CHAPTER II.
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CHAPTER II.
AT 5 A. M. on the 17th of October, we all marched in four companies from the Curacoa for Onehunga, which is seven miles from Auckland, and at the head of Manukau Harbour; however, as we had to go round the town, we had to march quite nine miles with our baggage on our backs. The band came with us through the town, and then went back on board. At Onehunga, the 1st and 2nd companies, under Commander Phillimore, left us, in the colonial government steamer, Lady Barkly, for Drury, thence to proceed by land to the camp at the front, as the outlying posts and redoubts are called. We (the 3rd and 4th companies) went on board the colonial cupola iron gunboat Pioneer, which was that day
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handed over by the colonial authorities to us, and is for the time a British man-of-war.
We found the Harrier and Eclipse lying off Onehunga. On Sunday morning the 18th, we left Onehunga, and steamed down to Manukau Harbour with the Eclipse, when at 10.45 the steam began to escape from the boilers, and we had to anchor. We found that the stays of the tubes had been carried away. The Eclipse towed us on to Puponga Head, at 1 P. M., where we anchored off Cornwallis, to wait there until the bar would be fit to cross.
We borrowed the seine from the Eclipse (a net which is supplied by Government to all men-of-war), and we had two or three days' fishing; we caught a great many fish, chiefly sea-bream, which are here called 'snappers,' and kawaii, which are something like mackerel, but with a very long fin, and with short prickly spines on their backs. We also caught some sting rays and young sharks, and some fish they call 'cavalli,' which is rather like a bonita, and plenty of little garfish or sea-pike, which are delicious eating. In the woods there were plenty of pheasants, which have been brought from England and turned out here--they are all over the country. They are out of season now, and there is a fine of five pounds no
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any one shooting them. There have been plenty of rabbits turned out, and they have increased wonderfully. I had several rambles among the trees, but the bush is too thick to get through in some places. On the rocks there are plenty of very good oysters and cockles, and all kinds of shell-fish. We were fed very well on the whole. We all mess together here, the Commodore and all. We used to go in fishing parties of an evening to fish at a buoy near the ships. We had of course to keep watch just as on board our own ship.
On Saturday morning at daylight (24th) we got under weigh, and crossed this terrible bar. Luckily it was a fine day; not a vestige of the Orpheus was to be seen; all has been washed to pieces, or buried in the sand. We steamed along the land to the mouth of the river Waikato, which is twenty-seven miles off, with the Eclipse, and four large, and six small flat-bottomed boats for navigating the river, which is not more than one foot deep in places, and from two or three feet to nine or ten in others, though it is the largest river in New Zealand. The Pioneer draws about three feet, and we expect to ground in the mud, a great many times on our way up. This vessel was called the Waikato, when she
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was in the hands of the Colonial Government, but now her name is changed to the Pioneer. We anchored inside the bar of the Waikato river, off the native village of Maraitai, where there is a mission station; and, as all the people here are Christians, they are friendly to us. One of their chiefs was on board yesterday. They are not black, but are a very dark copper colour, with flat noses, but not thick lips, straight black hair, and they nearly all wear English dresses now; some had old cocked hats, others straw hats, south-westers, and all kinds of old clothes. They wear from their ears a kind of green-stone, which they will not part with at any price, as I believe there are no more to be found in the country, and these are handed down from father to son. The Commodore has got his goat on board here, and the last of his English sheep remaining out of about twenty brought to sea with him from Spithead. He has two other sheep on board also. The Manukau bar seems a dreadful place, even on a fine day; but the worst of it is, every fresh wind or sea changes all the banks and channels, and when it blows at all, the whole entrance is a mass of foam and breakers; no distinction between the channel and the banks. The bar at the mouth of the river, also, is not to be
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despised, only that it is on rather a smaller scale. The flat-bottomed boats are plated over with iron, and have top-plates slanting in.
We have now very hard work --alternately one night on guard (with only an hour's sleep), and the next night in bed; and during the day every alternate four hours we are on guard.
October 28th. --We have at last arrived at the seat of war. We left the mouth of the Waikato yesterday at 7 A. M., and at 9 o'clock we took in Archdeacon and Mrs. Maunsell for protection at Kohunga. We steamed on, and stopped half-an-hour at Tuakau, where there is a redoubt; we left it at 12.30, and arrived at the Bluff Havelock at 3.45 P. M., during which time the Maories were firing incessantly from the banks, but as all hands were kept out of sight, their bullets only rattled against our iron plates. We came up to Whangamerino Creek to-day, to land artillery stores, and to-night we shall return and anchor off the mouth of Mangarawhiri Creek.
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The disturbances at the Thames and Piako River are of no consequence. By looking at the map you will see Mere Mere, which is the great stronghold of the natives. It was on a slight rise from the water, and behind it was a swamp, for a Maori position is never without its means of escape; this hill-side was one rabbit warren of rifle-pits. They also had two small guns there, with which they used to fire links of chain, iron weights, and even the iron shell of our rockets, which we had fired at them. We got the two 40-pounder Armstrong guns, which we had brought over from Sydney in the Curacoa, up to Whangamerino heights, and from there we fired on the native stockade. The next day we went up to Mere Mere and anchored there. The natives opened fire on us with their smooth bores and flintlocks, and the two guns I mentioned before. We returned it with rifles and shells from the two 12-pounder Armstrong guns we had on board, brought from the Curacoa. The bullets made no more impression on our iron sides than if I had struck them with my fist. We went up there several times, but their shots mostly went over us, as, except when pressed, a Maori never puts his gun up, to his shoulder, as he is afraid of its kicking, but fires
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while the gun is in his hands at the 'ready.' They make their own powder, and I have found grains as large as [see image] in several cartridges; their cartridges are very rough, tied up in a piece of newspaper with a piece of thread, and both ends twisted
up; they are tremendously large charges, and very loosely tied. The mosquitoes and sand-flies are awfully troublesome here; there is no peace for any one. On October 31st the General sent up about 700 men of the 40th and 65th Regiments and Royal Artillery in the Pioneer and the Avon, a little steamer that has been up here about three months. She was formerly a steam tug, and now she has iron plates put up. We started at 1 A. M. from the Bluff, with the four gunboats in tow, passed Mere Mere about 2 A. M., when they fired at us from there. We landed the men at a place opposite and above Takapau, to cut off the retreat of the Maories from Mere Mere, and to blockade the river. The four iron-plated open gunboats, which I have already mentioned, are each in charge of a midshipman. I have charge of one of them with seven men under me, one 12-pounder Armstrong
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gun, and a 4 2/5-inch brass cohorn mortar. We have now left the Pioneer, and live in four tents at the Bluff, and we mess with Lieut. Burton, of the 40th, who is in command of a detachment of sixty men, at the Bluff stockade. It is the best command here, as he has a wooden house to live in, instead of a canvas one. The day after we had landed these troops opposite Takapau, was Sunday, and at 3 A. M. the Maories came
sneaking up, and made an attack on them. However they worked hard at their earthwork the afternoon before, and were quite prepared for them, so they soon beat them off. The same day, at 2 P. M., the men at Whangamerino heights thought they could see some natives leaving Mere Mere. In two hours time the steamers were on their way up, with the General and his staff and the Commodore on board,
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and 200 men of the 12th and 14th, and the land detachment of blue-jackets. Directly the ship came near, all the blue-jackets jumped out, and charged up the hill with the boatswain and one or two other officers. The soldiers were the only people left on board. The men first got up to the rifle-pits, and then to the stockade, but not a soul was inside; all had run. So our men quietly pitched their tents at the top, and hoisted the English flag.
Two days after this we went up reconnoitring. I was in one of the gun-boats in tow of the steamer. We went up to Paetai, where we were fired at, as well as at Rangariri. On our way down we burnt the village of Tapaehina, with the exception of the church, which is merely a larger hut than the rest. The Pioneers rudder got out of order, so she had to lay up while it was repaired.
On the 20th of November the next step was taken. We started (the two steamers and the four gun-boats) at 9. 30 A. M., and proceeded up the river. A thousand men of the 12th, 14th, 40th, and 65th Regiments, and some of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, the two 12-pounder Armstrong field-pieces, the Curacoa's 6-pounder Armstrong and its crew marched by land, and we were to attack
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from, the river. We found the natives had made a new redoubt at Tapaehina; but though they showed their heads occasionally, they did not fire on us. Then there was another redoubt a little further on, but they did not fire from it either. A little beyond we got aground, but not for long; and as we approached Rangariri we saw the troops coming over the hills from Mere Mere. We both got there about
the same time, and having anchored the gun-boats in line, we commenced shelling the place from the river, and the artillery did the same from the land. About 4.30 P. M. the soldiers on shore charged the redoubt across the fern hills, and every one thought on board all was over! But not so; we saw many of the natives running away through the fern to the swamp, and we (the blue-jackets) were sent
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after them. We shot nearly all of those that were running away, and after getting up to our
middles in water, returned and proceeded up the hill to attack the rifle-pits on the left, and came on thus
from the redoubt. Some fled, many were killed, and the greater part went into the redoubt. The General
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then sent a message to the Commodore, saying that the natives were caged up, and firing from behind their fern on our men, and that the soldiers could not go in; so he sent for the blue-jackets without rifles, and armed only with cutlasses and revolvers. We went straight up to the redoubt and charged them. It was up a hill of short fern, with sharp stakes purposely laid there. The ditch was about 14 feet deep, and the wall was about 18 or 19 feet high, from the bottom of the ditch. We had to rush up
this hill, open to their fire, for we could not see them, as they only showed their heads for a second, and then bobbed down, and let fly at us without taking much aim. Lieutenant Hotham was the first officer who was wounded; a ball went through the flesh of the calf of his leg. It is not a dangerous wound, and I think and hope he will soon get over it. Our first lieutenant, Mr. Alexander, was shot in three places soon after, one in his shoulder, and two in his right arm. Soon after that, one of our midshipmen, Watkins, was shot through the
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head, and of course he, poor fellow, was killed immediately, and felt no pain. I never saw such a clean hole through anything before, --right in the centre of his forehead. He had nearly got on the parapet when he was shot down. Captain Mayne, of the Eclipse, and Lieutenant Downes, of the Miranda, were soon after shot, the former in the leg and the latter in the shoulder, and, though severely wounded, will get over it in time, I hear. One of the blue-jackets was shot in seven places--four in one arm, one in his right leg, one in his left, and another in his shoulder---but I think he will recover. Thanks be to God I escaped unhurt; I felt so thankful that I was safe and sound, while so many of my brother officers and men were wounded, especially amongst the sailors, who suffered severely, considering the small number that went up. I made a rush through the fire, and jumped into the ditch. We made several attempts to get over the earthwork, but failed. We also threw hand-grenades in amongst them, which must have done a good deal of damage.
By this time it was growing dark, and all night all the blue-jackets and soldiers were lying in the ditch, with the Maoris yelling awfully and
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firing at us. The Sappers then set to work to dig under them, as we intended to blow them up; when, just before daylight, when the mine was nearly ready for springing, they showed the white flag, and soon after they all surrendered. I have some trophies in the shape of a tomahawk and pistol, which I managed to conceal, and a cartridge-pouch full of cartridges.
I also went inside their pah, and got some paddles and Maori books, one a Testament printed in Maori, and an almanack. They had all come out of their redoubt, and said they wanted peace. The General then told them to give up their arms, which, after some palavering, they did, and we got 182 stand of arms. More than half of them were the old army musket flint-lock. They all had 'Tower' marked on them, and had evidently been sold by our Government, when the percussion-locks came into use in our army. There were a good many second-hand single-barrelled fowling-pieces, with London and colonial makers' names on them; and about ten of the chiefs had second-hand double-barrelled guns, mostly from colonial makers. After this we got about twenty arms from them, and one of them had an Enfield rifle and thirty rounds for it, which was found to
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have belonged to a soldier murdered by them,--one of the murders which occasioned the war: they only got it by catching him alone.
This is the first instance of the Maories being cut off from their retreat. There were said to be about 500 natives there at first, but a large number escaped during the night, and at the first attack: 200 were said by the prisoners to have been killed-- though only about fifty bodies were found--and 188 taken prisoners; and they are now finding some dead in the swamp; only four are found wounded. I suppose all the others died for the want of medical aid.
Of our force of 1000 soldiers, and about fifty blue-jackets, there was one midshipman and one military officer killed, and two of the latter have died of their wounds, --Captain Mercer, R. A., whose jaw was broken and his tongue shot away, and Captain Phelps. About twenty military officers and five naval officers were wounded; five bluejackets and forty-two soldiers killed; and about twenty blue-jackets and eighty soldiers wounded. We brought all the wounded we could carry down in the steamer, and arrived at the Bluff Stockade at 10 P. M., November 21; we had run aground two or three times.
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We brought fifty of the worst prisoners and greatest chiefs down with us, and at Tapaihina they fired at us, when all the prisoners began to yell. The chief, Horo Takerei, spoke to them, and hoisted a white flag, when they left off firing. It seems they were expecting reinforcements that morning of 400 men under William Thompson, the Maori lawgiver, but they arrived too late, and had to run for it. They wished for peace, but wanted to keep their arms, which the General of course would not agree to.
All the prisoners have now been brought down and sent on board the Curacoa, making a prison-ship of her at last. The steamer has been trying to get up to Ngaruawahia, the king's village, but got aground, as the natives have put stakes in the river, and she had to return.
LINES ON THE TAKING OF RANGARIRI,
WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER.
Air--'Partant pour Ia Syrie.'
WHAT will they say in England,
When the story it is told,
Of Rangariri's bloody fight,
And deeds of brave and bold?
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'Twas there the rebels made a stand,
Resolved their lives to sell,
Charge after charge our heroes made,
And numbers of them fell.
First dashed the gallant Sixty-fifth,
In vain they fought, though well;
Then, leading the artillery,
The gallant Mercer fell.
And then the rebels had a chance
To fire upon poor Jack,
And, though they fought like lions loosed,
They too were driven hack.
On Friday was the fight begun,
Late in the afternoon,
Soon Rangariri's silent hills
Flung back the cannon's boom;
Right bravely fought our gallant troops,
Each did their duty well,
Before the morrow's sun could rise
Te
1 Rangariri fell.
Two hundred men for quarter cried,
And soon laid down their arms;
For fighting in the open fields
For Maories has no charms.
We lost some noble officers,
Likewise some comrades dear,
And thousands followed to their graves,
And dropped a pitying tear.
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All honour to the braves, say I,
To those who fought and bled;
Let's join in praise of those who live,
And sorrow for the dead.
Yet, while we join with one accord
To raise the song of joy,
Let's not forget the soldier's wife,
Nor the soldier's orphan boy.
