Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Tales of Banks Peninsula

Captain Stanley's Report

Captain Stanley's Report.

Another important chain in the link of evidence regarding the ceremony of taking possession at Akaroa has been discovered in the report sent by Captain Stanley to Governor Hobson. This report settles the matter finally, as it shows how careful Stanley was to hoist the flag and then hold the court to make the annexation of the Southern Island an unquestionable fact. He took care also to proclaim the sovereignty at every inhabited port, and his dealings with Captain Lavaud show how closely he watched the French, and how clearly he gave them to understand that they were on British land. The following is the report, which like most official communications, is brief and lacking in all details:—

"Sir,—I have the honour to inform your Excellency that I proceeded in her Majesty's sloop under my command to the port of Akaroa, in Banks Peninsula, where I arrived on August 10th, after a very stormy passage, during which the stern boat was washed away and one of the page 342quarter boats stove. The French frigate L'Aube had not arrived when I anchored, nor had any French emigrants been landed. August 11th I landed, accompanied by Messrs Murphy and Robinson, police magistrates, and visited the only two parts of the bay where there were houses; at both places the flag was hoisted, and a court, of which notice had been given the day before, held by the Magistrates Having received information that there were three whaling stations on the southern side of the Peninsula, the exposed positions of which afforded no anchorage for the Britomart, I sent Messrs Murphy and Robinson to visit them in a whaleboat. At each station the flag was hoisted and a court held. On August 15th the French frigate L'Aube arrived, having been four days off the point. On August 16th, the French whaler Comte de Paris, having on board 57 emigrants, arrived. With the exception of M. Belligni, from the Jardin des Plantes, who is sent to look after the emigrants, and who is a good botanist and mineralogist, the emigrants are all of the lower order, and include carpenters, gardeners, stone-masons, labourers, a baker, a miner, in all twenty men, eleven women and the rest children. Captain Lavaud, on arrival of the French emigrants, assured me on his word of honour that he would observe neutrality between English residents and the emigrants, and should any difference arise he would settle matters impartially. Captain Lavaud also informed me that, as the Comte de Paris has to proceed to sea whaling, he would cause the emigrants to be landed on some unoccupied part of the bay, where he pledged himself that they would do nothing which would be considered hostile to the Government, and that until fresh instructions were received from our respective Governments the emigrants would merely build themselves bouses or shelter and clear away what little land they might require for gardens. Upon visiting the Comte de Paris I found she had on board, besides agricultural tools for the settlers, six long 24 pounders mounted on field-carriages. I immediately called on Captain Lavaud to protest against the guns being landed. Captain Lavaud page 343assured me that he had been much surprised at finding guns had been sent out in the Comte de Paris, but that he had already given the most positive orders that they must not be landed. On the 19th August, the French emigrant, having landed in a sheltered, well chosen part of the bay where they could not interfere with anyone, I handed over to Messrs Murphy and Robinson the instructions entrusted to me by Your Excellency to meet such a contingency. Mr. Robinson, finding that he could engage three or four Englishmen as constables, and having been enabled through the kindness of Captain Lavaud to purchase a boat from the French whaler, decided upon remaining. Captain Lavaud expressed much satisfaction when I informed him Mr. Robinson was to remain, and immediately offered him the use of his cabin and table so long as the L'Aube remained in Akaroa Mr Robinson accepted Captain Lavaud's offer until he could establish himself on shore, On the 29th August I sailed from Akaroa for Pigeon Bay, where, finding no inhabitants, I merely remained long enough to survey the harbour, which, though narrow and exposed to the westward, is well sheltered from every other wind, and is much frequented by whalers, who procure a great number of pigeons. From Pigeon Bay I went to Port Cooper (Lyttelton), where Mr. Murphy held a court. Several chiefs were present and seemed to understand and appreciate Mr. Murphy's proceedings in one or two cases that came before him. Between Port Cooper and Cloudy Bay I could hear of no anchorage whatever from the whalers who frequent the coast. I arrived at Port Nicholson (Wellington) on 2nd September, embarked Messrs Shortland and Smart, and sailed for the Bay of Islands on the 16th September. I have the honour to enclose herewith such information as 1 was enabled to procure during my stay at Banks Peninsula, and also plans of the harbours.—I have the honour to be,

William Stanley, R.N."