British Man-o’-War That Made New Zealand. History

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 70, 15 December 1933, Page 10 (Supplement)

British Man-o’-War That Made New Zealand. History

H.M.S. BUFFALO’S THREE VOYAGES

The Story of Her Wreck at Mercury Bay

{By

H. Fildes.}

THE DOMINION Christmas number of 1931 related the visit to New Zealand of H.M.S. Tortoise in 1842, and stated that direct attempts of the British Admiralty to obtain kauri spars for the Naval Dockyards were to be seen in. the visits of H.M. hired transport Boyd in 1809, H.M. ships Coromandel and Dromedary in 1820, and H.M.S. Buffalo in 1834. 1837, and 1840, H.M.S. Tortoise replacing the wrecked Buffalo. The catastrophe of the ship Boyd, with the terrible fate of her crew and passengers, and the visits of the Coromandel and Dromedary, have been preserved in many books and publications, but not so in the case of the visits to these shores of the Buffalo. We have now to tell the story of her three little known voyages, with her wreck at Mercury Bay, so far as it is possible to piece together the few and scattered available details. Credit is due to Rear-Admiral Sir William Symonds, Kt., Surveyor of the Navy from 1832 to 1847, that New Zealand timber was so largely used in the British Navy, and he declared that the kauri pine tree of New Zealand furnished the longest spars. Some of these trees, he says, were found with a girth of seventy-five feet, and they were cut, stripped and squared by the native traders, and then transported through the forests in a very ingenious manner, by a trough and tramway made of timber, and so drawn from tree to tree down to the water side. It is likely kauri spars were used in the two hundred vessels of various classes built during the long period of the Symonds’ shipbuilding programme, and New Zealand is indebted to him for that, and, as will be shown, not for that alone. On May Day, 1832, H.M.S. Vernon (50 guns, 2028 tons), was launched from Woolwich stocks, and was the most magnificent frigate built by any nation up to that time. She was constructed of English oak, mixed with a little Italian, and her topmasts of New Zealand kauri remained in her nearly fourteen years. Writing of them in the year given, Captain (later Admiral) Sir Francis Collier, Kt.. C. 8., a protege of the immortal Nelson. stated: “New Zealand spars for large ships are excellent; I never saw sueh topmasts and iibboom stand like Vernon’s.”

During his career Sir William Symonds established the Naval Model Room at Somerset House, where was exhibited under glass cases the variety of timber he favoured, among which was the kauri, and described as “furnishing the longest spars used in the Navy.” Sir William was also connected .with the New Zealand Company’s project to colonise New Zealand in 1837, he being a member of the Association. Two years later a Scotch colonisation body was formed, known as the Manukau and Waitemata Company, an offshoot of the New Zealand Association, to form a settlement on the present site of Auckland, the New Zealand agent of which was Sir William’s eldest son, Captain William Cornwallis Symonds. 74th Regiment. It will thus be seen that this Scotch body foreshadowed by a year Governor Hobson’s second New Zealand capital. Captain Symonds exchanged into the 96th Regiment, then at New South Wales, and in June, 1839. sailed for Sydney. and thence to New Zealand in December to carry the scheme into effect, and also to employ his talents for the benefit of science to discover the resources of the country in regard to geography, geology, mineralogy, etc. The Government. however, thwarted the settlement proposal, and Captafn Symonds was employed by his friend Governor Hobson, who entrusted him with the official negotiations for the acquisition of the site of Auckland, and that city has done him honour by naming an important thoroughfare. Symonds Street. In March. 1841. he accompanied Dr. Dieffcnbach in his travels into the interior of the North Island.

Seven mouths later the ship Brilliant tame into Manukau' Harbour with twenty-four adult colonists of the Manukau Company, and in the next month, November 23, Captain Symonds lost his life while on an errand of mercy on behalf of the wife of the Rev. James Hamlin, his boat overturning in Manukau Harbour. After a long and gallant swim toward the shore, he was dragged down by a shark and was not again seen. For a period over this time the Manukau was known as Symonds Bay.

Another son, Lieutenant, later Vice- ( Admiral, Sir Thomas Symonds, came to New Zealand in 1837 in H.M.S. Rattlesnake (Captain W, Hobson), and has left on record interesting remarks about its bays and harbours: The youngest son, John .Jermyn Symonds, was a lieutenant

in the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. |He was appointed private secretary to Captain Robert Fitzßoy, Governor of New Zealand, 1843-1845, and afterward filled more important positions, in 1858 being in charge of the Royal New Zealand Fencibles, Auckland. So it will be seen that the kauri timber of New Zealand, first used by the British Admiralty over a century ago, had an important bearing on the Symonds family in its relations to this country. H.M. storeship Buffalo was a vessel of 589 tons, and as she was built at Calcutta in ISI3, the year in which the British attacked and burnt the American' town of the same name, she must not be confused with her predecessor figuring so prominently in the early history of New South Wales, and convict colony of Norfolk Island, and as the capturer of Spanish prizes in the South Pacific, aud the vessel which conveyed Samuel Marsden to England in 1807. Her successor, however, has a sea story quite as interesting and historic. We can well believe the Buffalo possessed a figurehead des-

criptive of her name, but whether of American or Indian origin it would not be safe to hazard. She had an extreme breadth of 33 feet 10 inches, the depth of her hold was 15 feet 8 inches, her after displacement 15 feeti and the length of her gundeck 120 feet. In the year of her building she was purchased, like many other teak-built ships, by the Admiralty, and was armed with six 18pounder carronades (a- destructive gun made at Carron, near Falkirk, and called "smashers” in the Navy), and two 0pounder long guns. When commissioned, she. was designated as a Timber ship on Particular Service. Her initial introduction to New Zealand was allied to two other commissions in the same voyage. She was to carry sixty female convicts to Sydney, and en route was to call at the' military -settle ment, King George’s

Sound, Western Australia, and for the return voyage was 1 to load up with timber for the British Government. The first British settlement in Western Australia was the Swan River colony of 1829. It was not one of Wakefield’s enterprises, but originated with foui- Englishmen, the leader being Thomas Peel, Esq., cousin of Sir Robert Peel, then Home Secretary. The scheme was approved by the British Government, and was largely financed by Mr. Solomon Levy, of Cooper and Levy, merchants and traders, of Loudon and Sydney, a firm which, and after the death of Mr. Levy in the early ’thirties, was known as Cooper and Holt, contributed in promoting, sporadic settlement of Southern New Zealand and in Cook’s Strait, from 1825. Incidentally the name of Solomon Levy has been perpetuated in Port Levy, Banks Peninsula, and for a The car was a short distance off the period the name of his partner, Daniel Cooper, uncle of Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart.. Speaker of the N.S.W. House, was commemorated in Port Cooper, now Lyttelton Harbour. This attempt to found a colony at Swan River ended in disastrous failure and ruin. In 1835 the Western Australian Association was formed in London to watch over the interests of the unfortunate colonists, and six years later a joint stock' company was formed under the auspices of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and the presidency of William Hutt, Esq., M.P. for iHull, and later Sir William Hutt, K.G.8., P.C., to purchase land from the original grantees, and to promote’ settlement on a new plan in Geographe

; Bay. The company, however, hastily changed its locality plan, and Mr. Clifton, its chief commissioner, proceeded to establish the settlement on the shores of Leschenault Inlet, 100 miles south of Perth, the town being given the name Australind, and it still thrives in a modified sense. This settlement had every prospect of success. It was to have been founded on the Wakefield principles, on which South Australia was founded later, but for some unexplained reason the company suspended operations, dismissed its officers, and practically abandoned the enterprise. Had the company proceeded it would have stamped "Wakefield as one of the founders of Western Australia, besides being the chief founder of South Australia and of New Zealand. The first Governor of Swan River Colony was Captain Sir James Stirling, RjN. Four years later, in 1833, the British Government decided to send out a Governor for the military settlement at King George’s Sound, then in charge of Captain A. Wakefield, 39th Regiment, with residence at Albany, but he was to

be subordinate to Governor Stirling. The officer selected was, as was usual then and for the next few years, a seaman, Captain Sir Richard Spencer, R.N., and advantage was taken of the impending voyage of the Buffalo to convey him there. In the early part of 1833 the Buffalo was lying at Woolwich fitting up and filling unuer the direction of Mr. !•’. \V. R. Sadler, late master H.M.S. Victory, flagship at Portsmouth. Un May 0 she arrived at Portsmouth from the River Thames in charge of Captain Sadler. Here she was paid and victualled as a man-o’-war, and was carrying a' complement of 93 men. At some period in his career, Captain Sadler had served in Portugal, perhaps in charge of a transport conveying British Legionnaires, who, in 1828-33, espoused the cause of Donna Maria against Don Miguel for the throne of Portugal, and for the service was given the Foreign Order, Knight of the Tower aud Sword. Sir Richard Spencer and family boarded the Buffalo at Portsmouth, and Sir Richard immediately hoisted his pennant as commander, Mr. Sadler being master, Joseph Chegwyn second master, and John M. Hamilton, assistant surgeon. Ready for sea, the Buffalo left Portsmouth for her far destination on May 12, 1833, and having duly made St. George’s Sound, arrived at Port Jackson in October, and was to leave for New Zealand in the next month. At Sydney. Captain Sadler, now in command of the ship* engaged the services of the cele- ’ brated Captain J. R. Kent as trading master and interpreter. Kent had been

sailing the South Seas as early as 1820, aud had visited many parts of New Zealand, including one or more visits to Port Nicholson, perhaps in the Governor Macquarie, about the year 1830. Mr. C. Marshall, who was a flax trader at Waikato Heads in 1830, has stated that Captain Kent was the first European known to have put into Kawhia, and that was in 1828. Polack credits him with being the first to take a vessel into tHokianga Harbour, another writer stating this was the Prince Regent in 1820. Captain Kent is also renowned in that he is said to be the hero Ranolf of Domett’s poem, Ranolf and Amohia, and that Amohia in life was his second wife, by name Tiria, daughter of Te Whero-whero, later Potatau, the first Maori king. Writing in 1837 Polack refers to him as “the late Captain Kent,” and S. Percy Smith has stated he saw his grave at Te Toro Point, Manukau Harbour, in 1863. Mr. Hugh Wright, librarian of the Mitchell Library, Sydney, has revealed an unknown incident relative to the New Zealand national flag brought to this

country from Sydney by H.M.S. Alligator in 1834, it showing that H.M.S. Buffalo brought such a flag on this visit of 1883, the story of . which is as follows: A vessel of 394 tons, built at Horeke, Hokianga, by Messrs. Raine and Ramsay, in 1830, and named after Sir George Murray, the distinguished British General, who then presided over the Colonial Office, arrived at Port Jackson early in 1833, laden with flax and timber. She was seized by the Customs on the ground that her register was. not legal, as she was not sailing under a national flag. The outcome was that in May of that year James Busby the New Zealand British resident, suggested to the Governor of New South Wales that a flag should be selected by the Maori chiefs and be recognised as valid. A flag was therefore designed in Sydney, and was taken to New Zealand in this voy-

age of the Buffalo. In January, 1834, the British Resident represented to the Governor that the chiefs objected to it in that no red colour was in its design, and that red was considered an indication of rank by all New Zealand tribes.. Mr. Busby enclosed drawings of three flags designed by a late lieutenant in the Royal Navy, the Rev. Henry Williams, and which had been approved by the natives. It was these flags, each measuring sixteen feet by ten, and made in Sydney, perhaps under the eye of Captain John Nicholson, harbour master, and after whom Port Nicholson is named, which were brought to the Bay of Islands in H.M.S. Alligator. The flag chosen happened to be an adaptation of the one flown at the Church Mission Stations, and in its selection there seems to have been some persuasion shown in the voting by the 28 chiefs assembled, those natives present not having rank not being allowed to vote. Marshall’s Narrative gives the voting as 12, 10 and 6. but the relation discovered by Hugh Wright states there were present at the ceremony, the British Resident, the captain and officers of the Alligator, twenty-five Maori chiefs and their followers, the missionaries, and the settlers, and the crews of ten British and three American vessels, and that with the hoisting of three flags the chiefs voted 12, 10 and 3, the majority favouring the i flag which mostly resembled the mission flag. Flinders Barr, in an article on ' this subject, states he has been ■ advised by the Admiralty that 1 the flag having been approved by its ■ Lordships, a replica of it was shown in

the Admiralty flag book for 1845, but lons before that t-me it bad .been superseded by the Union jack with the Proemmatioa or Sovereignty, in May, 1840. 'This standard flag of New Zealand had been recognised five years when it was adopted by the New Zealand Company at Port Nieholson and elsewhere in 1839-40, and it was therefore justified in flying it, but that it did so has caused much litter being written, largely from the fact that the flag was denounced aud prohibited from being flown by Governor Hobson prior aud subsequent to the Proclamation of Sovereignty. The Buffalo left Port Jackson for northern New Zealand in November, 1833, also conveying to its shores a distinguished scientist, the unfortunate Richard 'Cunningham. In “New Zealand Plants and Their Story,” Dr. Cockayne records that Cunningham, colonial ..botanist, New South Wales, came to New Zealand in the Buffalo, presumably to asprocuring timber, and that this dut;y performed he left the ship at Whangaroa, and prosecuted botanical research, this extending to 1834.

i It had been hoped a full cargo oi , kauri would he obtainable at Hokianga, - but on arrival there it was found the i ship’s’ draught of water would not allow ■ her to cross the bar, and she had to seek s elsewhere for timber. This was obtained , on the opposite coast, largely at Whangaroa and Mahurangi, this enhancing the ■ cost of each spar. Over six months were i employed in the operations. A letter r written from Mahurangi- in 1835 by Mr. I Gordon Browne, who was largely interest- - ed in the industry, says:—“Our natives - were so enriched and spoiled by the t Buffalo last year that they positively re- . fuse to work, and whilst I have spars in i iny own neighbourhood, I am obliged to t go to another port for them, and where E Labour is obtainable.” Another old re- : cord informs us that on March 5, 1834, , Titore Takiri, t'he principal chief of Wai- , mate, and who visited England with . Tuhi in 1818, landed at Puriri, Thames , River, from Mahurangi, at which place I he had been the last two months eudea- ; vouring to procure timber for the Buffalo. The commodity required was mostly ob--1 tained from the timber stations owned by ' Europeans, and native assistance was in- ! dispensable. The last had latterly to be paid for in articles the natives most desired. Writing in England to Earl Grey in 1847, Captain Robert Fitzßoy informed the Colonial Secretary that payment for timber and labour in respect of the Buffalo and Coromandel was mostly made in firearms, some of them being seven- - barrelled guns, and that this was a long- ' established trade medium carried on open- ' ly for more than thirty years, and even ! countenanced by the British (lovernmeint. ; In this statement there is more than a ' little wild exaggeration, but the reference 1 to seven-barrelled guns is curious, and would seem to be a flight of fancy were it : not for the fact that such weapons were relies of the . days of Nelson, and were described as overgrown muskets, named “musketoons.” It is also curious to read that when the Rev. W. Yate gave evidence, before the Aborigines Committee of the.llouse of Commons in 1836, he stated it was the. intention of Captain Sadler, late master of the Buffalo, if he were appointed to New Zealand again, to request the Admiralty to supply him with Congreve war rockets as an article of barter with the natives. That the Buffalo did useful work in New Zealand, apart from obtaining timber, is apparent from a statement of P- .1. R. Elder in the Cambridge History < f New Zealand, advising that in 1834-5 H.M. ships Buffalo and Alligator surveyed Whangaroa Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf. Missionary William Yate now enters largely into the story of' the Buffalo. The resident members of the Church Mission selected him to proceed to England by her with a view to placing before the committee of the society the adoption of further measures for the progress of the New Zealand Mission. Yate was rather a remarkable man. I3e was an eloquent and compelling preacher, he had a fine knowledge of the Maori and of his language, and the natives had an affectionate regard for him. He took a deep and intelligent interest in the natural history of New Zealand. In the next few years a dark shadow was cast_ on his moral character, and with which this narrative is not concerned. News of his impending departure gave alarm and grief to his Maori friends, many of them expressing their feelings in letters addressed to him. Hongi. of Ohaeawai, not the Maori Napoleon of that'-name, who had died in 1828. wrote: ‘‘We are not goml to your going: we are not satisfied with the Buffalo sailing from Whangaroa, when you are within. . . . Pray to your God to give you always a straight wiitd and no watery mountains. I have dug up a bundle of l' ne t fern root, which all.

everybody, white people and native men, isay is very good when sick with the ship’s Irocki'ng.” Ate, a chief of Mangakauaikaua, wrote: “Speak my name to King 'William; and tell him I am sitting in ! peace, and listening to you. Go, go to England; and speedily come back again to your house at the Waimate, that you may come on your horse Selim, and talk to us about the things of God.” There were many more such letters; in one written by the chief Ngapuhi to the missionary in England, he expressed: “Mr. Yate, are you well? We were very jealous at the rising of a great wind a few days after you left here; we said, ‘Oh the great waves of the great sea!’ We thought of the rocking of the vessel upon the sea, and said, ‘They are all sick—they are all overturned —they are all gone to the bottom of the sea !’ ” Tit ore. principally responsible for furnishing the King’s ship with the cargo of spars, particularly wished that his Majesty King William the Fourth should know it, and dictated to Mr. Yate in his

own language a striking letter to the King, copying on it one of the tattoo marks on '”s face as his signature. Translated it read: “Here am I, the friend of Captain Sadler. The ship is full, and now about to sail. I have heard that you were aforetime Captain of a ship. Go

you therefore examine, the spars, whether they be good or whether they be bad. Should you and the French quarrel, here are some topmasts for your battleships. I am now thinking about a ship for myself ; a native canoe is my vessel, and I have nothing else. Native canoes often upset, when they are filled with potatoes and other matters for your people. I have put on board the Buffalo a Mere Pounamu and two garments;-these are all the things which New Zealanders possess. - If I had anything better, I would give it to captain Sadler for you. This is all mine to you.—Mine, TITORE. To William, King of England." This letter was ultimately forwarded to his Majesty through the Lords of the Admiralty. .In return for this gift his Majesty forwarded to Titore a suit of armour, now preserved in the Auckland i Museum,’ while a greenstone mere presented to Captain Sadler by the chief was deposited in the British Museum by Mr. C. H. Read, F.S.A., and is still there. Another passenger for England was the eldest son of the Rev. Henry Williams, Edward Marsh, born at Hampstead in 1818. His visit is obscurely referred to in Carleton’s “Life of Henry Williams,’ ’in a letter headed Paihia, June 20, 1834, addressed to the Rev. E. G.

;Marsh, Nuneham. Young Williams was leaving for England for the purpose of finishing his education and studying for the medical profession. Unfortunately his health failed there, and he .returned to New Zealand in June, 1838. Thereafter he filled several important positions in this country, in 18S1 being raised to the Bench as Judge of the Native Land Court. After a stay on the New Zealand coast of over six months, H.M.S. Buffalo left Whangaroa for England on June 26, 1834, calling at the Brazils, where some friends of the New Zealand Mission gave a donation of £lO to Mr. Yate to be used for the purposes of that Plymouth was made on November 17, Mr. Yate landing there, and arriving in London on the 21st. The Buffalo reached Portsmouth, and a month was occupied discharging the timber and unrigging the vessel preparatory to her being paid off. During the long voyage to England Mr. Yate wrote his book, “An Account of New Zealand,” published in the next year. lie had also brought with him a box of New Zealand shells collected on the Eastern Coast, and these, given to the soci'etvwere in turn presented to the British Museum. Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S.. Keeper to the Zoological Collection, describing each specimen, and stating they proved exceedingly interesting, many of them being new to science. The second visit of the'Buffalo to New Zealand was incidental to the colonisation of South Australia. Like New Zealand's, its settlement originated in the mind of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who in 1834 founded the South Australian Association, its committee comprising several gentlemen who later were member’s of Wakefield’s New Zealand Company. In all the negotiations Wakefield was a constant attendant at the rooms of the association. No. 7 John Street. Adelnhi: he had the control of every arrangement, the selection of every officer, and every step taken was under Ilfs' advice' There was much political opposition to the association's Empowering Bill, and though it passed the House of Commons, it seemed a foregone conclusion the House of Lords would veto it. In this extremity Wakefield thought of enlisting the interest of the Duke of Wellington, who examined the plan, was of opinion it ought to be tried, and by August 15. 1834. his great personal influence had carried the Bill over all obstacles. The Government appointed a strong body of Colonisation Commissioners, with Colonel Robert Torrens as chairman, to carry out the provisions of the Bill, and while the commissioners favoured the appointment of Colonel Willian Light

as the first Governor, the British Government preferred a seaman, selecting a distinguished naval officer, one of Nelson’s men, Captain John Hindmarsb. It is of interest to note that when Hindmarsh was First Lieutenant, H.M.S. Nisus, Captain Arthur Wakefield, the founder of Nelson, then a midshipman, served under him from 1810 to 1814. Toward the end of 1835 H.M.S. Buffalo was in Portsmouth Basin fitting under Captain Sadler for another South Sea venture, and on May 1 it was announced she had been commissioned by Captain Hindmarsh, the Governor, and was expected to sail on June 28. Captain Sadler was again appointed second in command, the surgeon was a Mr. Jackson, and the crew comprised ninety-three officers and seamen, and a marine guard of twenty, but-the last were to return to. England in the Buffalo, as the British Government expected some sort of militia would be raised in the new colony. Captain Sadler’s appointment was soon superseded with

that of Mr. James Wood, late master of II.M. storeship Romney, the Admiralty intending to place Captain Sadler as assistant attenda n t, Portsmouth Dockyard. Captain II in dmarsh was to he allowed to retain the Buffalo for himself and family

until they were reasonably . settled, and the ship, in charge of Captain James Wood, was then to proceed to New Zealand for timber. It was hoped the vessel would leave Portsmouth by the end of June, but on July 20 she was lying at Spithead waiting moderate weather to proceed to South Australia by way of Rio de Janeiro. There were then on board the Captain-Governor and his family, and about 200 settlers. By August 21 it was given that the Buffalo had made three attempts to put to sea, but was obliged to run back each time to St. Helens. Isle of Wight, it not being worth while to make everyone aboard ill and uncomfortable in so crowded a ship beatiug down the Channel against a ,foul wind. Fortunately on August 2, 1836, the wind got round to the northeast and lasted long enough from that quarter to enable her to get clear of the land. It was stated that during the long period the ship’s party was detained five marriages took place before departure from the shores of England. , The Buffalo anchored in Holdfast Bay, so named by Colonel Light in November, on December 28, 1836. Captain Hindmarsh landing in the afternoon, and was received in the tent of the Colonial Secretary. At 3 p.in. his commission was

read under the historic old gum tree half a mile from Glenelg Beach, the customary oaths being administered. Under a Royal salute the British flag was hoisted by John Hill, boatswain of the Buffalo, who afterward became a sturdy pioneer, his portrait being preserved by our Captain Jackson Barry., the marines‘fired a feu de joie, the Buffalo saluted with fifteen guns, a cold collation was eaten, the health of his Majesty was drunk, the National Anthem was gpng. and South Australia, the conception of Wakefield, became in truth a British province. Robert Gouger, the Colonial Secretary, has recorded that the Governor’s residence was built of mud put'between laths, supported by uprights of native wood, and covered thickly with thatch, and that in the plan fireplaces were forgotten, and that a simple fireplace and chimney were, afterward put down close to the front entrance. The architect of this building, he remarks, was a sailor, and the workmen were the-senmen of the Buffalo. In September, 1837, the Buffalo is advised as being on her way to New Zealand. At that time Baron Charles de Thierry, self-styled Sovereign Chief of New Zealand, was at Sydney, and complained to the Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, that the spars to be furnishetl. to his Majesty’s ship Buffalo had been’'' cut on land which he had purchased in England in 1820 through the Rev. Thomas Kendall. His Excellency replied that he was not inclined to interfere, and informed the Secretary of State to the Colonies of the circumstance. The Buffalo was again on the New Zealand coast for a considerable time, and it would appear to be seven months, arriving nt' the Bay of Islands. September 10. Dieffenbach says she took in a large cargo of kauri at Whangaruru. A Blue Book tells us that the timber on the land purchase of the Rev. J. Kemp had been made Tapu for this visit of the Buffalo, and Captain W. M. Symonds has intimated she entered the Mnriuknn for spars and survey work. The ship’s records say she : was at Ngunguru Bay, September 20- ■ October 1. Tutukaka Bay until Marell 16. ■ and at Kororareka on the 18tli idem. This voyage of the timber-ship had ' brought to New Zealand one of its very . early residents, Mr. John Kennedy, from ’ whom Kennedy’s Bay, Coromandel, takes ■ is name. In some way John Kennedy . was connected with the ship, and ap- [ patently left her as he was at Tairua in 1842 loading spars for H.M.S. Tortoise. > Mr. Kennedy was father of Captain J. B. i Kennedy, of the Gisborne shipping firm > of Kennedy nnd Evans, and the son was I born at Kennedy’s Bay in 1841. Two j years later John Kennedy met a tragic t (Continued on Page 18.)