FOUNDING THE PROVINCES

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1927, Page 25

FOUNDING THE PROVINCES

TARANAKI SETTLEMENT

ORIENTAL'S CLOSE CALL.

THERESA HAS ADVENTUROUS PASSAGE.

CHASED BY PIRATE BRIG.

(By the late SIR HENRY BRETT.)

The Oriental, 506 tons, Captain William Watson, the third of the barques chartered by the company, sailed from Plymouth on June 22, 1841, and arrived at New Plymouth on November 7, after having first called in at Port Nicholson. There were only 90 emigrants aboard, and only one cabin passenger—Mr. Charles Armitage Brown, the friend of Keats, the poet. Sixteen other cabin passengers had left the ship at Port Nicholson, as they did not like the reports they heard about Taranaki. The Oriental had a fine weather passage from the Old Land. As she had so few passengers and little cargo beyond the belongings of the passengers, she got quick discharge, but nevertheless she very nearly met the same fate as the Eegina. Apparently there was some trouble with the crew, and in weighing anchor the orders of the captain were not properly carried our. The barque was perilously near the shore, at one time being about half a cable's length off, but fortunately the anchors held when promptly dropped. Captain Liardet then went aboard and skilfully worked the vessel out of her difficult position. As it was she struck the bottom two or three times, but no serious damage was done. Naturally such incidents as these did not enhance the reputation of the roadstead, and Wellington merchants for a time absolutely refused to send vessels up. We read that towards the end of 1841, when some persons were frying to charter a vessel, "out of twenty lying at Port Nicholson none of the captains could be induced to accept a charter at any price." The month of November, 1841, was a particularly unlucky one for the infant settlement of New Plymouth. The Eegina was wrecked, the Oriental had a narrow escape, and a little later a dreadful accident happened to Captain Liardet and Mr. John Watson. Intending to purchase one of the four-pounder iron guns off the Eegina, Captain Liardet was busily engaged clearing the touch-hole, which had been spiked, when the powder exploded, both Liardet and Watson getting the charge in their faces. Liardet lost his right eye, and the following March he left for England to get the best medical attention. He ; luckily retained the sight of the left eye, and was appointed to a ■responsible position at the Greenwich Hospital. A PLEASANT VOYAGE. Stoutest and best-found of all the vessels sent out to NewPlymouth was the barque Timandra, 382 tons, Captain Skinner, which made the passage direct in 113 days. She left Plymouth on November 2, 1841, and arrived on February 23, 1842, bringing 212 passengers, the largest number sent out in any one of the six vessels. Her cargo included two sets of moorings for the roadstead. One set was laid down about two miles from the shore. It was intended to land the other set, but one of the anchors was lost when being sent ashore on a raft, and the other one of the pair was taken on to Sydney, where it lay so long on Moore's wharf that the wharfage came to more than its value, and it was eventually sold by auction. This fine ship had a pleasant passage out. On the way out a call was made at Capetown, where a fortnight was spent, including Christmas Day. In marked distinction to many of the emigrant ships of the 'fifties and the 'sixties, the Timandra was a happy craft, and everyone had a good word to say for her. Among the passengers was Mr. W. Devenish, who brought out with him a small flock of Southdown sheep, the first seen in New Zealand. The Timandra seems to have been in luck all the way through, for she landed her passengers and cargo without a hitch in perfect weather, during her ten days' stay off New Plymouth. The Eev. Horatio Grouber, son of Admiral Grouber, arrived by this ship and for a considerable time conducted religious services in the raupo whares. BLENHEIM AND ESSEX. By the fifth barque, the Blenheim, 374 tons, Captain John Grey, 159 passengers arrived at New Plymouth on November 19, 1843, after a passage of 141 days from the mother Plymouth. Apparently nothing very unusual was noted about this long voyage, but it is interesting to know that the contract price for bringing out the passengers was £17 9/6 for each adult. Last of the fleet was the barque Essex, 329 tons, Captain Oaklev, which brought out 114 people, making a total of 896 for the six vessels. The Essex left Plymouth on September 3, 1842, and reached New Plymouth on January 23, 1843. ON BOAED THE THEEESA.—FALLS IN WITH A PIKATE. Although she came somewhat later than the first ships I cannot omit some reference to the Theresa, which arrived at New Plymouth in the autumn of 1843. She happened to number among her passengers a young man named Fred Weld, who afterwards became Premier of the Colony, and was later, as Sir Frederick Weld, Governor in three other colonies, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Straits Settlement. He left a very interesting diary, which is full of references to New Zealand, and he gives a very good account of the voyage out The Theresa, a vessel of 750 tons, sailed on November 27 and got a bad time gomg across the Bay of Biscay, but Weld did not suffer as much as some of the other folks. He came of a yachting familv, his father owning the famous Alarm, which yachting men will remember was the boat that raced against the schooneT America—the first of the races that started the long series of America Cup contests. Speaking of the food, Weld said it was very good indeed &r fi r *t but it was otherwise with the water. "Our drinking water," he wrote, had been taken from the Thames, and could have been smelt a mile off, but we were told it was quite wholesome, and that its merit consisted in this: That it would ferment, and so work off its impurities, and then keep for ever. This at least was the nautical view, and I believe there was something in it, as after a certain of nauseousness the water did get better and remained so though it certainly would not be considered drinkable nowadays." ' His ideas about the food were modified later on, for we read: The fare on the Theresa, especially after all the sheep and pi«r 5 had been killed, was not only not luxurious, but not even over plentiful and I remember on one or two occasions when we had fried Uver it was looked upon as a welcome addition to our bill of fare " It was not a very eventful voyage, but it is interesting to know lhat the ship fell m with the last of the pirates. "Our first adventure " says the diary, "was being chased by a pirate brig showing Danish co ours off the Azores. She hoisted her colours, "tacked and stood after us close-hauled to get to windward. She came within ran-e but probably took us for a troopship from the numbers on board and because as she neared us we began shooting with our rifles. I messed wnat she was from her manoeuvres, her look, and the evident anxietv winTU aP w n - * ; She feU astGrn again in a U * ht and baffling wind which favoured us in the night, and at daybreak she bore no, and vent off in a different direction. A week or two after that date «he enased and nearly captured another English vessel. We heard full particulars of her captain and crew and armaments later on She earned four long guns, and might well have captured u* t mention this incident as she was, I think, one of the last of the re-ulnr Plates on the Atlantic. It was said that by the connivance of certain Porteguese authorities she sometimes passed muster as a trad r and made her headquarters and got her supplies at Port Praya^^

.Weld's next bit of excitement was on Christmas night, when the passengers were awakened by shrieks of tire, which caused a fearful tumult, and was then discovered to be a hoax. ''The iirebell ran"for the crew to turn up, but most of them had been keeping Christmas too well, and were too drunk to leave their bunks/ 5 is a comment that throws much light on the sort of discipline that sometimes prevailed oil these by-gone ships. The Theresa lost her main topmast and all her lighter sails and gear, and split her fore-topsail into ribbons in a white squall oft' the Cape of Good Hope. She heeled over ominously, but righted as the sails were blown out of the colt-ropes. «•! had'hoped/' wrote Weld, '•that we should have put into the Cape for repairs, but instead of that we were all made to set to work to repair the damage." At last the ship sighted Mount Kgmont, and on March 111 IS-l-l. anchored off Xew Plymouth. Weld went for a tramp up 'to the \\aitara Eiver, and when he got back next dav found a sale of wind blowing and the Theresa nearly on the rocks. A crew of winders went off in a surf boat, got sail on her, and a favourable slant of wind coming at the right moment she made a safe ofling. The .«ailors quarrelled with the captain, and refused to work, and this led to the loss of an anchor, and for the second time the ship was nearlv on the rocks. Xext day the Theresa got under way with a change of wind, and with the help of the passengers she was put on the course for Nelson. Upon arrival at the infant township of Xelson the crew were sent to prison, "or such a substitute for it as the place afforded/' a< Weld put it. Among other vessels which arrived from England in the 'forties were the barque Thomas Sparks, arrived Mav 29, 1843: ship William Stoveld, arrived October 20, IS4:>: barque Himalava, December 2,°.. 3 843; barque Bella Marina. May 27. 1844: barque iinvmond, August 20, 1544; barque Cornwall. August IS. 1840. The Cornwall'was commanded by Captain Dawson, who had previously visited Xew Plymouth in the Amelia Thompson, and was also master of the Slain* Castle, a vessel by which Mr. Octavius Carrington, chief as-i-fant surveyor to the Plymouth Company, travelled to Xew Zealand. (To be Continued Saturday Next).