New Zealand Unleashed by C Murray

Author:C Murray [Steven Carden and Campbell Murray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781869790882
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

The death of wind power and the shrinking of New Zealand

The inception of a refrigerated meat trade coincided with the introduction of another new technology – steam-powered ships. When these metal monstrosities chugged over the horizon they signalled the end of the slow, unpredictable and labour-intensive sailing ship. The first steamship to visit New Zealand was a six-gun warship, the HMS Driver, which reached Auckland in January 1846. Essentially a sailing ship with big side paddles, it must have looked as though maritime design had taken a disturbing turn for the worse. Often used to transport the Governor on various jaunts along the coast, it was also used to carry British troops and Maori prisoners of war.

On one occasion it was used to transfer some Ngati Toa prisoners from Waikanae to Wellington.9 Included in this group was Te Rauparaha himself (the chief most famously known for writing the haka that was later adopted by the All Blacks). During the night, while it was steaming, a great commotion erupted in the prisoners’ room. Hurriedly opening the hatch to ascertain the cause, the sailors found the room full of steam and the prisoners in a dreadful state of alarm. Rather than being a cruel and unusual punishment, the steam bath was the result of a leak in one of the boilers. Very thankful to be relieved of their moist quarters, Te Rauparaha and colleagues opted to sleep on deck for the rest of the night.

The introduction of steamships over this period and their connection with rail links also sped up travel and mail services within the country. The Rotomahana, the fifteen-knot ‘Greyhound of the Pacific’, was the world’s first ship built of mild steel, and it sped thousands of Australians and New Zealanders to each other’s shores. At 1727 tonnes, this Tasman Sea steamer dwarfed anything running between Britain and New Zealand at the time.

The first full-powered steamship to bring immigrants from Europe, the Mongol, arrived in Port Chalmers in February 1874, fifty-one days out of Plymouth, England. As those aboard the Mongol puttered out of Plymouth Harbour, they would have observed another ship hoisting its sails. It was the Scimitar, also bound for New Zealand, and also carrying a cargo of immigrants. By the time the Scimitar arrived in New Zealand – a full nineteen days after the Mongol – those aboard must have been ruing their decision to take the environmentally friendly option. Thanks to steam, people were getting to New Zealand faster than ever before.

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