Tasman’s position at anchor in Golden Bay and nearby areas of Maori occupation

There is no surviving account of the meeting of Tasman and the Maori from the Ngati Tumatakokiri perspective, and without that we are missing the counterpoint of the Dutch account, which is not without prejudice, most particularly in Tasman’s Journal.

Tasman’s journal is biased towards showing that he has complied with his written instructions. An example of this is that when the company flag was planted in Tasmania he wrote this: “… the natives of this country, who did not show themselves, though we suspect some of them were at no great distance and closely watching our proceedings”.

His instructions required that he plant the company flag in the presence of the natives, which he did not, but he implie...

The Heemskerck and Zeehaen at anchor in Golden Bay

On the morning of December 19^th, 1642, Abel Tasman was sat at anchor in Golden Bay, with his two ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen.

At first light a native boat had come out to them, stayed a while and then gone away. They had showed some of their trading goods to the natives, but the south-landers had shown no interest.

From the land, the Chief had gone out with one of the boats to have a closer look at the enemy. So far, they had only been up close in the dark. Now he had looked in their eyes, he and he had measured their strength. He had demanded that they explain themselves, but had received no satisfaction.

The Maori were extremely wary of visitors.

When they saw strangers, they didn’t know if they were friend or foe, and th...

The Dutch Armoury

Tasman’s written instructions explicitly described the danger involved in engaging with natives.

“In landing with small craft extreme caution will everywhere have to be used, seeing that it is well-known that the southern regions are peopled by fierce savages, for which reason you will always have to be well armed and to use every prudent precaution, since experience has taught in all parts of the world that barbarian men are nowise to be trusted, because they commonly think that the foreigners who so unexpectedly appear before them, have come only to seize their land “

The VOC wanted Tasman to establish amicable relations with anyone they met, so that they could be engaged in trade, but they did not leave Tasman unprepared for trouble.

Cannon on the VOC ...

On the Morning of December 19th 1642, Abel Tasman and the Ngati Tumatakokiri had their first close look at each other.

The events of that day are recorded in Tasman’s journal, the Sailors Journal and the Surgeon-barbers account.

We also have this remarkable drawing by Isaac Gilsemans.

Gilsemans’ drawing of the events of December 19th

It is captioned “A view of the Moordenaers Bay, as you are at anchor there in 15 fathom”, and is a collage of six independent illustrations that each depicts a different part of the day.

The legend at the upper right describes the individual parts of the drawing as below:

A. Our ships.
B. The prows which came alongside of us.
C...

So there I was, minding my own business, working on illustrations for the next installment.

Caravan for hire at the campsite on Tukurua Road

I’d noticed that Wayne had moved one of the caravans down to the beachfront part of the campsite, where I am, but I hadn’t noticed the car pulling up.

Tony had drawn the short straw.

Tony and Trish have been here the whole time I have. They’ve been looking after the place while Wayne and Leigh (the campsite managers) take a break during the off season.

They are very comfortably set up in their converted bus. They’re also Wingers, like me. (I’ve explained ‘Wingers’ before, but if you missed it, it was in this post ).

One of the distinctive things about Wingers is that they’ll always help out if someone’s got a problem… and by the tim...

The Maori were hopelessly out-gunned; literally.

While to the eyes of the Dutchmen the south-landers had only the most primitive of weapons, this did not make them harmless.

The Maori were fearless, ruthless, and magnificent strategists; as the British would repeatedly discover to their cost two hundred years later.

The ‘Duyfken’, a replica of the VOC vessel that first found Australia in 1606

The Duyfken is a ‘Yacht’ of the same prescription as the Heemskerck. It was a standard formula used by the VOC, and designed for use as a light warship. The Heemskerck had the same sail, deck and general layout as the Duyfken, but was 30% larger.

Apart from being slightly smaller, the Dufken is otherwise very similar to the Heemskerck...

Tasman’s position at anchor on December 18th

Below is Tasman’s journal entry relating to the events of the afternoon and evening of December 18th, 1642.

The original spelling and punctuation are retained, but paragraph breaks have been inserted for ease of reading.

Visscher’s chart of New Zealand up to December 18th

On the morning of December 18th Tasman’s ships sat at anchor near the end of Farewell Spit, on the ocean side. The previous morning they had been 7km to the North of Cape Farewell, and in the day between they had travelled just 27 km.

They had surveyed the end of the sandspit and knew they could enter safely into what appeared to be an excellent harbour; there was shelter from all but a south-east wind.

They could also see valleys that would hold good rivers, and tree covered hills; they should have no difficulty in securing good water and firewood there.

Tasman convened the Ships’ Council, and they determined “that we should try to get ashore here and find a good harbour; and that as we neared it we should send out the pinnace ...