couldn’t justifiably intervene without risking the safety of his own men. However, he decided he should help the survivors of the Boyd and ushered them on board his canoe. The situation immediately became tense and uncertain as they were watched by the remaining bloodthirsty natives who were still in close proximity. TePahi ordered his men to pull swiftly for the shore, but they were immediately pursued by two other canoes containing the previous night’s attackers. It seemed they were intent on finishing the job, and wished to slaughter the remaining crew members. As they hit shore the men fled for their lives along the beach. Unable to come to their assistance, TePahi watched helplessly as one by one they were all caught and taken away by the natives. All, that is except Ann Morley and her baby.
Ann Morley had been found hiding in one of the cabins with her baby by TeAara, who apparently decided to spare her life, and she was taken ashore. One other person who was not killed was Thomas Davis, the ship’s cabin boy, who had a deformed foot and had managed to hide in the hold during the whole attack. The second mate managed to buy his life for two weeks by making fish hooks from barrel hoops, but when they had enough hooks the natives decided he had no further use and he was killed and eaten.
Anne Glossop’s two-year-old daughter, Betsy, was taken by the local chief, who put a feather in the petrified girl’s hair, and was held for three weeks until she was finally rescued.
TeAara and his men returned to the Boyd and towed it up the harbour towards their own village, until it became grounded in the shallow mudflats and keeled over on one side. Over the next few days the ship was pillaged of her cargo, but the natives saw no use for articles such as flour, salt pork, or even bottles of wine, and they merely threw them overboard. What TeAara and his men wanted were the muskets and gunpowder.
The looting was carried out by TeAara, his father Piopio and around 20 other members of their tribe. They found what they were looking for down in the hold, and brought several barrels of gunpowder up onto the deck. They broke the barrels open while Chief Piopio, who had found several muskets, was trying out one of the flints to see if he could get it to fire. What followed was an explosion that completely levelled the decks of the Boyd and killed nearly all the Maori warriors, including Piopio. Those who weren’t killed by the blast were soon wounded by the falling debris, as the spars and masts caught in the explosion, crashed down onto the deck.
With no-one able to attend to it, the fire that resulted from the blast, spread rapidly through the ship catching light to the cargo of whale oil that it had been carrying. In a very short time the Boyd was reduced to a burnt out hull just above the waterline right down to her copper sheathing. A Maori customary ‘tapu’ was declared on the ship. The tapu is the strongest force in Maori life, and means that a person, an object or a place, which is tapu, may not be touched by human contact, and in extreme circumstances, even approached.
Back at the village the feasting and sharing out of the spoils lasted for many days. The news of the massacre had reached the Bay of Islands on the return of Chief TePahi. A ship, the City of Edinburgh, was loading cargo for her Australian owners at the Bay, and the Captain, Alexander Berry, soon heard about the devastating act. He immediately gathered together his men and arms and went in haste to Whangaroa, and arrived three weeks later.
Armed with muskets three longboats headed up the harbour towards the Maori pah. They passed the burnt-out hull of the Boyd on the way and as they approached the landing, Berry handed over his command of the rescue party to a trusted Maori chief by the name of Metenangha.
Metenangha was the first one to go ashore and vanished into the bush near the pah and later returned with two of the principal Whangaroa chiefs
Ann Morley had been found hiding in one of the cabins with her baby by TeAara, who apparently decided to spare her life, and she was taken ashore. One other person who was not killed was Thomas Davis, the ship’s cabin boy, who had a deformed foot and had managed to hide in the hold during the whole attack. The second mate managed to buy his life for two weeks by making fish hooks from barrel hoops, but when they had enough hooks the natives decided he had no further use and he was killed and eaten.
Anne Glossop’s two-year-old daughter, Betsy, was taken by the local chief, who put a feather in the petrified girl’s hair, and was held for three weeks until she was finally rescued.
TeAara and his men returned to the Boyd and towed it up the harbour towards their own village, until it became grounded in the shallow mudflats and keeled over on one side. Over the next few days the ship was pillaged of her cargo, but the natives saw no use for articles such as flour, salt pork, or even bottles of wine, and they merely threw them overboard. What TeAara and his men wanted were the muskets and gunpowder.
The looting was carried out by TeAara, his father Piopio and around 20 other members of their tribe. They found what they were looking for down in the hold, and brought several barrels of gunpowder up onto the deck. They broke the barrels open while Chief Piopio, who had found several muskets, was trying out one of the flints to see if he could get it to fire. What followed was an explosion that completely levelled the decks of the Boyd and killed nearly all the Maori warriors, including Piopio. Those who weren’t killed by the blast were soon wounded by the falling debris, as the spars and masts caught in the explosion, crashed down onto the deck.
With no-one able to attend to it, the fire that resulted from the blast, spread rapidly through the ship catching light to the cargo of whale oil that it had been carrying. In a very short time the Boyd was reduced to a burnt out hull just above the waterline right down to her copper sheathing. A Maori customary ‘tapu’ was declared on the ship. The tapu is the strongest force in Maori life, and means that a person, an object or a place, which is tapu, may not be touched by human contact, and in extreme circumstances, even approached.
Back at the village the feasting and sharing out of the spoils lasted for many days. The news of the massacre had reached the Bay of Islands on the return of Chief TePahi. A ship, the City of Edinburgh, was loading cargo for her Australian owners at the Bay, and the Captain, Alexander Berry, soon heard about the devastating act. He immediately gathered together his men and arms and went in haste to Whangaroa, and arrived three weeks later.
Armed with muskets three longboats headed up the harbour towards the Maori pah. They passed the burnt-out hull of the Boyd on the way and as they approached the landing, Berry handed over his command of the rescue party to a trusted Maori chief by the name of Metenangha.
Metenangha was the first one to go ashore and vanished into the bush near the pah and later returned with two of the principal Whangaroa chiefs
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