xii SUBAJSTTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. [Ilislorical. 



Bass, of Bass Strait fame, came out as surgeon on the " Reliance," and is sup- 

 pose! to have been on board of her when the islands were discovered. If he was, 

 he returned shortly afterwards, and engaged in trade with the Pacific islands. While 

 thus occupied he developed a scheme for a fishing monopoly over the southern por- 

 tion of New Zealand, and the Snares, Bounties, and Penantipodes. In January, 

 1803, he submitted his scheme to Governor King, and the correspondence would 

 indicate he had secured the sympathy of the Governor in his proposals. Nothing 

 however, came of it, as Bass sailed for Chili and was never heard of more. 



It was probably Bass's scheme which brought the possibilities of the islands 

 into prominence, because in May, 1803, a small sailing-craft from Bass Strait — 

 the " Endeavour " — under the command of Captain Oliphant, tried the new field. 

 Oliphant secured 2,200 skins, and during a gale was driven as far south as the 

 Snares, though at the islands he did not secure any seals. 



The first sealing gang on the islands was placed on the Penantipodes by Captain 

 Pendleton, of a New York craft called the " Union," a small vessel of only 99 tons. 

 So far as can be judged, the date of this was about May, 1804, and the gang con- 

 sisted of an officer and eleven men. While the party was engaged collecting skins 

 the " Union " returned to Sydney, and sailed thence to Fiji to load a cargo of sandal- 

 wood for China. At Tongatabu, on the 1st October, Pendleton was killed. On 

 a second attempt the vessel itself was lost. The gang on the Penantipodes was, 

 after a long and dreary exile, relieved by an American whaler called the " Favorite," 

 under the command of Captain Paddock. In the relief voyage the " Favorite " 

 was accompanied to the islands by a small 40-ton tender of the " Union " (the 

 " Independence "), but she, after the two vessels parted at the Penantipodes, was 

 never heard of more. The " Favorite," with the remnant of the men and with 

 60,000 skins, reached Sydney on the lOth March, 1806. 



The interest created in Sydney by the departure of the " Favorite " and the 

 " Independence " for the relief of the gang on the Penantipodes directed the atten- 

 tion of other sealers to these lonely islands. Amongst these was William Stewart, 

 afterwards to give his name to the southern island of New Zealand. He sailed in 

 the " Venus," and, after he had established the second gang, returned in a vessel 

 called the " Star." It is interesting to note that in the next voyage of this vessel 

 to the Penantipodes she took down a young chief of Whangaroa named George, 

 afterwards to be the central figure of the massacre of the " Boyd " in \Miangaroa 

 Harbour in 1809. 



The other islands appear to have been neglected while the Penantipodes was 

 supplying such a harvest to the bold, enterprising sailors of Sydney Cove. An 

 American captain named Delano, with two vessels under his command, had sighted 

 the Snares and the Bounties in November, 1804, but had not attempted a landing. 

 There is no doubt that vessels called at the islands, but the difficulty of tracing the 

 movements of the small craft when nothing sensational happened prevents the 

 giving of details. The designation of the islands as " the sealing islands," which 

 would include the islands along the New Zealand coast, adds to the difficulties. 



No English whaling firm of this date was better known than the Messrs. 

 Enderby, of London. (_)ne of their vessels was the "Ocean," commanded by Captain 

 Bristow, and while on a whaling voyage to the south of New Zealand several islands 

 were sighted on the 18th August, 1806. To them was given the name Lord 



