Anchor rediscovery reopens wounds from early encounter between Māori, European
An anchor that once belonged to the French ship Saint Jean Baptiste, captained by Jean-Francois Marie de Surville, has been
located in the waters of Doubtless Bay
in the Far North.
In a storm in 1769 they lost an anchor and had to cut two more loose. Two of them have already been found - and the 3rd was discovered by Kelly Tarlton in 1982 - however the co-ordinates were misplaced until now.
Photo:
Hamish Williams
Chair of Ngāti Kahu and Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland Margaret Mutu said the crew of the Saint Jean Baptiste arrived in Doubtless Bay "in great disarray", several had scurvy and were nursed back to health by members of Ngāti Kahu.
"That time of the year in December, January we know up at Karikari that that's a time when you're subjected to the tail ends of cyclones that come down from the Pacific, it happens every year. So storms were quite common and during a storm apparently one of their boats... got washed ashore. You know things get washed ashore up there at home, they're ours and we'll take them."
Mutu said de Surville and his crew then "turned on" Ngāti Kahu, ransacked their kāinga (settlement) and then kidnapped a local rangatira named Ranginui. He latter died of thirst and scurvy aboard the Saint Jean Baptiste.
The kidnapping was a portent of what was to come not unlike when Captain James Cook made first landfall at Tūranga, a visit that ended when the British killed or wounded nine Māori, she said.
Ngāti Kahu chair Margaret Mutu
Photo:
RNZ / Leigh-Marama McLachlan
Many years later Ngāti Kahu were approached at Haiti-tai-marangai Marae, not far from where the ship lost anchor, asking them to support a plaque commemorating de Surville, she said.
"We talked about it at Haiti-tai-marangai... our mātua told us what had happened and we told those people to go away, we don't want to know about your de Surville."
But she said the recovery of the anchor may be a chance to discuss this part of New Zealand's history. Mutu said one of the first things she did when she heard about this find was to ring home and make sure people there had heard it too.
"Well people didn't know about it, so that's the first thing, we need to know about it, we need to sit down and talk about it and we will decide what happens to that anchor.
"I just get a little bit annoyed about that people came into our territory, we welcomed them, we nursed them back to health, we saved them, they did the dirty on us and now they're coming back and telling us 'we're going to this, we're going to that, we're going to do the other.'"
Heritage New Zealand have recommended the site of the anchor remain undisturbed until tangata whenua have been consulted, and the area can be assessed by a professional archaeologist.
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