Some preliminary notes on the original and revised issues of the McDonnell-Wyld 1834 chart of New Zealand.

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 16, Issue 2, 1 October 1983, Page 111

Some preliminary notes on the original and revised issues of the McDonnell-Wyld 1834 chart of New Zealand.

BRIAN HOOKER

One of the more interesting series of early charts in the Alexander Turnbull Library map collection is that of the McDonnell-Wyld chart first published in 1834. The original and revised states of this chart, numbering at least 27 different issues, portray a great deal of data relating to New Zealand’s early exploration and settlement. 1 As a series, they graphically illustrate tbe vast changes that were occurring throughout this country between 1834 and the 1860 s. Recent acquisitions bring a detailed study of this important chart a step closer as the number of different issues held by the Library now totals 16. The purpose of this article is to discuss the original issue, investigate some of the problems associated with a study of the various states of the chart, establish a tentative list of different revised prints and perhaps create an interest that might bring to light states of the chart not hitherto recognised as being separate issues. 2

The chart was printed from an engraved copper plate and issued in some cases partly hand coloured. Some prints were issued as a large single sheet; others were dissected, pasted on cloth and folded into a slip-case. No doubt part of the reason so few copies of the early issues have survived is that the chart is large (780 X 540 mm.), and thus very vulnerable to damage.' The work received excellent reviews in the New Zealand Journal (London). A review in the 20 June 1840 issue describes it as ‘. . . the best general map of New Zealand extant’; 3 the review of the third edition in the 21 November 1840 issue notes: ‘This edition is executed with Mr Wyld’s usual care. No pains have been spared to collect the best information, . . . ’ 4

The chart was originally compiled by a noted early New Zealand trader Lieutenant Thomas McDonnell. Retiring from naval service in 1815, McDonnell spent some years in the service of the East India Company and in 1831 became a resident at Hokianga. S J. O’C. Ross in his book This Stem Coast discusses McDonnell’s chart (p. 95) and assumes that in 1834 McDonnell took his chart to England and persuadedjames Wyld the Elder, a noted English map publisher, to publish it. But there is no evidence to support either the idea that

McDonnell compiled the chart in New Zealand or that he persuaded James Wyld to publish it. Later in this article it will be shown that McDonnell compiled the chart some time after publication of Dumont d’Urville’s 1833 atlas. McDonnell visited London early in 1834 and it seems more likely that he consulted d’Urville’s atlas and other publications in London than at Hokianga. 6 JohnTattersall in his booklet Lt. Thomas McDonnell and the Naming of Ahuriri points out (p. 18) that the pressure could have been the other way round and that McDonnell was pressed by Wyld to produce a chart. If McDonnell compiled the chart in London, as seems likely, then probably the idea for compiling the chart came from Wyld.

The only single-sheet general chart of New Zealand issued previous to 1834 was an unnumbered Admiralty chart published in 1816. 7 There no doubt was a demand for a new general chart of New Zealand by 1834. But McDonnell’s chart became more than just a new general chart; it served as the prototype for many charts subsequently published and influenced chart makers for fifteen years or more after it was first issued. McDonnell’s influence was so strong that when the Hydrographic Office finally brought out a new general chart in 1838 they virtually published McDonnell’s chart below the seal of the Hydrographer of the Navy. The coastal outline of McDonnell’s 1834 chart is discussed later in this article. This discussion is easier to follow with a knowledge of the main printed charts relating to New Zealand published before 1834.

Summary of the main printed charts of New Zealand published before 1834 Cook’s printed chart of New Zealand engraved by Bayly in 1772 was issued in 1773 with the official Admiralty account of Cook’s first Pacific voyage in John Hawkesworth’s An Account of the Voyages Undertaken . . . The Admiralty chart referred to earlier, published in 1816, subsequently numbered 1212, was the Bayly engraving redrawn. Both charts are well known and show Cook’s two major errors: the delineation of Banks Peninsula as an island and of Stewart Island as a peninsula. During Cook’s second Pacific voyage, 1772-75, he surveyed Dusky Sound which resulted in ‘A plan of Dusky Bay’ being included in the published account of this voyage, Cook’s A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World . . . (1777). Captain George Vancouver called briefly at Dusky Sound in 1791. He was in command of an expedition consisting of two ships, HMS Chatham and HMS Discovery. After leaving Dusky Sound, Vancouver’s expedition discovered the Snares and the Chatham

Islands. The published account of Vancouver’s voyage was edited by John Vancouver as A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean . . . (1798). In the atlas accompanying the account one sheet includes charts related to Vancouver’s surveys of parts of Dusky Sound and parts of the Snares and Chatham Islands. A French expedition commanded by Antoine Raymond d’Entrecasteaux sent to the Pacific to search for La Perouse passed close to North Cape in March 1793. No landing was attempted but a chart of part of the northern coastline was prepared by d’Entrecasteaux’s hydrographer Beautemps-Beaupre and published in the atlas accompanying the account of the voyage, Voyage de Dentrecasteaux envoye a la recherche de la Perouse (Paris, 1807-8).

William Stewart, first officer of the Pegasus, surveyed Port Pegasus in 1809 and submitted his chart to Laurie and Whittle, well-known English chart publishers, who included it in their marine atlas . . . Complete East India Pilot (1815). Captain S. Chase of the Pegasus was the first to identify the isthmus of Banks Peninsula in 1809 and the peninsula was correctly delineated on charts published soon after by Laurie and Whittle. J. W. Norie another noted English chart publisher also published a marine atlas entitled The Complete East India Pilot, from Eondon . . . (1816). An updated Pacifc chart (1819-20) entitled ‘A new chart of part of the Pacific Ocean .. . shows the isthmus of Banks Peninsula. Detail from this chirt (as issued in the 1827 edition of the Pilot ) showing New Zealand is reproduced as figure 5.

Louis Isadore Duperrey in command of the French corvette Coquille spent two weeks from 3 April 1824 at the Bay of Islands. Duperrey’s expedition did not visit the southern part of New Zealand but Jules Alphonse Rene Poret de Blosseville, a senior officer with Duperrey compiled several charts of parts of New Zealand induding charts of the southern part of the South Island, from information received when the Coquille called at Sydney. De BlosseviVe obtained most of his information about southern areas from Optain W. L. Edwardson of the sloop Snapper but he also questioned captains of sealing vessels regarding New Zealand. 8 Severd charts of parts of New Zealand compiled by de Blosseville were included in the atlas dated 1827 published to accompany the account of Duperrey’s voyage, Voyage autour du monde execute par ordre <u Roi sur la corvette La Coquill e pendant les annees 1822 . . . 1825

. . (Paris, 1826). Two of these charts are reproduced with this article as figures 2 and 3. It will be seen in the title of‘Carte de la cote rreridionale de Pile de Tawai-Poenammou . . . (figure 3) that de dlosseville acknowledges the chart is drawn from original work by Captain Edwardson. As well, these important charts were published as single-sheet charts by the Depot-general de la Marine,

Paris. The chart ‘Carte de la cote meridionale . . . ’ was also included as a section of British Admiralty chart 1099 published in 1833. The chart ‘Carte de File Ika-Na-Mauwi . . . ’ by de Blosseville reproduced as figure 2 is one of the earliest charts to show ‘Taranaki Bay’ a mythical bay which appeared on many New Zealand charts between 1826 and 1840. R. P. Hargreaves in an article ‘Taranaki Bay, a New Zealand mapmakers’ myth’ explains that this mythical bay originated through de Blosseville’s charts. 9

Jules Sebastien Dumont d’Urville in command of the French corvett e Astrolabe arrived in New Zealand waters off the west coast of the South Island in the vicinity of the Grey River on 10 January 1827. D’Urville, who had been to New Zealand on the Coquille in 1824 as Duperrey’s second-in-command, headed north, rounded Cape Farewell and entered Tasman Bay. D’Urville carried out important surveys in the Cook Strait region and determined the correct longitude for the northern part of the South Island. 10 After discovering French Pass, d’Urville sailed north charting considerable parts of the east coast of the North Island beforeleaving from the Bay of Islands in mid March. Fourteen charts and pirns (plates 9-21) were published in the Atlas Hydrographique volume dated 1833 which accompanies the account of d’Urville’s Voyage de la corvette

VAstrolabe (Paris, 1830-35). All were prepared direct from surveys except plate 9 which is a composite chart drawn by Victor-Charles Lottin to show the northern part of the South Island and the North Island. This chart reproduced as figure 4 is compouided from d’Urville’s own charts plus earlier printed charts. Another version of plate 9, with additional sections of heavy coastline, also appears in the Atlas Historique volume. The coastlines shown in heavy outline in figure 4 are from surveys carried out by d’Urvile and extend with breaks from below ‘Les Cinq Doigts du milieu’ of Cape Foulwind) on the west coast of the South Island, through both coasts of Cook Strait and the east coast of the North Islanl to part of the Karikari Peninsula in Northland. The northern coastof Aupouri Peninsula although shown in heavy outline is not frcm d’Urville’s survey but from the chart drawn by Beautemps-

Beaupre, surveying officer with d’Entrecasteaux’s 1793 expedition. The lightly shaded parts of the west coast of the North Island have been copied from de Blosseville’s 1827 chart (figure 2). But the heavier Manukau Harbour outline is from Lottin’s survey when he was guided up the Tamaki River by Maoris, and then crossed the narrow isthmus in February 1827 to confirm the existence of the Manukau. The short part of the east coast of the South Island is copied from the Admiralty version of Cook’s printed chart published unnumbered in 1816 and subsequently numbered 1212.

Ross strongly criticises McDonnell’s chart (p. 92-94) and assumes that McDonnell’s reference in the title ‘from original surveys’ means that McDonnell carried out the surveys himself. But if the meaning of the title, ‘compiled [by McDonnell] from original surveys [carried out by various navigators]’, 11 is clarified, one major problem with the chart disappears. Ross further believes that McDonnell created ‘its hideous inaccuracies and gross distortions’. That there were inaccuracies and distortions in New Zealand charts long before McDonnell’s chart appeared is well known. But how do these known inaccuracies and distortions relate to McDonnell’s chart? The detailed examination which follows will show that McDonnell has in fact compounded virtually the entire coastlines of his chart from earlier printed charts.

The compounding of a number of separate charts into a new chart was not an uncommon practice among early chart publishers. Published charts showing Australia around 1650 provide good examples of the compounding of charts prepared by various early navigators who independently charted portions of the extremely long Australian coastline. 12 New Zealand has the fine example of a compounded early chart prepared by Lottin, reproduced as figure 4, and discussed in the summary.

A convenient starting point for comparing McDonnell’s compounded chart with earlier printed charts is Tasman Bay. French Pass as delineated indicates that McDonnell referred to d’Urville’s atlas published in 1833 only the year before publication of McDonnell’s chart. Close examination of the east coast of the North Island, both coasts in the Cook Strait area, and the northern part of the west coast of the South Island from slightly south of‘Les Cinq Doigts du milieu’ shows that McDonnell has copied these coastlines from Lottin’s 1833 chart (figure 4). The northern coast of Aupouri Peninsula which McDonnell has copied from Lottin stems from Beautemps-Beaupre’s 1807 printed chart. The entire west coast of the North Island including the mythical ‘Taranaki Bay’ depicted on McDonnell’s chart is almost identical with de Blosseville’s 1827 printed chart (figure 2). McDonnell has not copied de Blosseville’s chart direct but Lottin’s 1833 chart which is compounded from de Blosseville’s and other charts. It is difficult to understand why McDonnell ignored de Blosseville’s southern chart published in Duperrey’s 1827 atlas as it had the authority of Captain Edwardson of the Snapper behind it and it gives a detailed and convincing delineation of the southern coastlines (see figure 3). The British Admiralty thought highly enough of this French printed chart to publish it in 1833 as part of Admiralty chart 1099. For the South Island and Stewart Island except for the northern part of the South Island, McDonnell appears

to have copied parts of charts published by Laurie and Whittle andj. Norie, the London chart publishers referred to in the summary. But the passage linking Dusky Sound with Doubtful Sound to produce ‘Patersons Isle’ is probably a McDonnell invention. The Snares, discovered and charted by Vancouver’s expedition in 1791 are shown on McDonnell’s chart. They are included in Node’s 1829 Pacific Chart (see figure 5). McDonnell’s inset plan showing Southern Port (Port Pegasus) has been taken from Stewart’s chart published by Laurie and Whittle in 1815 and referred to in the summary. 13 The inset plan of Dusky Bay has been copied from the chart included in the 1777 published account of Cook’s second voyage, but with some names added by McDonnell. Both inset plans are without credits giving the source of the data in the plans. The Hokianga inset plan and the Manukau Harbour entrance inset plan are no doubt sketches after McDonnell’s own survey charts.

In a paper published in London in 1834 McDonnell gives some details of the two southern lakes shown on his chart. 14 Probably the mythical internal features relate to tales McDonnell heard at Hokianga. Lake ‘Roto-doua’ and some of the North Island rivers have been copied from d’Urville’s chart (figure 4) and they also

appear on de Blosseville’s chart (figure 2) but the North Island west coast river above ‘Knowsley Bay’ is a McDonnell invention. Basil Howard in Rakiura (p. 366) lists a number of Stewart Island names which are McDonnell additions: Knowsley Bay, S. E. Head, Alley’s Cove, McEntagart’s Peninsula, Britannia’s Reef, Pearl Inlet, Pearl’s Island, North Channel, McDonnell’s Point, Bernadin Cove, Mary’s Id, Anna’s Id, Tommy’s Id. Howard also mentions that the first use of the name Paterson River occurs on McDonnell’s chart. South Island names which are probably McDonnell additions are: Patersons Isle, Mary’s Bay, Knowsley Riv., Stanley Harb., C. Bernadin, Bernadin Bay, Anna’s Bay. In the North Island some of McDonnell’s names are: Knowsley Bay, Anna’s Bay, Tui Bay, McDonnell’s Cove. Most if not all the above names are associated with McDonnell’s family or his interests.

McDonnell and d’Urville: copying and counter-copying The last of the great early navigators in New Zealand waters, Dumont d’Urville, made his final visit in 1840. That d’Urville referred to McDonnell’s chart as he approached the east coast of the South Island from the south-east in March 1840 is not directly confirmed by entries in d’Urville’s journal. But as it was the only general chart of New Zealand available at the time d’Urville left Toulon in September 1837 it is reasonable to believe that d’Urville carried McDonnell’s chart on the Astrolabe. 15 John Dunmore in French Explorers in the Pacific (1969) mentions (v.II, p. 343) that d’Urville journeyed to London to obtain the latest information and charts before the expedition set sail. D’Urville’s hydrographer Clement Vincendon-Dumoulin prepared a chart showing large parts of the east coasts of the South Island and Stewart Island. 16 Names unique to McDonnell’s chart shown on VincendonDumoulin’s chart —Pearl Island, Bernadin Bay—indicate that Vincendon-Dumoulin most likely copied these names direct from McDonnell’s chart. In his journal d’Urville mentions that the wrong delineation of Cape Saunders on the ‘English charts’ almost resulted in disaster for the ships. 17 And he was confused by the charts he consulted showing Akaroa Harbour on the eastern side of Banks Peninsula. 18

An interesting copying and counter-copying situation developed between McDonnell and d’Urville. Earlier in this article it was noted that McDonnell copied considerable parts of his chart from charts published in d’Urville’s 1833 atlas. D’Urville included a chart of New Zealand in his privately published work Voyage pittoresque autourdu Monde (Paris, 1835). The depiction of lakes similar to lakes shown in McDonnell’s chart indicates d’Urvile’s acquaintance with

McDonnell’s work at this early date. It has already been noted that Vincendon-Dumoulin’s 1842 general chart of New Zealand also includes considerable portions copied from McDonnell. By the early 1840 s updated prints of McDonnell’s chart were reversing the copying process again.

Further study of the chart One important problem which needs to be resolved before a full study of the various issues can be undertaken is whether the numerous issues of the chart were printed from the same copper plate. It appears from an examination of photographs of a few different states of the chart that the same copper plate was used but to clarify this matter beyond doubt measurements as advocated by Verner are needed. 19

The printed date on the chart probably bears little relationship to the actual date of issue or printing. The original month and day of October 31 were changed to February 9 probably for the 1837 issue and changed again to February 19 for the 1852 and subsequent issues. Some time after 1834 but before 1838 Wyld re-engraved parts of the copper plate and issued the chart with alterations and the added words: ‘second edition’. 20 The second edition example held by the Royal Geographical Society, London, is dated 9 February 1837 but whether any second edition charts were issued previous to 1837 is at present unknown. In an article in the Map Collector P. L. Barton notes that the first known issue of the ‘third’ edition was published on 9 February 1840 and Wyld’s name replaces McDonnell’s in the title. 21 But the National Library of Australia, Canberra, holds a ‘third edition’ issue which pre-dates the issue referred to by Barton, and which closely resembles the ‘second edition’. It still retains McDonnell’s name in the title but has a little more additional data than the ‘second edition’. Comparing the Turnbull 1840 issue with the Canberra 1840 issue it can be seen that a considerable amount of re-engraving of the copper plate was carried out before the 1840

Turnbull issue was printed. One explanation for the two 1840 issues of the chart is that Wyld preparing for his ‘third edition’ changed the word ‘second’ to ‘third’, ‘1839’ to ‘lß4o’ and then impatiently printed a few charts before continuing with the major alterations and additions to the copper plate. Engraved copper plates were altered or re-worked with relative ease. 22 By early 1841 the copper plate had been re-engraved on five separate occasions and fresh impressions made, thus giving a total of six different states of the chart to this date. These are shown in the accompanying table as Ito 6. With considerable re-engraving being carried out during the seven years after the chart was first issued and fresh information constantly arriving from New Zealand it seems highly probable

that the copper plate was revised and impressions made other than those listed 1 to 6 in the accompanying table. If other examples previous to 1841 come to light, careful examination should be carried out to check for states additional to states 1 to 6. The above comments do not mean that less attention should be paid to a search for states of 1841 and later, additional to those listed in the accompanying table. As there is no way of knowing whether Wyld first altered the date before making internal changes to the copper plate only a careful check of different impressions showing the same date would reveal whether they are in fact the same state or different states. We have the evidence of two different issues dated 1840.

In the original chart four insets were included. With state 5 in 1840 the insets increased to seven. Some of the insets were updated. The Port Nicholson inset plan, for example, has a vague broken outline of a plan in state 5; by state 20 in 1860 it has a detailed plan. R. V. Tooley in his The Mapping of Australia (London, 1979), pages 172-173, lists some changes and additions in the different issues. At times the alterations were substantial; Tooley mentions that for the 1852 issue Stewart Island was redrawn.

It would be interesting to know the year of final issue. The Alexander Turnbull Library holds an issue dated 1865 and a print possibly issued in 1870. It seems fairly certain that by 1870 the copper plate was at the end or nearing the end of its life. By this time other publishers were producing maps of New Zealand from engraved steel plates and by lithography. In 1894 the London firm ofG. W. Bacon acquired all the business, stock and goodwill which had belonged to James Wyld 111. During World War II Bacon’s premises were bombed and if anything of Wyld’s remained by then it was lost. Probably the copper plate was discarded or beaten down soon after the last charts were printed. 23 In 1943 the map publishing firm of W. & A. K. Johnston took over what was left from Bacon’s. 24

Key to library symbols: APL Auckland Public Library, Auckland ATL Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington Dix Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney HD Hydrographic Department, Ministry of Defence, Taunton, Somerset LaTR La Trobe Library, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne PRO Public Record Office, London RGS Royal Geographical Society, London ML Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney NLA National Library of Australia, Canberra, A.C.T. HBAG Hawkes Bay Art Gallery and Museum, Napier SLV State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

REFERENCES 1 Wyld published a larger unrelated chart of New Zealand in 1841. This article is concerned only with the 1834 chart and revised states. 2 The term ‘edition’ when related to maps and charts becomes confusing as can be seen by checking the state number against the ‘edition’ number in the table on p. 125. This article considers copper-engraved charts as art works and only uses the term ‘edition’ when referring directly to Wyld’s use of the term. For clarification of the problem see Coolie Verner ‘Carto-bibliographical Description: the Analysis of Variants in Maps Printed from Copperplates’, American Cartographer, 1 (April 1974), 77-87. 3 p. 147. 4 p. 281.

5 For a biographical note on McDonnell refer to An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 3 vols (Wellington, 1966) 11, p. 357. 6 McDonnell read his paper ‘ . . . Observations on New Zealand’ to the Royal Geographical Society on 10 March 1834. 7 Subsequently numbered 1212, this chart became the first of many editions of the Admiralty general chart of New Zealand to bear this number. 8 Robert McNab, Murihiku (Wellington, 1909), p. 306. 9 New Zealand Geographer, 20 (1964), 189-93. 10 Cook’s longitude was 40' too far east. 11 McDonnell makes no claim that he journeyed south, nor is there any evidence that he surveyed in New Zealand coastal waters except in Hokianga, Kaipara and Manukau harbours. Manuscript charts drawn by McDonnell of Kaipara Harbour are held in the library of the Royal Geographical Society, London and the Mitchell Library, Sydney. James Wyld published McDonnell’s chart of Kaipara Harbour in 1838.

12 See the illustration showing part of Australia in J. Blaeu’s 1648 world map reproduced in G. Schilder’s Australian Unveiled (Amsterdam, 1976), p. 371. 13 Basil Howard in Rakiura (p. 366) mentions that McDonnell paid a visit to Port Pegasus and perhaps to other parts of Stewart Island before 1833. But as there is no evidence to support this belief, it is unlikely that McDonnell journeyed anywhere near Stewart Island or the South Island. In his Extracts . . . Containing Observations on New Zealand, (London, 1834) McDonnell does not say he visited Stewart Island (or other places) he describes so vividly. 14 Extracts . . . Containing Observations on New Zealand (London, 1834). 15 As the second edition of McDonnell’s chart was published on 9 February 1837, d’Urville most likely obtained the updated issue of McDonnell’s chart. 16 Included in the atlas published to accompany the account of d’Urville’s 1837-1840 voyage, Voyage au Pole Sud et dans I’Oceanie . . . (Paris, 1843-47). 17 Olive Wright, The Voyage of the Astrolabe (Wellington, 1950), p. 16. 18 The Admiralty general chart of New Zealand (see reference 7) showing Akaroa Harbour on the eastern side of‘Banks Island’ was most likely also carried on the Astrolabe.

19 ‘Carto-bibliographical Description .. . p. 82-83. 20 James Wyld died in 1836 and his son James Wyld the Y ounger succeeded him as head of the publishing firm. 21 11 (June 1980), 28-35. 22 A burnisher was used to polish out shallow lines on an engraved copper plate. Major revision in one area on a plate was made by resting the plate on an anvil and pounding the copper from the back of the plate with a hammer. Fresh engraving was then carried out. For a detailed description of the technique of copper plate engraving and printing see Coolie Verner, ‘Copperplate printing’, in Five Centuries of Map Printing, edited by David Woodward, (Chicago and London, 1975), p. 51-75. 23 R. A. Skelton in Maps; a Historical Survey of their Study and Meaning (Chicago and London, 1972) notes on p. 31 that engraved copper plates of maps were discarded or beaten down for re-use in great numbers when lithography and zincography were applied to map reproduction in the nineteenth century. 24 The author is grateful to Mr P. L. Barton, Wellington, for supplying information regarding the firms of Bacon and Johnston.

STATE EDITION YEAR LOCATION 1 first 1834 HD, ML, HBAG 2 second 1837 RGS, SLV 3 99 1839 ATL (2), ML 4 third 1840 PRO, NLA 5 yy 1840 ATL, PRO, NLA 6 J 5 1841 1841NLA NLA 7 99 1843 NLA (2), Dix 8 >> 1846 ATL, ML 9 * y 1847 NLA (2), ML 10 ** 1848 ATL, NLA(3), Dix 11 yy 1850 ATL, ML 12 y y 1851 ATL, LaTR 13 y y 1852 ATL, LaTR 14 y y 1854 ATL 15 y y 1855 NLA? 16 99 1856 Waimate Mission House 17 99 c.1856 ATL 18 99 1858 ATL 19 99 1859 ML 20 y y 1860 ATL, ML 21 99 1862 ATL, NLA(3), APL 22 99 1863 ATL, NLA(3), ML 23 y y 1864 ML 24 99 1865 ATL 25 99 1868 ML 26 99 1869 ATL 27 yy 1870? 1870?ATL, NLA(3) ATL, NLA(3)

Table showing locations of different states of the McDonnell-Wyld 1834 chart of New Zealand: