 1911, France reluctantly accepted the choice of the Greenwich meridian, by an international conference at Washington DC, in 1884.

In French charts, water depth is expressed in either brasses or metres. Brasses were units used from earliest times to measure the amount of line hauled in by the leadsman and hence the water depth. France adopted the metre as the basic unit of length in 1799.

Office of British Hydrographer established in 1795; Royal Navy surveys in New Zealand waters, 1820-40.

If Cook had returned safely from his third Pacific voyage it is likely that he would have been appointed the first Hydrographer of the Navy and perhaps some attention might have been given to further surveys in New Zealand waters.

The office of Hydrographer was eventually established in 1795 when Alexander Dalrymple was appointed to the post. During Dalrymple's term and then from 1808 to 1823 in Thomas Hurd's time as hydrographer, other priorities and a general lack of interest meant that New Zealand was virtually ignored by the Admiralty.

The establishment of a penal colony in New South Wales in 1788 brought naval ships into the south-west Pacific. However, the first Royal Navy surveys in New Zealand waters were not carried out until the 1820s. We noticed above under the sub heading "Surveys by spar-ships" that several North Island harbours were surveyed during visits by the Dromedary, Coromandel, Alligator, and Buffalo. 

 
In 1834, the Alligator under the command of  George Lambert was dispatched from New South Wales on an errand of mercy to rescue the wife of John Guard, the whaler; Elizabeth Guard was being held captive by Maori at Moturoa, Taranaki. After a successful rescue, the Alligator visited Port Hardy, Port Gore and Queen Charlotte Sound where the surveying officer, Thomas Woore carried out surveys. The British Hydrographer published charts of Port Hardy, and Port Gore, derived from Woore's surveys, in 1836.

In 1837, George Johnson, master of HMS Conway, charted parts of Kapiti Island and partially surveyed Port Underwood; the Conway was under the command of C. R. Drinkwater Bethune. Johnson's sketch of Port Underwood was published by the Hydrographer, in 1840.

In September 1838, Lieutenant Chetwode, in command of HMS Pelorus surveyed Pelorus Sound and the master, David Craigie, sketched the first plan of the area. John Guard acted as pilot when Chetwode took the Pelorus forty miles up the Sound.

Two separate surveys of Waitemata Harbour were carried out by Royal Navy officers in 1840. HMS Herald brought Governor-designate William Hobson from Sydney to the Bay of Islands in early 1840. In late February, after the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi, Hobson set off from the Bay of Islands for the Waitemata Harbour with Joseph Nias of the Herald; Hobson was searching for a new site for the capital of the colony.

While Hobson and others inspected the upper parts of the harbour, Peter Fisher, Philip Bean and Thomas Bowen of the Herald carried out a survey of the lower part of the harbour. Their survey-plan served as the model for the first plan of Waitemata Harbour published by the Hydrographer in November 1840.

In October the same year, Owen Stanley, in command of HMS Britomart, called briefly at Waitemata Harbour and carried out a fresh survey, Parts of Stanley's plan served as the prototype when the Hydrographer revised the copper plate used in printing the plan by Fisher, Bean and Bowen, in late 1841.

Earlier in 1840, Stanley surveyed Akaroa Harbour and Pigeon Bay; both of the plans he compiled were published by the Hydrographer, Akaroa Harbour in 1844 and Pigeon Bay in 1845.

Surveys by Edward Main Chaffers

In September 1839, the ship Tory, under the charge of Edward Main Chaffers, arrived in Port Nicholson with an advance party of the second New Zealand Company, led by Colonel William Wakefield. Chaffers had earlier called at Ship Cove, in Queen Charlotte Sound and engaged Dicky Barrett, the whaler, to act as pilot and interpreter.

Among the passengers on the Tory was Charles Heaphy who had been appointed artist and draughtsman to the Company. Heaphy became New Zealand's most notable early land surveyor and one of the country's leading citizens. Chaffers, a former Royal Navy officer, took the opportunity while in New Zealand waters of surveying Port Nicholson, Tory Channel, and Kaipara Harbour where the Tory ran aground on a sandbank.

Chaffers' survey-plans of Port Nicholson and Tory Channel were published by both the Hydrographer and James Wyld, the London chart publisher. Chaffers conferred the name Tory Channel on the passage discovered but left un-named by Cook.

Discovery of the remote islands

As well as the main group of islands and the Chatham Islands, New Zealand territory today includes the following remote islands: Kermadec Group, The Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands and Campbell Island.
 

The discovery of The Snares and of Chatham Island by Vancouver's expedition has already been mentioned. Pitt Island and Rangatira, east of Chatham Island were sighted by Charles Johnston in command of HMS Cornwallis on 16 May 1807. In 1809, Captain Chase and William Stewart in the Pegasus inspected the southern part of Chatham Island not sighted by Broughton in 1791.

In 1788 during a voyage from New South Wales to the Society Islands, Captain Sever in the Lady Penrhyn discovered the uninhabited Curtis and Macauley Islands in the Kermadec Group. This name, as noted earlier, derives from the visit of d'Entrecasteaux's expedition in March 1793 when he discovered Esperance Rock and Raoul Island in the same group.

In 1788 William Bligh in command of HMS Bounty, passed south of New Zealand on his way to Tahiti to collect a cargo of bread-fruit plants. On 19 September 1788, Bligh discovered the Bounty Islands, a cluster of small uninhabited islets. It was after Bligh came west following his Tahiti visit that the famous mutiny occurred.

In 1800 Henry Waterhouse, in command of HMS  Reliance, proceeding south pf New Zealand on a voyage to London via Cape Horn, discovered a group of uninhabited, desolate islands. Waterhouse named these islands "Isle Pentantipode" from their approach to the antipodes of London. The name Antipodes Islands now identifies this small group, in charts.

The uninhabited Auckland Islands were discovered on 18 August 1806 by Abraham Bristow in command of the British whaler Ocean. During a second visit in 1807 in the ship Sarah, Bristow took formal possession of the islands.

Uninhabited Campbell Island was discovered by Frederick Hasselburgh in command of the Perseverence, in late December 1809 or early January 1810. Hasselburgh named the island after the head of the Sydney firm he worked for; he drowned at Campbell Island during a return visit.

Coastal views

Several coastal views are illustrated and examined in the pages that follow. Coastal views have served as important navigational aids from earliest times and have been included in seamen's manuals since the latter half of the fifteenth century. Following publication in 1584 of Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer's Spieghel der Zeevaerdt, coastal views became a regular feature on printed charts. The Royal Society was an early advocate of coastal views; and the importance of views was further emphasised by the inclusion of a drawing master on the staff of the Royal Navy Academy, on its opening in 1733, to provide education and training for future naval officers.

The views drawn on Tasman's 1642-43 voyage were possibly executed by Isaac Gilsemans, but nothing is known about Gilsemans except that he is mentioned in a resolution as having some knowledge of the "drawing of lands." The style of the New Zealand views is very similar to other Dutch views made on voyages in the early part of the seventeenth century.

James Cook drew his first coastal view early in his career in the Royal Navy, but he was probably too occupied with other' duties to sketch views of New Zealand. However, during Cook's first visit to New Zealand, Sydney Parkinson and Herman Spöring, the artists associated with Joseph Banks, produced a large number of coastal views.
 

On his second voyage, Cook was accompanied by William Hodges, a Royal Academician, as official artist, and on his third voyage by John Webber, who later became an R. A. Both Hodges' and Webber's drawings became objects for considerable comment over the years.

Many of the Royal Navy and colonial mariners already mentioned in this review contributed coastal profiles in the first four decades of the nineteenth century. A number of their sketches have survived and the majority are preserved in the archives of the Hydrographic Office, Taunton, Somerset. French marine surveyors also contributed some fine views many of which are held today in the French National Archives.

Although Charles Heaphy's main work belongs to a later period, he sketched a number of superb coastal views soon after his arrival in 1839. Some of Heaphy's work was incorporated in charts published by the Hydrographer and James Wyld. In April 1840 during a visit to the Chatham Islands, Heaphy sketched views which were later included by the Hydrographer in the first Admiralty chart of the area published in 1842. Around this period Heaphy also sketched a number of coastal profiles of the Cook Strait region. A fine collection of Heaphy's work is also preserved at Taunton.

(Continued in Part B -  Page BZR1 - click  HERE