1809 in New Zealand

Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited.Salmond, Anne. Between Worlds. 1997. Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd. ISBN 0 670 87787 5.] A few whalers also operate around New Zealand, some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.

In November the Boyd massacre occurs in Whangaroa Harbour. It is preciptated by ill-treatment of a Māori crew member. There are only 4 survivors and the ship is later accidentally set on fire. It takes several months for all vessels operating around New Zealand hear what has happened and through confusion and misrepresentation the wrong chief is blamed.

Māori are taken on as crew/peassengers on various vessels that travel throughout the Pacific and also to England.

Incumbents

Regal and Vice Regal

*Head of State – King George III.
*Governor of New South Wales – William Paterson is appointed acting Governor on 1 January. Governor Bligh’s replacement, Lachlan Macquarie, is appointed in April, arrives on 28 December and is sworn in on the following New Year’s Day. [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020162b.htm Dictionary of Australian Biography: Lachlan Macquarie] ]

Events

*January or February – The "Speke", Captain John Hingston, arrives in the Bay of Islands. Captain Hingston has chief Te Pahi flogged for not being able to produce a stolen axe.
** - The "Fox" leaves a sealing gang on Solander Island. They are not picked up until 1813.
*1 March – The "City of Edinburgh" arrives in the Bay of Islands, returning chief (Maa-)Tara from Port Jackson. Tara dies of bronchitis some months later (possibly July-September).
*12 March - The "Sydney Gazette" refers to Foveaux Strait, the first recorded usage of the name.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.106.]
*16 July – The sealing ship "Pegasus", Captain Samuel Chace, arrives at ‘Pegasus Island’ (now known as Codfish Island). [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-McNMuri-t1-body-d1-d13.html NZETC: Stewart Island Exploited 1809 and 1810] ] Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.69.]
*July – Ruatara arrives in London on the "Santa Anna". He is not allowed to see King George as he had hoped. 15 days later the captain of the "Santa Anna" puts him on board the convict ship "Ann" which is heading to Port Jackson. [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/Ruatara/Ruatara/en New Zealand Encyclopaedia 1966: Ruatara Biography] ]
*7 August – The "Pegasus" discovers Port Pegasus on Stewart Island/Rakiura.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.342.]
*28 August – The convict ship "Ann" leaves England with Samuel Marsden and William Hall and John King and their wives as passengers. Marsden discovers Ruatara on board. [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1M16 Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Samuel Marsden] ] [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/M/MarsdenSamuel/MarsdenSamuel/en New Zealand Encyclopaedia 1966: Samuel Marsden Biography] ] [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1R19 Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Ruatara] ]
*August(-September?) – The "Pegasus" circumnavigates Stewart Island which is charted by First Officer William Stewart and later named in his honour.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.404]
*September – The "Pegasus" is at the Chatham Islands. William Stewart finishes charting the islands left incomplete by their discoverer William R. Broughton.
*October(?) – The "Pegasus" sights Pegasus Bay north of Banks Peninsula where the presence of Maori is noted and leaves for the south to repair the ship, apparently unaware of the existence of Lyttelton Harbour. [Entwisle,Peter "Taka a Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784-1817" Port Daniel Press, Dunedin, 2005, pp.48-49 n.29 relying on the "Pegasus Papers" mss letters of Captain Chase to his owners describing the voyage, 2/8141, State Records of New South Wales, Sydney.]
** – The "Fox" leaves a sealing gang in Foveaux Strait under Robert Murry. Murry learns the Māori language and provides the first detailed decription of Māori culture in the area.
*8 November – The "Boyd", Captain John Thompson, leaves Port Jackson for New Zealand with two Māori as crew including Te Aara (‘George’). During the trip George is flogged for not working as instructed.
* 9 November The "Brothers", Captain Robert Mason sailing for Campbell & Co of Sydney, leaves what is now the coast of Dunedin having landed eight men, including William Tucker, on "The Isle of Wight" and three more on "Ragged Rock", perhaps modern Green Island and White Island respectively, to hunt for seals. The gang leader is Robert Brown. The men stay in the area and the ship does not return until the following year. [Entwisle,Peter "Taka a Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784-1817" Port Daniel Press, Dunedin, 2005, pp.53-4.]
*December – The "Boyd" arrives in Whangaroa Harbour. George tells his father Piopio and other members of his tribe of his maltreatment. Several days later tribes from Whangaroa and Hokianga, apparently led by Te Puhi (not Te Pahi) attack the ship and kill, and eat, most of the passengers and crew. Several of the crew take refuge in the rigging but later when Te Pahi (who was not involved in the massacre) tries to save them they run off and are killed. There are five other survivors, a women, 2 young children, a cabin boy and the second mate. The second mate is enslaved and put to work but when he proves of no use he is also killed. [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/loot/boyd.html The Boyd Massacre] ]
*Late December – The "City of Edinburgh", Captain Simeon Pattison, arrives in the Bay of Islands. Alexander Berry rescues the four survivors of the "Boyd", and also the ship’s papers (including some of his own). He is told that Te Pahi led the attack and leaves notes for visiting vessels to that effect. The "City of Edinburgh" then leaves for Peru. [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1T53 Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Te Pahi] ]

Undated

Late 1808 or early this year the "Unity", Captain Daniel Cooper, is probably the first identifiable European ship to visit Otago Harbour. For a while the harbour is called 'Port Daniel' by visiting sealers. Hooper's Inlet, on the seaward side of the Otago Peninsula is named for the "Unity"'s First Officer Charles Hooper. [Entwisle, Peter "Taka a Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784-1817", Port Daniel Press, Dunedin,2005, p.48, notes 23 &24.]

Births

Deaths

References

ee also

*List of years in New Zealand
*Timeline of New Zealand history
*History of New Zealand
*Military history of New Zealand
*Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand
*Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica

"For world events and topics in 1809 not specifically related to New Zealand see": 1809