Shipping
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Madeira Packet
In November 1829 Madeira Packet, Captain Hall, arrived in Sydney from New Zealand with a cargo of potatoes, flax, pork and seal skins.
Magnet
In 1837 John Jones sent Magnet to Foveaux Strait under Captain Winkworth, to work in place of Sydney Packet. While in Foveaux Strait Magnet spoke Lynx and Lunar. On December 9 Magnet had been back in Sydney but was now bound for New Zealand again. She had onboard Thomas Jones, Hughes, Tommy Chaseland , J Loance, J Hoare and their wives. In March 180 Magnet arrived at Otago Harbour with settlers for John Jones farm at Waikouaiti. Also onboard were several Maori chiefs, among them Tuhawaiki.
Margaret Rait
Reported as being at Paterson’s River, Stewart Island, in May 1837. Margaret Rait was said to be from St John’s and having been out eight months, she had secured 800 barrels of oil and was bound for the Bluff.
Mariner
A trading ship called Mariner, Captain J Douglas, called at the Bay of Islands in April 1823 on her way from Sydney to London.
Marion Watson
Captain Catlin, brought Marion Watson to the Bluff, in late August 1836. Catlin was trading along the coast between Foveaux Strait and Otago that now bears his name. On September 10 Marion Watson was at Otago and a week later at Port Cooper on Bank’s Peninsula.
Marquis
In July 1824 a ship named Marquis called at the Bay of Islands. Her captain was Sayre, and she had come from the whaling fishery.
Martha
In December 1818 the ship Martha, Captain Aspey, arrived at Sydney from Cork. She was then refitted for the whale fishery and set sail from Sydney under the same captain on 1 March 1819. By December 21 when she arrived at the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, she was already nearly full with sperm oil from London, but nevertheless after only a few days at anchor, Captain Apsey headed her back to the fishery. Three weeks later they were back for an extended stay and while at the Bay of Islands, they witnessed the arrival of HMS Dromedary. On May 29 1820 Martha arrived in Sydney in distress, where she was surveyed, condemned and broken up.
Martha (US)
An American whaling ship Martha, from Newport, was reported as being at Preservation Bay around March 1836.
Mary
In February 1821 Mary arrived at the Bay of Islands from the whaling fishery under the command of Captain Rennick. Not long after arriving Rennick was among the captains that helped the outcast missionary Thomas Kendall move his belongings and family to Pomare Nui’s marae near Kororareka. A few days later Mary departed the Bay of Islands for the fishery and didn’t arrive back until the end of November. Mary made another visit in February of 1824, and again in December that year. After this visit Captain Rennick died at sea, but Mary was reported as being in the Bay of Islands when Vansittart called there in December 1825.
Mary & Elizabeth
While a ship called Elizabeth & Mary worked in New Zealand water in the 1830’s, there was also a ship called Mary & Elizabeth. Her captain was Nichols and he departed from New Zealand for Hobart Town on 3 August 1833 with passangers Taylor and Campbell. The following year Mary & Elizabeth was at Otago when the huge Ngai Tahu war party arrived back from Cloudy Bay. While half of the 500 New Zealanders carried on south, those who remained in Otago were upset when a chief’s daughter died. In their sorrow they threatened to attack the Europeans and Captain Lovett of Mary & Elizabeth only just escaped being captured. William Thomas was a boatsteerer onboard Mary & Elizabeth but not even the threat of attack by Maori warriors could deter him from deciding to leave make his home somewhere in the south of New Zealand. Bill Thomas later married the daughter of John Lidiard.
Mary Ann (also referred to as Marianna and Mary Hannah)
Captain Gardner Mary Ann into the Bay of Islands on 25 November 1821 from the fishery, in company with Ann. Both ships stayed until December 4 when they left together for sea again. Mary Ann arrived back from Sydney in November 1822. While at the bay her doctor attended a sick child at the mission station, and they sailed for the fisheries in early December. Towards the end of 1823 Captain Gardner was among the whaling captains who helped the outcast missionary Thomas Kendall move his belongings and family to Pomare Nui’s village near Kororareka. In April Mary Ann was back at the Bay of Islands on her final stop before returning to England. Gardner made two more whaling voyages to New Zealand in 1824 and 1828. A sealer by the name of Mary Ann departed Sydney for New Zealand on 3 November 1829.
Matilda
In 1814 it was reported that New Zealand Maori had stolen a whaleboat from a ship called Matilda, while she was at anchor. Seven years later a man referred to as a lascar, was founding living among Maori at Otago. He said he was from the ship Matilda and that his boat mates had been eaten.
Mechanic
Captain Doggett sailed his American ship Mechanic to Stewart Island where he landed nine New Maori seamen he had rescued. Their whaleship Cornwallis had been wrecked at the Solomon Islands two weeks earlier, on January 1 1837. Mechanic arrived at Sydney in mid-February.
Mediterranean Packet
On March 2 1836 the Weller Brothers engaged Mediterranean Packet, Captain Green, to take a cart of stores to their stations in Otago. In May on her return to Sydney, she brought with her passenger Fligg and Captain Harewood.
Mermaid
Few whaleships had reportedly visited New Zealand waters before the arrival of Mermaid in 1796. While sailing off the coast of the South Island, her crew caught sight of the majestic snowcovered Kaikoura Mountains. They were in pursuit of the whales that are still celebrated and admired in Kaikoura today. The next arrival of a ship called Mermaid to New Zealand was not for another 25 years when Captain JR Kent sailed his vessel into the Bay of Islands. This Mermaid arrived from Hawaii where Kent had been trading, and she sailed in company with Cossack. From New Zealand Kent continued on to Sydney, but he was soon back across the Tasman trading around the South Island in 1823. Mermaid also transferred the white chief James Caddell back to New Zealand from a flax trading visit. When Mermaid returned to Sydney her cargo was flax preserved in salt water. In July 1824 Captain Busby was at the helm of Mermaid when she helped refloat Elizabeth Henrietta and her former captain at Stewart Island before sailing back to Sydney with another cargo of flax.
Mercury
Captain Edwards sailed Mercury into the Bay of Islands in mid November 1822. He was on his way to the whaling fishery from Sydney. When he arrived back on March 29 1924 Mercury’s cargo was almost full of oil but Captain Edwards was not a well man. After just a few days at land to recuperate from his illness, he sailed Mercury for the fishery again. In March 1825 the brig Mercury entered Whangaroa Harbour eager for supplies, but the ship was quickly boarded and over run by local Maori. The New Zealanders stayed on board all night, much to the dismay of the fear filled crew. The next day William White from the missionary station boarded Mercury and managed to persuade some of the Maori to leave, before going back ashore himself. Mercury’s captain, desperate to get out, began towing to sea, but the remaining Maori attacked and the captain and crew fled in the ship’s jolly and whaleboats. John Marmon was among the captured crew. He later wrote a book of his time in New Zealand, one of the few written accounts of an early European resident among New Zealand Maori. Missionary White again boarded Mercury where he found the ship’s mate, cook and steward. When the Maori had finally left the ship, White tried to help the men get Mercury out to sea but she was in such a state that they had to abandon her and return to Whangaroa in White’s boat. Mercury’s survivors where taken to the Bay of Islands where they were given passage back to Sydney on Polkington.
Mic Mac
John Jones bought the schooner Mic Mac in 1836 to service his whale stations on the south coast of the South Island. On March 17 Mic Mac, commanded by Captain James Bruce, delivered William Isaac Haberfield to Otago. Haberfield settled at Moeraki where he lived on a native diet of fish, kaka, pigeons and fern root whenever his supplies from ships run out. Moeraki remained Haberfield’s home for the rest of his life. Mic Mac sailed back to Sydney, arriving 4 February 1837 with a cargo of oil and passengers Dr Stewart and Mrs Byrne.
Minerva
Minerva’s first visit to New Zealand was under Captain John Bell when she arrived in early 1822 on a trading voyage. After her stop at the Bay of Islands, Minerva sailed for America. In 1828 Minerva, Captain Young, arrived from Sydney to the Bay of Islands, seeking to trade produce. The following February Philip Tapsell arrived as captain of Minerva. He had on board 60 tuns of oil but the vessel was in a leaky condition. Later that year Captain Lewis sailed Minerva from Sydney for the last time, and she was reported by Hind in December to have wrecked on a reef in Tonga.
