GRAVESEND TO WELLINGTON VIA LYTTELTON
Published in Adventures of a Surveyor by John Rochfort, 1853

It was on that unluckly day, Friday, that the pretty clipper schooner “Marmora” 
hove to off Gravesend for her passengers; as we pulled alongside, Captain K...y 
welcomed us from the quarter-deck, at the same moment the pilot gave the order “to 
brace the fore yard forrard,” and the obedient vessel started down the river at the 
rate of eight knots an hour.

Several watermen came alongside, evidently thinking it a good opportunity to get 
towed down the stream; the mate however took an axe and cut them adrift, leaving 
them cursing and swearing far behind.

Our captain now brought out cigars, and we went below to drink to our better 
acquaintance. In the cabin everything was in confusion, blocked up with mail-bags, 
papers, boxes, beds, and “dunnage;” we found it a difficult task to get in: at 
sunset we brought up in Margate Roads, an anchor watch was set, and we again went 
below. It is now that a passenger finds time hang heavy on his hands: he has been 
idle all day, and consequently is not tired: restless and impatient he walks up and 
down the deck; everything on board is quiet, the “foremast hands” are all “turned 
in,” except the anchor watch, and the same tantalizing piece of land is still in 
sight.

The vessel was poorly manned, but the mate, Mr. T...y, was a pleasant, quiet fellow 
and a good seaman, unlike many who by blustering and swearing make themselves hated 
by “all hands” (who never let a safe opportunity pass of taking their revenge); he 
gave his orders in a firm, quiet manner, which always ensured the cheerful “Ay, ay, 
sir.”







When a sailor is disobedient or impudent to an officer of the watch, it is usual to 
send him aloft to grease down the masts or tar the rigging: this is called giving 
him a “job;” if he refuses he is put in irons.

Next morning we weighed anchor and beat up to the Downs, where we again brought up 
for the night, and our pilot left us, wishing us a speedy voyage. On awaking in the 
morning we were disappointed to find a light head wind blowing, and a number of 
ships of all sorts and sizes, from the noble “East Indiaman” to the clumsy “Billy 
boy,” wind-bound like ourselves; but our little craft (being only 135 tons 
register, and in good trim for working to windward) was managed like a yacht, so 
the word was given to weigh anchor, and we went out, as the sailors say, “to look 
for a wind.” Arrived off Dover, we “lay to” for our owner, Mr. D....e, whose boat 
we soon discovered stealing out from the land: he came on board accompanied by 
three friends, whom the captain asked down to take some refreshment, but their 
faces turned white at the bare idea, and one shortly after had his head very 
suspiciously over the ship's side. I had a hearty laugh at him, but half an hour 
afterwards I was wishing the good ship Marmora at the bottom of the sea, and would 
gladly have been set ashore anywhere, had it not been for shame. Not long after, 
our owner left us, and Captain K…y saluted him by dipping the ensign three several 
times in token of submission. Towards dusk we made out Dungeness, and next day had 
that dread of sailors, a dead calm, but were amply compensated for it by a most 
magnificent sunset: we lay like a log on the water till morning, when a fine breeze 
sprang up from the southward and eastward, and we were again bowling along merrily 
at the rate of eight knots an hour: this put us in high spirits; but as breakfast 
was not ready at the usual time, and Englishmen will eat in whatever position they 
are placed, Captain K....y went on deck to know the reason. He found the steward 
making ineffectual attempts to stand on his legs and light the galley fire; it was 
quite clear to the captain that the man was intoxicated, so he rated him soundly, 
and threatened either to set him ashore at Plymouth or put him in irons. Another 
hand was employed to get breakfast ready, and the captain came below to see what 







liquor the man had taken: he soon discovered that a pint of brandy and two bottles 
of wine, which were partly broached, had vanished from the swinging tray: besides, 
the rum-cask was under his control. After breakfast we were busy writing to our 
friends, expecting to fall in with a fishing-boat, by which we could send our 
letters ashore. By this time the steward had resumed his duty, and, seeing my 
brother writing, he asked him for a pencil and sheet of paper, which he gave him, 
little thinking it was to write his last sentence. A little while after I was on 
the quarter-deck, enjoying the fresh cool breeze, and watching the headlands astern 
shutting in the white cliffs we had left, and those in front opening out the 
beautiful bays of Devonshire, when the carpenter called out “Man overboard!” The 
captain rushed frantically on deck; “A hand to the mast-head,” said he, “and look 
if you can see him. The rest of you search the forecastle and find out whether he 
has secreted himself anywhere.” “Ay, ay, sir,” returned the ready seamen, without 
showing any surprise. They looked everywhere it was possible for a man to hide, 
without finding a trace of him. “Can't see anything of him, sir,” said the look-out 
from aloft. Captain K..y was very much agitated, and said he had been at sea eleven 
years and had never seen such an occurrence before: “However,” said he, “God help 
him! I cannot.” Our boat was stowed amidships. and with the few hands we now had it 
would have been impossible to get it out under an hour; besides, the man was not to 
be seen; he had dropped in from the head, and the ship must have struck, and most 
likely stunned him, which would have caused him to sink at once. “Please, sir,” 
said one of the seamen to the captain, coming up the companion ladder, “I found 
this bit of paper in the pantry:” and sure enough it was the paper my brother had 
given the steward, with “I'm gone astern, so help me G—d!” scrawled on it in 
pencil. This satisfied the captain that his act was premeditated, so he at once 
entered it in his official log-book. This event however naturally cast a gloom over 
our spirits, but the crew did not seem to care much about it, as they had not been 
shipmates long, and in the afternoon, at the auction of his clothes which ensued, 
there was a good deal of competition.









Every master of a vessel is obliged to sell by auction the effects of such sailors 
as die at sea in his ship, and to forward the money to a government office in 
London, where the nearest relations can have it by applying. This is done to 
prevent his shipmates from plundering his chest. Captain K… y divided the deceased 
steward's wages between the crew (which now consisted of four able seamen), to 
compensate them for the extra work they had to do, as he did not want to put in for 
another hand, for, the wind being fair, we should thereby lose a great deal of 
time. Next day we took our departture from the Lizard, the last English land we 
were to see for years, perhaps for ever; however, the Marmora was soon out of the 
“chaps of the Channel” and stood away to the southward. We arrived at the Line 
without anything worthy of remark. Here we overtook the barque William Hyde, 
Captain A......e, bound to the same port as ourselves. X Captain A.....e and his 
chaplain Mr. C.... n boarded us, and kindly asked us to dine with them, and we 
accepted their invitation. We found many of her passengers still suffering from 
sea-sickness, and, singularly enough, they had left Gravesend a day after us. This 
ship had a fine crew of eighteen able seamen. On the Sunday previous, during 
service, they had experienced a very heavy squall and nearly lost their Reverend 
gentleman. It happened thus: —Mrs. A……..e was accompanying the Psalms upon the 
piano. The ship was pitching and tossing about, and Mr. C….n, the parson, was 
clinging to the said musical instrument to keep himself from falling whilst 
singing: now, he was a spare lean man, with a very sallow complexion, extremely 
precise in his manners, and always insisted on having the Psalms read and sung, 
blow high or blow low, every Sunday. He had a great horror of cards, and prohibited 
their use on board. Captain A.....e however was very fond of a game, and used to 
play privately in his state room with some of the passengers. The wind was still 
increasing and the congregation singing, when the ship gave a heavy lee lurch: the 
piano, which was lashed to a ringbolt in the deck, was carried away, taking the 
unfortunate clergyman along with it, jambing him up against the vessel's side, and 
drawing from him A sharp with great applause from the company. At the same moment a 
pack of cards slid out from some unknown shelf, to the great horror of Mr. C....n. 








On deck everything was neat and trim. From the poor our little craft looked very 
picturesque with her long low hull and raking masts, putting one in mind of a 
slaver. The mate, who had charge of her during the captain's absence, showed his 
pride in her better sailing qualities, by running her jibboom into the William 
Hyde's stern windows, and sailing round her. One of the passengers had a fawn, 
which he meant to take to New Zealand; another had a pair of pheasants; and others 
had entered into partnership in buying a cow, which supplied them with new milk on 
the passage.

After spending a pleasant afternoon we returned to our own ship, and were greeted 
with three hearty cheers from the William Hyde. We no sooner touched our own deck 
than the captain gave orders to make all sail. A sort of tacit understanding 
existed between the two captains that they were to have a match, and we (the 
passengers) assisted in trimming sail. The William Hyde was staggering under a 
heavy press of canvas, but the light wind was more in our favour, because she was a 
much larger vessel: the wind that would carry us along at the rate of seven miles 
an hour would scarcely propel her six; consequently, at daylight next morning, we 
could only just see her royals above the horizon astern of us.

We had tolerably fine weather after this until we rounded the Cape of Good Hope, 
when a strong breeze sprang up from the westward; during the ensuing night the wind 
died away and chopped round ahead of us. Though not blowing at all hard, our vessel 
was labouring fearfully; she had nearly all sail set, even the flying jib, when one 
unusually heavy sea struck her, dipped her in head first, and filled the jibs with 
water, carrying away the jib-boom and fore-topmast, leaving us a complete wreck. 
This accident delayed us a few days until the carpenter could make a new topmast. 
It was a narrow escape for the crew: they had just come down from reefing the 
topsail, and were actually hoisting up the yard, when it was carried away: had they 
remained aloft four minutes longer, they would all have been lost, and we should 
have had to bear up under easy sail for Adelaide.








Approaching two or three sailors who were gathered together near the fore-rigging, 
and talking over our late mishap, I overheard one say, “I knew we should be unlucky 
when we left the docks on a Friday.” — “Why, what do you think I heard when I came 
home from the East Indies?” says another. “Our owner, thinking he knew as much 
about salt water as any old sea-dog, turned to and had a craft built expressly, and 
called her the Friday: the keel was laid on a Friday, and she sailed out on a 
Friday, and has never since been heard of.” (This really happened in London: a 
merchant tried to do away with the foolish superstition by disproving it, but 
unfortunately the ship foundered at sea.) The time now passed heavily: we had been 
out about eighty-seven days, and were confidently expecting to be in port in a 
week, when this unfortunate accident occurred; we had lost our headsails, without 
which a schooner can do nothing when sailing “on a wind.” At the expiration of a 
week we were under sail once more, and after a run of 108 days we sighted Stewart's 
Island, the southernmost island of New Zealand. New Zealand consists of three 
islands; the most northerly is called Raheinomauwe. This island lies between 34° 
20' and 41° 40' south latitude, and between 172° 30' and 178° 40' east longitude; 
the lower portion of it is between 38° and 39° south latitude, is more than 150 
miles across, and contains about 36,000 square miles; the northern portion is a 
narrow tongue of land, about forty miles in length, scarcely anywhere more than 
eight miles across. A range of hills run down the centre, which are constantly 
covered with snow, and are called by the white man the Southern Alps. This island 
is separated from Tavai-poenammoo by Cook's Straits, which is about 150 miles long, 
bears from the eastern entrance north by west, and is from thirty to fifty miles in 
width: a strong tide runs through, and heavy rains are of frequent occurrence.

There are two small islands in the straits, called Kapiti and Marna. The former, 
which is the largest, is about twenty-five miles in circumference. The south 
island, or Tavai-poenammoo, is not so well known; there are very few natives upon 
it, and what few there were were all slaves till the white man came. A similar 








range of mountains appears to run through this as through Raheinomauwe. That part 
of the island which borders on Cook's Straits contains some good land. The country 
is almost entirely covered with wood. The New Zealand Company here laid out the 
town of Nelson, which is situated at the mouth of a valley. The land is very 
fertile, and is cultivated, on each side of the river Waimea, for many miles up the 
country. They have lately found a seam of good coal, and several lodes of copper-
ore, one of which was discovered in the following manner:—a few miles inland part 
of a lofty hill fell away, from some volcanic cause, disclosing the section of the 
lode. About 100 miles from Nelson is the Wairau district, principally plains—this 
is a fine country for sheep-farming.

Of the west coast not much is known, on account of the scarcity of harbours. It 
stretches from 40° 25' to 46° 37' south latitude, and lies between 165° 50' and 
174° 40' east longitude: it probably contains 48,000 square miles. At the back of 
Massacre Bay rises Mount Arthur; this is about 8000 feet above the level of the 
sea, and is perpetually covered with snow. We sailed up the eastern side, passing 
Port Otago, which has a pretty good harbour, and is now well known as a wool-
growing district. North of Otago, high well-timbered land, and a bold coast, 
stretches to Banks' Peninsula. This is a narrow neck of land, jutting out to sea 
about forty miles, and is well known from being the subject of “Cook's Mistake.” At 
the extreme end it is very mountainous, while between this and the mainland is a 
level plain. Sailing down from the north it looks like the sea, and deceived 
Captain Cook, who attempted to sail through it, and nearly lost his ship—hence it 
is called “Cook's Mistake,” or Pegasus Bay.

There are two ports in the peninsula, viz., Akaroa (which is a French settlement) 
and Port Cooper. The latter is suitable for vessels of any tonnage. On this 
peninsula is situated the celebrated lake Tarvai Poenammoo, or water of the green 
stone, from which the island derives its name. Out of this stone, which is of a 
pale green colour, and semi-transparent, the natives carve (with no other tool than







 
a piece of sharp stone) earrings, weapons of war, and their gods. We put in at Port 
Cooper, and were surprised to find the William Hyde had arrived four hours before 
us. Passing up for the harbour, the scenery was magnificent—lofty hills, sloping 
down to the water, generally covered with timber. We could see, as yet, no signs of 
cultivation, and thought we must have mistaken the bay; but all at once we opened 
out Erskine Bay, in the bight of which a number of little log houses met our view, 
like an oasis in the desert. An American whaler and a mosquitoe fleet were lying at 
anchor off the town. We no sooner brought up than the editor of the “Lyttleton 
Times,” and all the tag-rag and bob-tail of the Canterbury Settlement, came off to 
us; and our little craft was crowded with persons eager for news, smoking their 
short dudees. This is an universal practice in the colonies. Somebody from the 
William Hyde had informed them that we had lost one man overboard; and when we came 
in, only four hours afterwards, it had passed from mouth to mouth, with the usual 
exaggerations, till they had stretched it to three, just three parts of our crew, 
and they expected to find the Marmora come in with the captain and passengers 
lashed to the mainmast, and the crew safely stowed in Mr. Davy Jones' locker; 
consequently they were very much disappointed, for the said captain and passengers 
came into port smoking their cigars, and the crew looking well and healthy.

Transcribed by Corey Woodw@rd



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