Early Shipping in New Zealand

Kent
Captain Perkins arrived at the Bay of Islands on Kent in early February 1824 and sailed for the whaling fishery on the 13th of the same month. Almost a year later Kent and Captain Perkins were back in the Bay, arriving the same day as another whaler, Sisters. In December 1825, Kent refreshed at the Bay of Islands, having been absent for almost a complete year again. Kent’s next visit to the Bay of Islands was in February 1826, and Captain Perkins was still at her helm.

King George
King George first arrived off the Bay of Islands on 19 February 1810. On her way in from sea, she spoke Ann and Albion, both having just left New Zealand. Tension at the Bay was running high. Warned by news of the recent attack on the Boyd, Captain SR Chase sent a whaleboat into the Bay of Islands with a warning to the native tribes, least they suffer the same fate. King George was next back in March 1812, this time under the command of Captain L Jones. Jem, a Tahitian who lived among Maori, accused Jones of cruelty to the New Zealanders. A year later King George arrived for a third time, and under her third master, Captain RS Walker. No longer a whaling ship, she was bound for French Polynesia. She stopped at the Bay on her way from Sydney to Tahiti and the Marquesas and didn’t arrive back from there until 22 October 1816. On November 18 Captain Walker sailed King George on to Sydney with a cargo of spars and pork. King George’s next Captain was John Beveridge. Under Captain Beveridge, King George sailed two voyages to Tahiti and carried among her passengers members of the mission stations that were trying to establish themselves around the South Sea Islands. King George’s last visit to New Zealand was in April 1819.