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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900

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"The manner in which she came up the harbour was the admiration of all nautical critics. She worked like a top, shot like a dart whilst in stays, and never lost an inch of ground." Thus the newspaper account of the arrival of the clipper ship Norwood at Auckland on March 4, 1861. We must admit that those old-time skippers were great sailors. Evidently the wind was westerly, and to work a full-rigged ship up the comparatively narrow harbour called for real seamanship. And Captain Bristow, of the Norwood, seems to have been a past master of his calling. "A smarter ship more smartly handled we have rarely seen," is the newspaper's comment on the performance. On this occasion the Norwood, which was under charter to the Shaw, Savill Co., left Deal on November 25, 1860, and made the passage in 99 days. The year 1861 was a memorable one in Auckland, as it saw the arrival of large numbers of troops for the purpose of quelling the Maoris.

On this trip the Norwood brought Captain Mercer's company of artillery, with its battery of seven Armstrong guns, the total number of people on board being 291, including officers, gunners, women and children. Captain Mercer, after whom the township of Mercer, on the Waikato, was named, was mortally wounded on November 20, 1863, at the capture of Rangiriri, one of the strongest of the fortifications thrown up by the Maoris, and many of his men fell there also. As the strength of the work was well known, it seems surprising that General Cameron should have ordered 36 artillerymen, and after their repulse 90 seamen, to assault so formidable a palisading, surrounded by rifle-pits. The artillerymen belonged to Captain Mercer's battery, and they were led by that gallant officer. All they were armed with was their revolvers.

The fortification was eventually taken, but the losses on the British side were heavy, the killed and wounded numbering 130. One of the guns belonging to Mercer's battery is now in the Albert Park, Auckland, among the other old guns and warlike relics.