1803 in New Zealand

With the lessening of the sealing rush at Bass Strait as the rookeries become thinner, sealers return to Dusky Sound and explore the surrounding coast. Little of the activities of these ships is actually recorded as a veil of secrecy still surrounds their activities while the various ships try to make the most of any discoveries before the competition arrives. They occasionally met local Māori but little information regarding these encounters survives. There are again around half a dozen whalers off the north-east coast of New Zealand, a few of which call into the Bay of Islands. The first Māori to join a whaling ship, and possibly the first to leave New Zealand in 10 years, does so early in the year.Salmond, Anne. Between Worlds. 1997. Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd. ISBN 0 670 87787 5.]

Incumbents

Regal and Vice Regal

*Head of State – King George III.
*Governor of New South Wales – Philip Gidley King

Events

* 30 January - George Bass asks Governor King of New South Wales for a fishing monopoly from a line bisecting New Zealand from Dusky Sound to Otago Harbour extending south to include the subantarctic islands. It is not granted but shows the sealers' area of interest at this time. [Letter George Bass/Governor King, 30/1/1803; George Bass/Captain Waterhouse 2/2/1803, reproduced McNab, 1908, pp.242-246.]
*1 June – The "Alexander", Captain Robert Rhodes arrives in Port Jackson with Teina aboard. He is the first Māori recorded to have left New Zealand since Tuki and Huru in 1793. Teina may have been related to Huru while the "Sydney Gazette" reports that Tuki spoke with the "Alexander", possibly when it visited Doubtless Bay.
*19 September – The "Alexander" leaves Port Jackson to return Teina to New Zealand. He has stayed with Governor King while in Sydney and has been given gifts to take back with him, including pigs.
*December – HMS "Scorpion", Captain William Dagg lands in Dagg Sound. Wises New Zealand Guide,7th Edition, 1979. p.80.]

Undated

*Philip Tapsell (born Hans Felk) visits New Zealand for the first time, on a whaling ship (possibly the "Alexander") which calls at the Bay of Islands. [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/T/TapsellPhilipOrFelkalsoSpeltFalkHans/TapsellPhilipOrFelkalsoSpeltFalkHans/en New Zealand Encyclopaedia 1966: Tapsell Biography] ] (See also 1823, 1828 and 1830).

Births

Deaths

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 1803 not specifically related to New Zealand see": 1803

References