LINK WITH MAORI WARS

Grey River Argus, 20 May 1938, Page 9

LINK WITH MAORI WARS

Sweep Recovered From Lake 1 SUNKEN BOATS. t s INTENDED FOR CROSSING s WAIKAREMOANA. ■ A link with the Maori wars of 60 ’ years ago, when the famous Te Kooti ■lwas fighting against the English in the North Island, has been given to 'the Hawke’s Bay Museum. It is a 16- . foot sweep recovered from a sunken ‘ whaleboat in Lake Waikaremoana. In 1869, during the war against le Kooti, it was decided to send three columns from different points inland to cut off the chief’s food supplies. One of these columns, under the command of Lieut-Col. J. L Herrick set out from Wairoa, intending to cross the lake and meet the other columns To enable the troops to be fernec. i across the water four ' whaleboats were built, but this occupied so long a period that the column was ordered back to Wairoa without having accomplished anything. Two of the boats were sunk in the lake to prevent their falling into the hands of the Maoris. FOUND BY DIVER. These boats lay deep beneath the water, forgotten and unseen until a few months ago, when Mr Toni Delaney. a diver employed by the Public Works Department, was examining the bottom of the lake to gain information required by the engineers ir. charge of the Waikaremoana hydroelectric scheme. The diver encountered the whaleboats and was able to recover from one of them the sweep now in the museum. It is 16 feet long and has a narrow blade 15ft 9in long. The sweep has been roughly shaped and, judging by the small size of the handle, was intended for one man Apart from serrations on the edge of the blade, it is excellently preserved. Persons who have seen the sween so far have been unable to state definitely the wood from which it was The sweep was presented to the museum by Mr Gordon Peterson, of 400 Townsend Street. Hastings.