Sealers' War
Encyclopedia
The Sealers' War, also known as the "War of the Shirt", was a conflict in southern New Zealand
started in 1810 by a Māori chief's theft of a red shirt, a knife and some other articles from the sealing vessel the Sydney Cove in Otago Harbour
, and the excessive revenge of unidentified Europeans from the ship. Many of its events have long been known to European historians, though not its original cause, giving rise to the view it was the product of a supposedly treacherous nature of the Māori. After much speculation its true cause was revealed by the discovery of the Creed manuscript in 2003, recording the views of Māori who were alive at the time of the events.
, was anchored in Otago Harbour
while its crew were at Cape Saunders
on the Otago Peninsula
about their work. Māori were in the habit of visiting such vessels to trade for pork and potatoes and a Māori chief, Te Wareripirau according to one of Creed's informants, Te Wahia according to the other, stole the red shirt, the knife and the other things. Later some of the sailors "fell upon" Te Wahia with cutlasses "who fled from them with his bowels protruding through the wound in the side" and died. "The Europeans fled, ship & boats to the Molyneux" - the modern Clutha River
Mouth - where they attacked and killed another chief Te Pahi. In the same place they left a boy, in fact James Caddell, known to New Zealand history as a Pākehā-Māori
.
At Waipapa Point
one of the Sydney Coves gangs landed and proceeded overland to the Mataura mouth but were there surprised and killed by Māori under Honegai. The Sydney Cove paused at Stewart Island before continuing its voyage. Men from the Brothers who had been in the vicinity of Otago Harbour
proceeded south late in 1810 seeking a passing ship to take them back to Sydney but four of their number were surprised and killed, apparently just because they were Europeans in the wrong place at the wrong time.
three were killed and eaten and the others enslaved. The Matilda went on to Stewart Island and from there sent Robert Brown in an open boat to look for the missing men. He came up the east coast and touched at Cape Saunders before going on up the coast to a point some eight miles north of Moeraki
. There he and his seven companions hauled the boat ashore and went to sleep under it but were seen by Māori and attacked. All but two were killed and eaten the others fleeing through the night to what is now Bobby's Head near the Pleasant Valley. Māori there first entertained them but when other Māori arrived who had taken part in the earlier attack, after a discussion, the two survivors were killed and eaten too. The mere
, greenstone club, used to dispatch one of them was long remembered. Meanwhile Fowler brought the Matilda into Otago Harbour where he had a friendly reception which he later reported as a corrective to the view Māori were hostile to Europeans and unlikely candidates for conversion to Christianity.
The following year, 1815, William Tucker
who had been in the Otago Harbour area as early as 1809, landed again from a Hobart
sealer and settled at Whareakeake, later called Murdering Beach. He kept goats and sheep, had a Māori wife, but no children, built a house (or houses) and apparently set up an export trade in ornamental hei-tiki - jade neck pendants made from old adzes. He left but returned, apparently with other Europeans meaning to settle, on the Sophia, a Hobart sealer commanded by James Kelly
. The Sophia anchored in Otago Harbour and Tucker - "Taka" to Māori - was well-received but the harbour chief Korako wouldn't ferry across other Māori from Whareakeake who wished to be first among those to receive the returning Tucker's gifts. This was late in 1817. Two or three days later Kelly went to visit Whareakeake in an open boat, with Tucker and five others, having been persuaded by Tucker not to take their firearms. At Whareakeake they had a friendly reception and encountered one of the Matildas lascars, an Indian seaman who told them of his countrymen's fate.It seems Tucker had gone in to his house but Kelly was attacked, at the instigation of the Whareakeake chief Te Matahaere. In the ensuing melee Veto Viole, John Griffiths and William Tucker were killed. (Griffiths was Kelly's brother-in-law.) The dead were eaten. Escaping by longboat Kelly returned to the Sophia in Otago Harbour but suspecting Māori there were planning an attack he attacked them first. Then, and over the next few days, he apparently killed several people, possibly including Korako, destroyed canoes and set fire to the harbourside village "the beautiful City of Otago."
The Sealers' War - really a rolling feud - may have seen seventy-four people killed, among them forty-three Pākehā, or non-Māori. William Tucker was not a cause of it, as has previously been thought, but one of its victims. The Creed manuscript clearly reveals the original cause, invisible to history for nearly two hundred years, identifies the later triggers of particular events while observing they were all consequences of the first theft and its revenge, often visited on people unaware of what had set these events in motion. When people of different cultures clash they are quick to react against any member of the other group, regardless of personal responsibility. The Sealers' War is a classic example of the tendency of incident to turn into inter-communal strife at the interface of cultural contact.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
started in 1810 by a Māori chief's theft of a red shirt, a knife and some other articles from the sealing vessel the Sydney Cove in Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour mouth...
, and the excessive revenge of unidentified Europeans from the ship. Many of its events have long been known to European historians, though not its original cause, giving rise to the view it was the product of a supposedly treacherous nature of the Māori. After much speculation its true cause was revealed by the discovery of the Creed manuscript in 2003, recording the views of Māori who were alive at the time of the events.
The initial incident
Late in 1810 the Sydney Cove, a big English sealerSeal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...
, was anchored in Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour mouth...
while its crew were at Cape Saunders
Cape Saunders
Cape Saunders is a prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand's South Island. It is home to the Cape Saunders Lighthouse....
on the Otago Peninsula
Otago Peninsula
The Otago Peninsula is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Otago Harbour and runs parallel to the mainland for...
about their work. Māori were in the habit of visiting such vessels to trade for pork and potatoes and a Māori chief, Te Wareripirau according to one of Creed's informants, Te Wahia according to the other, stole the red shirt, the knife and the other things. Later some of the sailors "fell upon" Te Wahia with cutlasses "who fled from them with his bowels protruding through the wound in the side" and died. "The Europeans fled, ship & boats to the Molyneux" - the modern Clutha River
Clutha River
The Clutha River / Mata-Au is the second longest river in New Zealand flowing south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wanaka in the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, south west of Dunedin. It is the highest volume river in New Zealand, and the swiftest, with a catchment of ,...
Mouth - where they attacked and killed another chief Te Pahi. In the same place they left a boy, in fact James Caddell, known to New Zealand history as a Pākehā-Māori
Pakeha Maori
Pākehā Māori is a term used to describe early European settlers in New Zealand who lived among the Māori. Some were kept by the Māori as slaves, while others settled in Māori communities by choice, many being runaway seamen or escaped convicts...
.
At Waipapa Point
Waipapa Point
Waipapa Point is a rocky promontory on the south coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located southeast of the mouth of the Mataura River, at the extreme southwestern end of the area known as the Catlins....
one of the Sydney Coves gangs landed and proceeded overland to the Mataura mouth but were there surprised and killed by Māori under Honegai. The Sydney Cove paused at Stewart Island before continuing its voyage. Men from the Brothers who had been in the vicinity of Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour mouth...
proceeded south late in 1810 seeking a passing ship to take them back to Sydney but four of their number were surprised and killed, apparently just because they were Europeans in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Escalation
These tensions still existed when six lascars, Indian seamen, from the Matilda, Captain Fowler, absconded from her in a long boat somewhere on the south west coast in 1814. Encountering Māori, apparently at Dusky SoundDusky Sound
Dusky Sound is a fiord on the south west corner of New Zealand, in Fiordland National Park.-Geography:One of the most complex of the many fjords on this coast, it is also one of the largest, 40 kilometres in length and eight kilometres wide at its widest point...
three were killed and eaten and the others enslaved. The Matilda went on to Stewart Island and from there sent Robert Brown in an open boat to look for the missing men. He came up the east coast and touched at Cape Saunders before going on up the coast to a point some eight miles north of Moeraki
Moeraki
Moeraki is a small fishing village on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was once the location of a whaling station. In the 1870s, local interests believed it could become the main port for the north Otago area and a railway line, the Moeraki Branch, was built to the settlement...
. There he and his seven companions hauled the boat ashore and went to sleep under it but were seen by Māori and attacked. All but two were killed and eaten the others fleeing through the night to what is now Bobby's Head near the Pleasant Valley. Māori there first entertained them but when other Māori arrived who had taken part in the earlier attack, after a discussion, the two survivors were killed and eaten too. The mere
Mere (weapon)
The mere is a type of short, broad-bladed club , usually made from Nephrite jade . A mere is one of the traditional, close combat, one-handed weapons of the indigenous Māori, of New Zealand. A mere could be used to split a skull open.- Form :The Mere is a spatulate, leaf shaped, form of short club...
, greenstone club, used to dispatch one of them was long remembered. Meanwhile Fowler brought the Matilda into Otago Harbour where he had a friendly reception which he later reported as a corrective to the view Māori were hostile to Europeans and unlikely candidates for conversion to Christianity.
The following year, 1815, William Tucker
William Tucker (settler)
William Tucker was a British convict, a sealer, a trader in human heads, an Otago settler, and New Zealand’s first art dealer....
who had been in the Otago Harbour area as early as 1809, landed again from a Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
sealer and settled at Whareakeake, later called Murdering Beach. He kept goats and sheep, had a Māori wife, but no children, built a house (or houses) and apparently set up an export trade in ornamental hei-tiki - jade neck pendants made from old adzes. He left but returned, apparently with other Europeans meaning to settle, on the Sophia, a Hobart sealer commanded by James Kelly
James Kelly (Australian explorer)
James Kelly , Australian mariner, explorer and port official, was born on 24 December 1791 at Parramatta, New South Wales. He was probably the son of James Kelly, a cook in the convict transport Queen, and Catherine Devereaux, a convict transported for life from Dublin in the same ship.Kelly was...
. The Sophia anchored in Otago Harbour and Tucker - "Taka" to Māori - was well-received but the harbour chief Korako wouldn't ferry across other Māori from Whareakeake who wished to be first among those to receive the returning Tucker's gifts. This was late in 1817. Two or three days later Kelly went to visit Whareakeake in an open boat, with Tucker and five others, having been persuaded by Tucker not to take their firearms. At Whareakeake they had a friendly reception and encountered one of the Matildas lascars, an Indian seaman who told them of his countrymen's fate.It seems Tucker had gone in to his house but Kelly was attacked, at the instigation of the Whareakeake chief Te Matahaere. In the ensuing melee Veto Viole, John Griffiths and William Tucker were killed. (Griffiths was Kelly's brother-in-law.) The dead were eaten. Escaping by longboat Kelly returned to the Sophia in Otago Harbour but suspecting Māori there were planning an attack he attacked them first. Then, and over the next few days, he apparently killed several people, possibly including Korako, destroyed canoes and set fire to the harbourside village "the beautiful City of Otago."
Effect on sealing
These hostilities and the diminution of seal populations saw a decline in sealing ventures to southern New Zealand. It seems this was unknown to Captain Abimeleck Riggs of the American sealer General Gates who landed a gang at Stewart Island late in 1819. He had a troubled cruise and it wasn't until 1821 that he returned to the gang's relief when he dropped a second gang and then a third at Chalky Inlet. The second gang was attacked by Māori in October that year when six of its men were captured, taken north up the west coast where eventually four were killed and eaten. Meanwhile the gang at Chalky had left a boy looking after their stores who was also attacked by Māori and eaten. The rest were pursued by Māori and two killed before they came across Captain Edwardson of the Snapper in Chalky Inlet. Their pursuers included women and dogs under the leadership of "Te Pehi" "Topi" and "Te Whera". With them were two Pākehā-Māori, James Caddell, originally captured from the Sydney Cove, now acculturated to Māori society, tattooed and married to a high-born Māori woman, and James Stuart who had come with the General Gates, with an aboriginal wife and children. (She had gone into hiding after they were attacked by Māori and one of the children was killed. Eventually Stuart found her and took her and one child to Sydney.) Edwardson now took Caddell to Sydney where his arrival caused a sensation in 1823 and where a peace was brokered. Thereafter sealing resumed although it soon petered out again because the animal populations had been severely depleted.The Sealers' War - really a rolling feud - may have seen seventy-four people killed, among them forty-three Pākehā, or non-Māori. William Tucker was not a cause of it, as has previously been thought, but one of its victims. The Creed manuscript clearly reveals the original cause, invisible to history for nearly two hundred years, identifies the later triggers of particular events while observing they were all consequences of the first theft and its revenge, often visited on people unaware of what had set these events in motion. When people of different cultures clash they are quick to react against any member of the other group, regardless of personal responsibility. The Sealers' War is a classic example of the tendency of incident to turn into inter-communal strife at the interface of cultural contact.