NEW ZEALAND ILLUSTRATED.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 25, 18 June 1892, Page 610

NEW ZEALAND ILLUSTRATED.

WHANGAROA HARBOUR.

SCENE OF THE BLOWING UP OF THE BOYD.

fOWHERE in New Zealand is more interesting ' or beautiful scenery to be found than in Whangaroa Harbour, which is, however, only just beginning to attract the attention of tourists and lovers of the picturesque. It is easily reached by steamer from Auckland, and whether the tourist be an artist in search of pretty ‘ bits,’ an antiquary interested in early

New Zealand history, or merely a lazy admirer of the beautiful, he cannot fail to find a perfectly astonishing number of things to interest and delight him. The entrance to the Whangaroa Harbour is a

very narrow one, and is almost hidden by the outlying islands—so much so, indeed, that anyone not knowing the entrance between the heads might easily miss the harbour altogether. Immediately inside the said heads are two strangely picturesque rocks so washed ami worn by the water as to form striking resemblances to the Sphinx. One looks as if it were ornamented with a feather, but the other is almost startling in its resemblance to t/ic Sphinx, with the photographs of which all are familiar. Once inside the harbour, in fact, there are almost endless things for study and admiration. The two fine rock crowned eminences—St. Peter's (of which we give a picture) on the one hand and St. Paul's on another—then there is Peach Island where Hongi used to keep his prisoners. There too, the Twelve Apisties, the ce'ebrated profiles of Gladstone, Wellington, and the Duke of Edinburgh seen in the rock as if sculptured. The caves, too, with Maori skeletons attract many, and those who take an interest in modern industries will make visits of inspection to the numerous great sawmills in the vicinity. Whangaroa has always been a great place for kauri, and in olden times all the ships could put in there for spars. It was on a trip for spars that the Boyd met her destruction. As this disaster is really one of the most interesting stories in New Zealand history, and certainly the story in connection with Whangaroa, we shall quote it in full, feeling sure that many people will like to send copies to friends in other parts of the world :—

There are so many versions of the narrative of the wreck of the Boyd, that the story is a hard one to tell. There were only four survivors among some seventy souls, and of tliese two were children, little girls, and one a boy of fifteen ; the fourth, a woman, died soon after the mishap. The outlines of the crime are, however, clearly defined.

A ship called the Boyd, belonging to Mr George Brown, sailed from Sydney with some seventy Europeans and several Maoris on board, and putting into Whangaroa to load with spars, all her European passengers and crew were killed, cooked, and eaten, save the four above mentioned. The ship became a castaway, and her cargo was destroyed. The common and accepted account is that the crew and the passengers were murdered to avenge the flogging of a chief named Tara, called George by the Eutopeans. There is not

sufficient evidence to disturb the common belief. All that is or can be known of the occurrence conies from native testimony, aud though a Maori or Maoris may lie for the occasion, they do not persist in untruth. If they have been lying, sooner or later they will confess the truth. George’s father, we know, was among those who lost their lives when the powder on board the vessel exploded after the human feast was over, and it would have been his duty to avenge the indignity ottered to his son, if such had occurred.

The supercargo of the ship City of Edinburgh, a Mr Alexander Berry, was the first narrator of the massacre, and he being dependent on Maori testimony, which he could only imperfectly understand, was not likely to present an impartial and correct record of what had taken place. He, moreover, left the country early in January, a few days only

after he had rescued the survivors, whom he took with him, and consequently had neither time nor opportunity to sift the details he heard from his native friends and transmitted to Sydney. He also sent an account of the tragedy to the owner of the vessel, Mr George Brown, who gave the letter to his brother-in-law, Mr Constable, an extensive publisher and bookseller in Edinburgh, who published it with some remarks of his own in the Edinburgh Magazine, and subsequently in the fourth volume of his ‘ Miscellany.’ Mr Berry and those as-

sociated with him also gave to two chiefs who lived on Kororareka beach a similar letter to that sent to Sydney and to the owner of the vessel, to be exhibited to shipmasters trading to the Bay of Islands. This letter tells the story of the Boyd as Berry believed it to have occurred : (COPY.) The masters of ships frequenting New Zealand are directed to be careful in admitting many of the natives on board, as they may be cut off in a moment by surprise. These are to certify that during our stay in this harbour we had frequent reports of a ship being taken by the natives in the neighbouring harbour of Whangaroa. and that the ship's crew were killed and eaten. In order to ascertain the truth of this report, as well ai to rescue a few people who were said to be spared in the general missaere, Mr Berry, accompanied by Mr Russell and Metanganga, a principal chief in the Bay of Islands, who volunteered his services, set out for Whangaroa in three armed boats, on Sunday, the 31st December, 1803. and upon their arrival they found the miserable remains of the ship Boyd. Captain John Thompson, which the natives, after stripping of everything of value, had burnt down to the water’s edge. From the handsome conduct of Metanganga they were able to rescue a boy. a worn in, and two children, the only survivors of this shocking event, which according to the most satisfactory information, was perpetrated entirely under the direction of that old rascal Te Pahi, who had been so much and so undeservedly caressed at Port Jackson. This unfortunate vessel, intending to load with spars, was taken three days after her arrival. The natives informed the master the second day that they would show the spars the next day. In the morning Te Pahi arrived from Te Puna, and went aboard. He staid only a few minutes, and then went into his canoe, but remained alongside the vessel, which was surrounded by a considerable number of canoes, which appeared collected for the purpose of trading, and a considerable number of the natives gradually intrud'd into the ship and sat down upon the deck. After breakfast the master left the ship with two boats to look out for spars. Te Pahi, after waiting a convenient time, now gave the signal of massacre. In an instant the savages, who appeared sitting peaceably upon deck, rushed upon the unarmed crew, who were dispersed about the ship at their various employments. The greaten part were mass icred in a moment, and were no sooner knocked down than they were cut up while still alive ; five or six of the hands escaped up the rigging. Te Pahi now having possession of the ship, hailed them with a speaking trumpet, and ordered them to unbend the sails and cut away the rigging, and they should not be hurt. They complied with his commands, and afterwards came down. He then took them ashore in his canoe, and afterwards killed them. The master went ashore without arms, and, of course, was easily despatched. The names of the survivors are : Mrs Nanny Morley and child, Betsy Broughton, and Thomas Davis, boy. The natives of the spar district in this harbour have behaved well even beyond expectation, and seem much concerned on account of this unfortunate event; and dreading the displeasure of King George, have requested certificates of their good conduct in order to exempt them from his vengeance ; but let no man alter this trust a New Zealander. We further certify that we have left with the bearer, Mete t'oge, a jolly boat belonging to the Boyd we brought round to Whangaroa, who has always behaved in the best manner. Simeon Pattison. Alex. Berry, Supercargo. James Russell, Mate. Given on board the ship City of Edinburgh, Captain S. Pattison. Bay of Islands, 6th January, 1810. Tera behaved very well, and all his tribe. For that reason I gave him several gallons of oil. I came in January 17th, and sailed on January 28th, 1810. (Signed) W. Swain, Ship Cumberland. The report published in the Sydney Gazette soon, however, came to be questioned in Sydney. It was too improbable to be trusted, when men had time to examine the evidence on which it rested, and on the Ist of September, 1810, the Gazette gave to the story another version, which Captain Chase, of the Governor Bligh, had obtained from a native of Otaheite, who had most probably absconded from the City of Edinburgh in the December previous. According to the Otaheitian the natives who were passengers on board the Buyd, being displeased with their treatment during the voyage, knowing Captain Thompson's intention to take in a load of spars at Whangaroa, smothered their anger, and being applied to by him for assistance in procuring the timber, sought to entice him on shore to select the trees he desired to obtain.

The narrative thus continues : —‘ The captain was thereby prevailed on to leave the vessel, accompanied by his chief officer, with three boats manned, to get the spars on board. The natives who had arrived in the ship being of the party, which was accompanied by a number of others in their canoes, the boats were conducted to a river, on entering which they were out of sight of the ship, and after proceeding some "distance up, Captain Thompson was invited to land and mark the spars he wanted. The boats landed accordingly, the tide being then beginning to ebb, and the crews followed to assist in the work. The guides led the party through various paths that were least likely to answer the desired end, thus delaying the premeditated attack until the boats should be left by the effluence of the tide sufficiently high to prevent an escape, which part of the horrible plan accomplished, they became insolent and rude, ironically pointing at decayed fragments and inquir-

ing of Captain Thompson whether they would suit h>s purpose or not. The natives belonging to the ship then first threw off the mask, and in opprobrious terms upbraided Captain Thompson with their maltreatment, informing him at the same time that he should have no spars there but what he could procure himself. The captain appeared careless of the disappointment, and with his people turned towards the boats, at which instant they were assaulted with clubs and axes, which the assailants had till then concealed under their dresses, and although the boats’ crews had several muskets, yet so impetuous was the attack that every man was prostrated before one could be used. ‘Captain Thompson and his unfortunate men were all murdered on the spot, and their bodies were afterwards devoured by the murderers, who, clothing themselves with their apparel, launched the boatsand proceeded towards the ship, which they determined also to attack. It being very dark before they reached her, and do suspicion being entertained of what ha<l happened, the second officer hailed the boats, and was answered by the villains who had occasioned the disaster, that the captain having chosen to remain on shore that night for the purpose of viewing the country, had ordered them to take on board such spars as had already been procured, which account readily obtained belief, and the officer was knocked down and killed by those who first ascended the ship’s side. All the seamen of the watch were in like manner surprised and murdered. Some of the assassins then went down to the cabin door and asked the passengers and others to go on deck to see the spars, and a female passenger obeying the summons, was killed on the cabin ladder. The noise occasioned by her fall alarmed the people that were in bed, who, running on deck in disorder, were all killed as they went up, except four or five who ran up the shrouds and remained in the tigging the rest of the night. • The next morning Te I’ahi appeared alongside in a canoe, and was much offended at what had happened, but was not permitted to inteifere or to remain near the ship. The unfortunate men in the rigging called to him, and implored his protection, of which he assured them if they could make their way to his canoe. This they effected at every hazard, and were by the old chief landed on the nearest point, though closely pursued. The pursuit was continued on shore. They were all overtaken, and Te Pahi was forcibly held while the murder of the unhappy fugitives was perpetrated. A female passenger and two children, who were afterwards found in the cabin, were spared from massacre, and taken on shore to a hut, in which situation Mr Berry and Captain Pattison, of the ship City of Edinburgh, found them when they rescued them. ‘ Te I’ahi was afterwards permitted by the people of Whangaroa to take three boatloads of any property he chose out of the ship, firearms and gunpowder excepted, and the

bulk they divided among themselves. The salt provisions, flour, and spirits they threw overboard, considering them useless. The muskets they prized very much, and one of the savages in his eagerness to try one, stove in the head of a barrel of gunpowder, and filling the pan of the piece snapped it directly over the cask, the explosion of which killed five native women and eight or nine men, and set part of the ship on fire.’ Berry heard of the catastrophe in the Bay of Islands about the middle of December, but did not at first pay much attention to the rumour, and it was not until the month had nearly come to an end that he determined to ascertain the tiuth, having, as he writes, received such confirmation as to compel belief, the circumstances related being not only so consistent with one another, but of such a nature as evidently to exceed the powers of invention possessed by the natives. The Citv of Edinburgh had been in the Bay of Islands since the end of October, and Berry and the first mate arranged to proceed to Whangaroa in the last days of the year. A supplement to the printed account of the destruction of the Boyd, was forwarded to Sir George Grey, K.C. B , by Berry, shortly before his death in Sydney. Access to this manuscript was courteously permitted for the purposes of this history ; it has since been placed among the Grey collection in the Auckland Free Library. In it Berry writes • —

* Before proceeding on the expedition to Whangaroa, I called all hands, and told them I would only take volunteers, and asked who were willing to accompany me. All hands volunteered, so that I was able to make a selection, and I exacted a promise from them that they would implicitly obey me. I left the captain and all the officers on board, and the remainder of the crew to take care of the ship during my absence.

‘ The natives had twice attacked the ship during my stay in New Zealand, and for that reason I left the ship in the dark. I had misgivings that 1 might find her a mass of ruins on my return. The wind was light during the night, but at daylight it began to blow in an opposite direction to our course, and soon increased to a gale. I was in the foremost boat; the two others were far behind at uncertain distances :

first one boat bore up for the Bay of Islands and disappeared, and some time after the other.

‘lstruggledhard toreach Whangaroathat I mightascertain the fate of the Boyd, even if I could do nothing else, but was ultimately obliged also to bear up for the Bay of Islands. Reached the ship about midnight and found that the other two boats had airived some hours before me. Next mornfng, when I came on deck, I found that the weather was fine, and therefore resolved to make a second attempt to

reach Whangaroa. None of the adventurers of the preceding day weie yet on deck. The word was passed below, ‘ Who’s for Whangaroa ?’ In an instant they all appeared on deck covered only with their blankets. I made a new selection and rejected all the men who were in the boat which first deserted me. This time I started immediately after breakfast. The wind was favourable, and I was now accompanied by my friend Metanganga. It was late before

we reached Whangaroa, and we stopped all night inside the heads.’

In the printed report the writer says : • We found the wreck in shoal water at the top of the harbour, a most melancholy picture of wanton mischief. The natives bad cut her cables, and towed her up the harbour, till she had grounded, and then set her on fire and burned her to the water’s edge. In her hold were seen the remains of her cargo—coals, salted seal skins, and planks. Iler guns, iron standards, etc., were lying on the top, having fallen in when her decks were consumed.

• Metanganga landed by himself, but directed the boats to a more convenient landing-place, where he quickly joined us with two of the principal chiefs and several of their friends who had been engaged in the massacre. Dressed in canvas, the spoil of the ship, they approached us with the greatest confidence, held out their hands, and addressed me by name in the style and manner of old acquaintances. ‘ I inquired if there were any survivors, to which they readily replied in the affirmative, mentioning their names with great familiarity, and even with an appearance of kindness and sympathy. They were then informed that we had come to Whangaroa for the purpose of delivering the captives. I then pointed to my men and their muskets on the one hand, and to the heap of axes on the other, bidding them take their choice, and either deliver the captives peaceably, when they should be paid for their ransom, or I would otherwise attack them. The chief, after a few moments’ hesitation, replied with great quickness that trading was better than lighting. “ Then give us axes and you shall have the prisoners.” .... On reaching the settlement we found a great crowd collected, of whom several of the females were decently dressed as Europeans. We were then told that the prisoners were up the count ry, that they would immediately send for them, and that they would be delivered up the next morning At the time appointed the natives, agreeable to promise, brought to our quarters a young won.an with her sucking child—Mrs Morley—ami a boy belonging to the vessel about fifteen years of age. On inquiring of the female whether there were any other survivors, she mentioned the infant daughter of Mr Commissary Broughton, which was in the possession of the chief of the island at the entrance of the harbour. On reaching the island I sent ashore one of the followers who had received orders from the chief to demand the delivery of the child. A long conversation took place between him and his countrymen, ami no child appearing for upwards of an hour I began to get greatly alarmed for its safety. This delay, 1 afterwards had reason to believe, proceeded from the endeavours of the natives to deliver it up in as decent a manner as possible. It was tolerably clean, with its hair dressed and ornamented with white featheis in the fashion of New Zealanders. Its only

clothing, however, consisted of a linen shirt, which, from the marks upon it, had belonged to the captain. The poor child was greatly emaciated, and its skin was excoriated all over. When brought into the boat it cried out in a feeble and complaining tone, “ Mamma ! my mamma ”_ * A chief had kept the second mate alive for a fortnight, and employed him to make fish-hooks out of iron hoops, but as he did not prove himself a good workman he killed and ate him.’

In his supplement Berry writes : ‘ I told the chiefs to give instructions to bring all the books and papers from the Boyd to the Bay of Islands within three days, as I would sail at the end of that time, and if they did not I would take them to England and hand them over to King George to be dealt with for destroying one of his ships and massacring the crew.’