Early Shipping in New Zealand waters

Ferret
In 1805 Captain Skelton of Bennett's ship Ferret visited the Bay of Islands. Onboard the ship was a passenger, John Savage, who was on his way to England to defend himself against charges received during his time as an assistant surgeon in New South Wales. On returning to England, Savage published an account of New Zealand in which he described seeing potatoes grown for trade with European vessels. He also gave mention of a white man living among local Maori who kept his distance from the shipping but whose wife and child were seen, the child having fair hair. When the Ferret resumed her voyage to England, John Savage had a companion sail with him in the form of Moehanga from the Nga Puhi tribe. Moehanga was to be the first native New Zealander to make a round trip to England and from Dr Savage's account, the marvels of a modern society were not lost upon the Maori visitor. Moehanga made his way back to New Zealand on the Ferret, again under the command of Captain Skelton.

Frederick
When Captain Alexander Brodie arrived off the coast of New Zealand in 1811 from Sydney and the whaling grounds, captains and crew were still extremely wary of the native New Zealanders following the Boyd massacre. For this reason Captain Brodie chose to wait outside the mouth of the Bay of Islands, rather than risk lives by sailing into the bay. While there Nga Puhi chief Ruatara went onboard the ship before she sailed back to the fishery. In March 1812 the Sydney Gazette reported Frederick, Captain Brodie, as whaling off the coast of New Zealand along with several other ships.

Foxhound
On 12 June 1817 Captain Watson of Foxhound was at Deal in England all set to depart on a whaling expedition to the South Seas. Four months later on October 19 the captain and his ship arrived at Sydney and after a month in port no doubt unloading speculative cargo and taking on extra crew, Foxhound sailed for the fishery. Her next reported port of call was the Bay of Islands where she arrived on 6 January 1818. There she fell in with Rambler and the two whalers departed for the fishery in company on January 15. While at sea Foxhound met up with another whaler Indian and both ships arrived back at the Bay of Islands on 13 April 1818. These were still very early days for European shipping at the Bay of Islands and the Christian mission station was only in its fourth year of existence. Captains and missionaries formed mutually beneficial friendships and on the evening of April 16 Captain Watson of Foxhound received missionaries Kendall, King and Hall onboard where they dined, also in the company of Captain Swain of Indian. The missionaries stayed onboard Foxhound that evening and returned to their home the following day with the two captains. In August Foxhound returned to Sydney where she remained for six weeks before heading back to the South Seas fishery with Indian. By this time both ships carried whale oil destined for the London market. By February 1819 Foxhound was again at the Bay of Islands, this time with the whalers Ann and New Zealander. In May Foxhound made one more stop at Sydney where Captain Watson reported having taken 250t of sperm oil and stated his intention of completing his cargo of oil during the return voyage to England.

Francis (Frances)
A whaleship by the name of Francis made at least two calls at New Zealand’s Bay of Islands in the 1820’s. On both occasions Captain Hunt was her master and the first visit was on 29 November 1823 when the ship arrived from England. Likely still on the same whaling voyage, Francis arrived back at the Bay in September 1824 from the fishing grounds. By now her crew was helpless with scurvy. Deprived of fruit and vegetables during voyages and therefore having no source of vitamin C, men who were inflicted with scurvy suffered from lethargy and depression caused by muscle weakness, aching joints, rashes and bleeding gums. Victims legs were discoloured by black and blue spots on their pale skin, and severe cases resulted in immobility, hair loss, sunken eyes and teeth falling out.

Fairy
The cutter Fairy was a sealing vessel that worked in New Zealand waters in the late 1820’s. Captain Wishart brought her into Sydney from New Zealand on 5 February 1829 with a cargo of 700 seal skins. She promptly set out on another sealing voyage and in July Fairy arrived back in Sydney with a supply of pork and a further 200 seal skins. Captain Wishart continued to command her and in September 1829 Fairy left Sydney on her next voyage, returning the following February with a cargo of flax and 600 seal skins. This one small cutter’s crew alone had taken 1500 seal skins within a year.

Fanny
Towards the close of 1823 Captain G Rule arrived at the Bay of Islands on board Fanny. Having come from the fishery, Fanny already had one thousand barrels of oil in her cargo. The purpose of her visit to the bay was to take on potatoes and pork, and her crew kept busy loading potatoes onto the ship almost daily until her departure for the whaling grounds on 9 January 1924.