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Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1936, Page 18

During the troubled history of New Zealand's early days, when struggle between Maori and pakeha was rife, and the limited resources and pitifully inadequate communications of the colony made the lot of the settler a hard one, there would arise now and again a man whose foresight and courage would act as a guide and inspiration to those around him. Such a man was Captain John Fairchild, whose name needs no introduction to those who have followed the early maritime history of this Dominion. Captain John Fairchild was born on May 4, 1835, in a little village outside Plymouth, Englind, and while he was still a baby in arms his people went to Prince Edward Island to engage in farming- It is said that, disliking the prolonged grace before meals after a hard day's farm work breaking in virgin country, the young lad when in his 'teens left home and went West among the American Indians, where he engaged in fur-trap-ping and learned .the craft and lore of the backwoodsmen. It was not long before he went to sea—the sea that was to be his life's background until his death. Drifting down the coast, the lad embarked on a ship and went to sea as a carpenter. He left the Joseph Hensley, on which he was employed, at Liverpool on September 20, 1858, and took a steerage passage from Liverpool to Melbourne on the ship Florence Nightingale, leaving Liverpool on September 25 of that year. The passage cost him £14. When he arrived in Melbourne he joined forces with another young man, and the two set to to make their living by constructing hand cart wheels at £ 1 per pair, hand carts being. the only conveyance to the goldflelds during the rush periods, as there were practically no horses in Australia at that time. WRECKED ON THE COAST. ' John Fairchild's introduction to New Zealand was an exciting one. He shipped on a brig for this country, but the craft was wrecked near Auckland on its arrival. Happily he escaped injury and later became captain of a cutter trading out of Onehunga to southern ports, afterwards commanding the schooner Abeona, trading from Onehunga 'to Kawhia, New, Plymouth, Nelson, and other ports! During one voyage to Kawhia in the cutter the owner was aboard. The cutter was on the hard for scraping and cleaning, and one night the owner was seen running towards the vessel with an enraged Maori chief at his heels. With difficulty Captain Fairchild persuaded the chief to leave matters till the morning (the Maori wanted to tomahawk the owner) and when the tide made during the night he floated the cutter off and stood away for Onehunga. It was not long after this incident that Captain Fairchild piloted a vessel (thought to be H.M.S. Niger) down the coast, calling at Kawhia. The warship's pinnace took the commander ashore, and when the boat touched the shore the old chief was seen on the beach. Captain Fairchild took the opportunity of returning the compliment, and soon had the old chief shaking in his shoes. The captain could speak Maori fairly well. "Not long ago you were going to tomahawk my owner. Say one word now and I will .turn the warship's guns on you and blow you to pieces," he said. CROSSING THE BAR. During the Maori war a heavy sea was breaking on the Manukau Bar, a military post down the coast was in danger, and the captain of the Prince Alfred would not take the vessel out with reinforcements. Captain Fairchild was approached, the .difficulty explained to him, and he was asked if he would take the Government steamer out. The bar was successfully negotiated, the post relieved, and the Prince Alfred returned to Onehunga. Captain Fairchild walked ashore as the captain of the vessel came aboard, but the Government agent stopped Captain Fairchild and asked him if he would stay with the ship, and he was appointed her permanent captain. Thereafter he successively commanded the Government steamers Gundagai, Sturt, Luna, Hinemoa, Stella, and