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

From North Of Ireland

From North Of Ireland.

The first of the Katikati settlers came out in a ship called the Carisbrooke Castle, 1415 tons, Captain Freebody, which arrived in Auckland on September 8, 1875, after a passage of 92 days. She was from Liverpool and Belfast, and brought 363 people, including 122 "healthy-looking, clear-complexioned Irish lasses," who seem to have taken the eye of the reporter of thepage 41"Auckland Star" that recorded the ship's arrival. There were a large number of North of Ireland people (mostly Orangemen) in the party. A public welcome was given to the new-comers in the Choral Hall, and they were afterwards taken down by the Northern Company's steamer Rowena to Tauranga en route for Katikati, which is at the northern end of the Tauranga Harbour.

In addition to Katikati there was also to be a settlement at Te Puke, which to-day is a flourishing centre of the fertile Bay of Plenty, but forty-one years ago the original settlers had to wait in Tauranga for about three weeks because the road to their new home, then being put in from Maketu, had not been completed.

the Lady Jocelyn, with the second party of settlers, arrived at Auckland on August 17, 1878, after a good voyage from Belfast of 88 days. She sailed from Belfast on May 20, and reached Auckland on August 17, bringing out 451 people under the command of Captain Jenkins. According to the newspaper account the voyage was a very happy one. There was one exception, however. Two cases of mild smallpox occurred, and great praise was given to Dr. Ginders, who isolated himself with the patients and nursed them back to health. Dr. Ginders subsequently settled at Rotorua and Auckland.

The James Wishart arrived in Auckland in 1879, having on board a number of passengers for the Vesey Stewart settlement.