On this day in history...

By -

               

On this day in 1839 (177yrs ago) the captain of the 832ton sailing barque TORY, ordered his crew to drop anchor in Ship's Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound. They had just completed a ninety six day passage from England with cargo and eight passengers on board.
 
TORY was the first ship dispatched by the New Zealand Company on a mission to locate and take possession of land purchased by the company in England before her departure. 
Her name is forever etched into our history as the channel where the Cook Strait ferry enters the Marlborough Sounds.

For the next thirty six days, they took on fresh water, food and wood, then sailing into Port Nicholson(Wellington).  Chaffers Passage in Wellington is named after her captain, Captain Edmund Mein Chaffers, a former sailing master in the Royal Navy.

TORY then sailed up the west coast to Hokianga where they loaded spars.    On the 19 December 1839, she grounded on a sandbank at the entrance to the Kaipara Harbour, giving her name to Tory Shoal.    TORY was surveyed and repaired, sailing back to Port Nicholson four months after her initial stranding.

One hundred and seventy seven years is a long time ago and modern seafarer’s will be forgiven for using the locations without thought of how they were named…  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A box of seedlings...

By -
Image
In 1834 botanist John Edgerley  gathered a handful of seeds from a Norfolk Island pine tree and boarded a sailing ship bound for the Hokianga Harbour.    Those seeds became the first 'shipment' of Norfolk Pines to New Zealand. Two years later, John and Captain McDonnell  journeyed to the Bay of Islands - with a box of young Norfolk pines. Captain McDonnell took the box of seedlings to  Gilbert & Elizabeth Mair who   owned the flourishing trading post and ship repair yard at Te Wahapu Point. Elizabeth was a busy mother with five young children (one a new baby) and she planted one of the sapling trees beside her home.  Her sister-in-law Matilda  took one home to Kaitaia and planted it beside her home.  James Busby planted two by the Treaty House at Waitangi and many Northland Mission Stations - including Te Waimate, received a tree or two. The remaining saplings were destroyed by Gilbert & Elizabeth's young daughter...
Read more

Four ways to tell if YOU are 'out of date'

By -
Image
The maritime industry is full of changes, there have been so many over such a short time. If we are out of date, we are living in the past, and we must move with the times. Here's how to tell if you are 'out of date': 1.  You refer to MNZ (Maritime New Zealand) as MSA (Maritime Safety Authority). Ten years ago MSA changed to MNZ. 2.  You try to sell a commercial vessel saying it is in SSM (Safe Ship Management). If it actually still has a current SSM Certificate, it is so close to expiring that its hardly worth mentioning. All maritime transport operators are deemed to be in MOSS (Maritime Operator Safety System) anyway. 3. You refer to a vessel as being in MOSS (Maritime Operator Safety System) A vessel isn't in MOSS, the operator is. Vessels are 'in survey' like a vehicle has a Warrant of Fitness (WOF) 4. If you sell a vessel, and don't tell MNZ. If a vehicle is sold, a Change of Ownership form is filled out. If a vessel is sold, MNZ nee...
Read more

Vessel Manuals make great training aids...

By -
Image
One of the ferry skippers I worked with sketched me four pages of 'how the ship operated'.  I treasured those scraps of paper as it was my training manual whilst I was on board.   That master was the only one to write the vessel information down - and he was passionate about it. (Thanks Aaron) Having a good Vessel Manual gets information out of people's heads and into one place.  It is referred to in the Maritime Transport Operator Plan and can also be used as a training manual. Crew training and sign offs are formulated from a Vessel Manual and training manuals can also be created using the manual. Crew should be trained to find their way in the dark and not only locate, but also operate emergency equipment fast and in adverse conditions. Once a crew person knows the ship inside and out, they are ready to take a responsible position on board.  Until then, they can often be a liability rather than an asset.
Read more