Fleets of Canoes

A fleet of canoes is known as a kaupapa; hence the expression kaupapa tahuri (capsized fleet) as denoting a serious disaster.

The numbers of canoes seen by Cook were considerable, though he landed at few places. Thus, on his first voyage, apart from the smaller numbers, he speaks of seeing seven near Poverty Bay on the 11th October, 1769; five off Portland Island on the 12th; nine on the 13th; a fleet of forty-five on the 1st November, in the Bay of Plenty; "many canoes" opposite the Rurima Rocks, on the 2nd November; "some hundreds of large canoes" on the 3rd November; twelve at Mercury Bay on the 4th November; a "great number" on the 5th November; and so on.

In speaking of that part of the Bay of Plenty adjacent to Mayor Island, Cook remarks that it "appeared to be well inhabited; many towns were in sight, and some hundreds of large canoes lay under them upon the beach."

Nicholas, who visited the Bay of Islands district in 1814–15, writes: "We described at an early hour a fleet of canoes, crowded with men, making towards the ship…. The approach of the canoes to ship was marked with a wild grandeur of the noblest description, and it was impossible to behold the scene without being impressed with the force of its distinctive sublimity. The different chiefs were all standing up with their war-mats thrown gracefully over their shoulders, their hair neatly tied in a bunch upon the crown of the page 189head, and ornamented according to the general fashion of their country with the white feathers of the gannet. Their attitudes and gestures, violently impetuous, as if intent on making an immediate attack upon the vessel, might strike the most resolute beholder with terror; and their fierce countenances, furrowed over with hideous punctures all deeply painted with a blue pigment, or quite black, gave a horrible identity to the savage display. .. The warriors who paddled the canoes had taken off their war-mats, that they might have the more freedom at their labour, and, exerting their brawny arms without intermission, with their spears and other instruments of war placed beside them, they soon worked up alongside."

In his account of native wars Mr. S. Percy Smith writes: "In the beginning of 1817, Mr. Kendall notes that a naval expedition, under the command of Hongi, sailed from the Bay of Islands. It consisted of thirty canoes and about eight hundred men."

It took fifty canoes to convey Te Morenga's expedition to Tauranga in 1820. In 1821 Hongi left the Bay of Islands on one of his savage forays with between two and three thousand fighting-men in over fifty canoes.

Mr. J. A. Wilson, in hisStory of Te Waharoa, tells us that when the missionary schooner "Herald" visited the Bay of Plenty in 1828 the natives of Tauranga were very numerous, and that one thousand canoes, great and small, were counted on the beach between Otu-moetai and Te Papa.

At a mission station at Hokianga we are told that as many as sixty canoes full of people used to visit the place every week, each canoe containing from twelve to twenty persons.

Wakefield mentions a fleet of thirty-three canoes coming down from Whanga-nui to Kapiti in 1840, bearing three hundred natives and two hundred hogs. These canoes were brought to land each night (as was usual). He also speaks of a fleet of twenty or thirty crowded canoes that came down the river to Whanga-nui. "Closely touching each other, they glided in silence round the point; and, as they came full in sight, discharged their firearms in a grand volley."

Wakefield describes ascending the Whanga-nui River in company with a fleet of canoes in 1841: "There were about twenty canoes, varying in size from the stately war-canoe in gala dress of clean feathers and oiled carving, with its crew of forty warriors, to the low shell in which five little naked urchins pushed along, screaming and yelling with delight … and laughing at the upsets, which attended them at nearly every rapid." At another place he speaks of a fleet of fifty canoes on the river.

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In the Wellington Independent of the 22nd August, 1846, appeared the following local item: "Six large canoes, manned with about sixty natives, entered the harbour yesterday, laden with pigs and potatoes. Twelve more canoes are to follow, the Ngatiawas having crossed the straits for the purpose of joining their tribe, if required, against the rebels under Rangihaeata."