The “Maori Chief”

On 7^th November 1867 Aucklanders turned out on droves to see the “Maori Chief” arrive in town… without feathered cloaks, welcoming haka or karakia. The crowds turned out to witness the “Maori Chief”, a ship, on course for downtown Auckland. Not by sea, but in an engineering masterpiece, by road on the back of an enormous waggon dragged by 34 oxen. And this spectacle was but one of the chapters in the life of the “Maori Chief”…

Early Days

“Maori Chief” was a stern-wheel steamer, prefabricated of steel in Tennant’s yard on the Leith in Scotland.

She was shipped to New Zealand and re-constructed at Onehunga by George Hodge for her owner, Ralph Simpson 1.

George Hodge, b1849, well-known in Onehunga and in shipping circles, founder of the Manukau Steamship Company, owned the “Royal Alfred” paddle steamer operating between Port Waikato and Onehunga. He also built (1865) and twice ran the Manukau Hotel, interrupted by difficult times for business. Today the enterprise survives, “The Landing”, much altered but at the same location opposite the wharves, where shipping in bygone days generated much of the hotel’s trade both in accommodation and the bars.

The “Maori Chief” was launched with full ceremony on 23^rd September 1865 and almost immediately deployed on the Waikato River to service military operations during the conflicts with Maori. She would join Simpson’s other craft “Waipa”, and “Gymnotus” together with Government ships “Pioneer, “Rangiriri”, “Koheroa” and “White Slave”. The Commissariat had high demands for freight along the Waikato, supplying the military’s munitions, provisions and equipment, as well as transporting troops. Settlers, too, patronised the regular shipping services. 2

No pictures are found of “Maori Chief”: “Koheroa” was of similar design. Watercolour – Edward Arthur Williams, 1864, National Library of New Zealand

“Maori Chief” was 90 feet (27m) overall, 12 feet (3.6m) beam, and 4 feet 6 inches (1.2m) depth of hold. She was powered by steam (a 35 horse-power engine), a stern wheeler, meaning the sole paddle was across the rear of the vessel, rather than the more conventional paddle steamer with a wheel on either side. But her main attribute was that she drew only 18 inches (less than .5m) of water, making her ideal for the Waikato River with its plentiful shallows, shifting sand bars, and few wharfs. 3 While she would occasionally be scheduled for the run to and from Onehunga and Port Waikato, where the river meets the Tasman Sea, her everyday schedule was from Port Waikato to various settlements and military “stations” along the Waikato River.

Stern-wheeler “Koheroa” calling at Pukerimu (Cambridge) military base 1864, Water colour, J. O. Hamley – Alexander Turnbull Library

A Busy Ship

Owner, Ralph Simspon, had, during the war years, built up many riverside holdings such as depots for the freight and booking offices/waiting rooms for passengers and trading posts.

“Maori Chief”’s departure from Onehunga with a load of provisions – NZ Herald 17 October 1865

From October 1865 “Maori Chief” was undertaking Simpson’s services along the Waikato River to places like The Bluff (near Pokeno), Point Russell (Mercer), Rangiriri, Maungatawhiri, Ngaruawahia, Cambridge, and, on the Waipa River, to and from Alexandra (Pirongia). 4 Special excursions trips were arranged in January 1866 for the Hamilton Races. The downstream terminus was Port Waikato, with transhipment there to larger ships bound for Onehunga, Raglan and other coastal services. In August 1866 her work increased when she took over the gap in service left by the Government ship “Pioneer” after she foundered in the river. 5

“Pioneer”: the sails were for her delivery voyage from Sydney, her gun turrets visible fore and ‘midships. James Cowan – Digital N.Z.

Pioneer was the first armed ship purposely built for the New Zealand Government, clad with armour-plate and fitted with gun turrets. Protection against the enemy was enhanced by a perforated steam pipe fitted around her perimeter which, when turned on, was designed to repel unwanted boarders who would face jets of scalding steam.6

After her accident on the river she was repaired, later paid off at Port Waikato, her gun turrets removed and was swept away in a storm in December 1866, sinking off Manukau Heads. The crew that went after her and got aboard in attempts to save her were lucky to survive the stormy seas. 7

Simpson found servicing the military, augmented by civilian business, quite lucrative and his work was widely acknowledged, as was explained at the ceremony when “Maori Chief” was being launched. Major James Walmsley, who was engaged in the Maori conflict, said “it’s well known that Mr. Simpson has done more than any other man to open up trade, and especially in the Waikato country, and both men and officers stationed in the province have also derived a great many comforts, which they never would have done if it had not been for the exertions and enterprise of Mr. Simpson”. 8

The Tide Turns

But by late 1866 Walmsley and his troops had largely withdrawn: the fighting was well over – the garrison retained for “mopping up” was on the way out. This reduced the need for river transport. The Government announced it had wound down its operations to service the military, and, with the new road now open to Mercer, river traffic was curtailed to and from The Bluff (Pokeno). 9 Simpson’s operations showed first signs of these changes when he announced reduced freight rates. But incentive was not enough: the business faltered within a month, and legal action was being taken against Simpson, in absentia, to recover debts owed by him.10

Ralph Simpson was, as a result, engaged in tangled bankruptcy court proceedings and out of the proceeds, Hague Smith secured  the “Maori Chief”. Simpson migrated to America with his family. Rumours circulated in newspapers that they had drowned en route, but later messages were received to say they were living happily in New York.11

(Samuel) Hague Smith (1830 -1917) set up a hardware and chandlery business with his brother in early 1850s, one of the businesses to issue 1 penny and half-penny tokens, a measure introduced around the difficulty tradespeople faced in the early days of the colony: a scarcity of coins of small value. To meet this, merchants issued tokens which could be exchanged at the token house for silver currency. 12

Smith’s Copper Token – Victoria Museum

Smith set up a store in Port Albert in 1869, and the same year was elected to the Provincial Council representing Newton. His shipping interest expanded and he had several retail stores in Auckland… then, along with his other businesses, the enterprises collapsed and he migrated to Sydney in 1873, managing insurance interests until his death in 1917.

“Maori Chief” was for sale… but not for long
Southern Cross February 17 1867

But in a change of mind, Hague Smith decided to retain, “Maori Chief”, to reconfigure her, and then put her to profitable work on another waterway. Smith realised that, with the end of the war, lucrative services for the garrison and civilians had dried up on the Waikato, and, besides, there would be competition from the railway if the Auckland to Mercer line (being talked about) eventuated. Hague Smith was looking elsewhere for more profitable operations, perhaps on the Waitemata or the Kaipara Harbour? The columnist “Voyageur”, writing in the New Zealand Herald, 19 March 1867, rejoiced at the prospect of Smith starting services on the Kaipara, saying “This will be of vast advantage to the settlers already there, and a strong inducement to others to occupy… …and bind the scattered settlements by an easy and beneficial link…”.

The Famous Haul Overland Voyage

Hague Smith’s business venture meant he had to get “Maori Chief” from the Manukau Harbour to the Waitemata Harbour. The vessel was not suitable, nor designed, for the long coastal voyage via North Cape. The alternative was to transport the ship overland, from Onehunga to Auckland, about 7 miles (11kms). It was not going to be easy. Even with the engine and other machinery removed she would weigh about 20 tons (18 tonnes). Her hull was nearly 80 feet (24m) long and 12 feet (3.6m) wide… a huge cargo to travel along unsealed roads which would involve many helpers working to a strict schedule. Preparations would take months.

So, the first step of this unusual journey took place in April 1867, when “Maori Chief” sailed from the Waikato to Onehunga in ballast. 13 On her arrival, staff of the Auckland engineering company, Masefields, stripped the vessel ready for the overland trip. 14

T. T. Masefield,
Auckland Libraries

T. Masefield and Company (Thomas Taylor Masefield, 1842 – 1908) started out in 1862 as Vickery and Masefield (William Vickery (1824- 1914) in a foundry in Albert Street but in 1867 the partnership dissolved. T. T. Masefield and Company continued, Ironworkers, Foundrymen, and Engineers based in Albert Street premises occupying an acre (.5ha) and in adjacent workshops. William Vickery subsequently established a foundry at Karaka, Thames. Thomas Masefield was chair of Auckland’s Regatta Committee for many years and served on the Auckland City Council for several terms. 15 When he was member of the Ponsonby Road Board he, with two others, A. Boardman and S. Jones, privately paid for streetlights at the Ponsonby Road/College Hill intersection.16 The three gas lights, mounted on ornate ironwork, gave the name “Three Lamps” which endures today but the three lights, these days, aren’t so grandiose.  

The original Three Lamps in the middle of the intersection, Ponsonby – Auckland Libraries

Masefields had signed a contract with Smith for the preparatory work on “Maori Chief” at Onehunga, as well as a bigger project to be completed later at Duthie and Ross’s Auckland yard: not only to refurbish her, but to convert her from a stern-wheeler to a conventional paddle-wheel vessel. It would cost £600. This entailed removing the stern mechanism and relocating the steam engine forward, amidships, to drive the new paddle wheels on either side. 17

“Maori Chief”’s weight and size was beyond any regular conveyance. Something special, a huge cart, would have to be arranged and Mackie Brothers, said to be specialists in heavy haulage, were entrusted by Hague Smith to oversee the move.

 Alexander and James Mackie, shipwrights and engineers, worked together in Auckland from the early 1860s: in 1869 Alexander advertised he had begun work at Cousins and Atkin, coachbuilders, and in 1872 that he was setting out on his own account in premises in Durham Street. James set up a coachbuilding business in Onehunga and, in 1869, in Grahamstown, Thames, where for a time he was foundation Superintendent of the local Fire Brigade. He returned to Auckland in 1878 resuming operations at the corner of Victoria and High Streets until ill-health forced his retirement in 1902.  

The Mackies had organised Masefield and Company to acquire an enormous flat-top waggon made of Tasmanian Blue Gum timbers to which was added giant brackets to securely cradle “Maori Chief”’s hull, stern-first. It was wryly christened “The Express” because, whether loaded or not, it was so big it was very slow-moving, just a crawl! This gigantic waggon was moved to Onehunga to await the day of the big move. 18

 Gold Rush at the Thames

November 1867 was pencilled. But events on the Coromandel Peninsula had, meantime, changed Hague Smith’s mind about “Maori Chief”’s ultimate destination. She would not be on the Kaipara Harbour but put to work on the Firth of Thames to service the crowds travelling to and from the gold mines and workings. Thames was growing beyond belief – the business opportunity spawned by Gold Fever could not be overlooked. “Maori Chief”, converted to a paddle wheeler and with its shallow draught, would be ideal as a tender to shuttle passengers to and from bigger vessels which plied the Waihou River or those on the Auckland run. But first, transport “Maori Chief” to Auckland, and the day had arrived.

Hold Your Horses!

On 6^th November 1867 “The Express” was backed down a slipway under the “Maori Chief”’s hull and once the piggy-back was effected, a team of horses dragged the waggon up the ramp and along to Princes Street. The overland trip had begun. Mackie’s plans for the seven-mile road trip “…never involved horses which could not be procured with strength to pull sufficiently and steadily to move the ponderous load”. Horses would break the chains, snap the ropes. Hague Smith turned to his friend Mr. John Smythe, a Waitemata sawmiller, and arranged with him to supply a bullock team which normally dragged huge kauri logs from the Waitakere bush. John Smythe remembers it a bit differently, recalling in the New Zealand Herald in January 1903 that “…horses had been tried for several days to move the weighty load, but they could not sufficiently pull together. Hague Smith asked me if I had a solution and I said ‘yes, give me £50 and I’ll see the load safely to Auckland’”.

 34 Bullocks v 20 Ton Ship

Thus, on the day of the haul to Auckland, John Smythe had 34 bullocks assembled on Onehunga’s waterfront ready to haul “The Express” carrying “Maori Chief”. The animals combined with a steady effort which had the desired effect, and they started out walking to Auckland, a pace that would not be exceeded for the whole journey. They proceeded up the slope of what’s now Onehunga Mall, along Manukau Road, passing through Epsom, to the Junction (today the intersection of Great South Road/Broadway/Manukau Road/Alpers Ave/St Marks Rd), arriving there as planned in the late afternoon. After an overnight rest it was on with the journey to downtown Auckland… and Duthie’s shipyard on the shores of the Waitemata Harbour. 19

A team of oxen at work dragging a hall to its new location in North Auckland, 1922 –  Auckland Libraries

This second day was something else. “The Express” was now passing more populated areas, and the locals were coming out to witness the spectacle. The streets in Newmarket were lined with sightseers… and then those in Khyber Pass Road would have witnessed the oxen straining under the weight as they climbed the hill to Symonds Street, where there were further difficulties. The New Zealand Herald reported “it all worked well until the waggon reached the Symonds Street Cemetery when, owing to some misdriving, it was nearly locked across the road. This difficulty was, however, soon got over”.  Another recollection was that the waggon was buried to its axles in mud at one part of Symonds Street, but the Mackie brothers persisted and the convoy continued. And another account said the wheels had been “sprung” under the strain of the immense weight. 20

Putting On the Brakes and Police Intervention

Along Karangahape Road… and into Pitt Street, where there was an intended halt while restraining ropes were attached to the rear of the “The Express” and run out behind. It was planned that men would “take the weight” on these ropes acting as “brakes” in case the waggon gained risky momentum as it travelled down the steep Greys Avenue (then Grey Street). 21

It was during this stop that the strange procession came to the interest of police.  A Police Inspector, after looking over the outfit, ordered that the cavalcade could go no further, and certainly not down the main thoroughfare, Queen Street. John Smythe said discussion went on for an hour before “the Express” was allowed to continue its intended route. “This hold-up”, said Smythe, “gave time for huge crowds to gather to see this ship sailing into town by road!” 22

Indeed, hundreds gathered to see “the free show”, the likes of which they had never seen before. As the New Zealand Herald said “…the whole population of Grey Street and Queen Street – male, female, canine and miscellaneous – turned out in honour of “Maori Chief”’s arrival. The progress of the huge waggon and its burden down Queen-street was something like a triumphal march, an inquisitive crowd following it the whole way to the wharf”. It was likened to the Trojan Horse, but for good rather than evil! 23

Organisers Mackie Brothers, Masefields the engineers and Mr Smythe’s oxen had indeed triumphed. “Maori Chief” had been safely delivered to Duthie and Ross’s waterfront yard at Smales Point (Custom Street East) for her extensive make-over. The work would cost more than £600. 24

Alexander Duthie (1829-1904) was a shipwright in business in Auckland since 1856, the company joined by Murdoch Ross (1832-1914), constructing punts, steamboats and pleasure craft. They had also fitted out ships with facilities suitable for transporting soldiers returning to England and they converted a hulk to serve as a prison for those captured during the New Zealand Wars.

Refurbishment… and Reborn

Owner Hague Smith’s long list of jobs occupied Duthie and Ross for several months. Masefields assisted with repositioning the steam engine, amidships. Public cabins were altered, capable of seating 80 passengers. Her draught of water when loaded did not exceed 2 feet (.6m), rendering “Maori Chief” very suitable for future work servicing the goldfields, especially the tidal creek opposite Shortland Town and the narrow shallows of the Upper Waihou beyond Thames.

On 7^th January 1868 work had been completed, and “Maori Chief” was off the slips for her trial run in front of the Government Inspector of Steamboats. The New Zealand Herald reported “…when off O’Neill’s Bay, she went through a variety of evolutions with a view of testing her capabilities and “Maori Chief” duly received a certificate to carry, all-up, 138 passengers within the limits of the port of Shortland Town, where she was specially intended to ply”. 25

“Maori Chief”’s New Home

The very next day the ship was on her way to Thames skippered by Captain Watts. She completed the voyage in 10 hours and immediately settled into her task. 26 She collected incoming travellers from arriving ships (like the “Royal Alfred”, “Tauranga”, “Duke of Edinburgh” and “Midge”) and took them to the beach-landing at Shortland Town (there was no wharf). And then she embarked departing passengers, taking them out to the bigger craft waiting in the bay.

These were busy times as the lure of gold dragged the crowds. Government reports show that in 1868 when “Maori Chief” arrived, more than 1,000 passengers were landed at Shortland each week before they dispersed throughout Coromandel seeking their fortune or to set up goods and services to cater for the growing population. 700 departed each week. 27

Shortland, on the shores of the Firth of Thames viewed from Irishtown, mid-1860s, S. G. Frith, Auckland Libraries

“Maori Chief”’s prime shuttle duty was sometimes interrupted with trips along the Waihou River and its tributaries, but she was mainly at Shortland except when she made a trip to Auckland to service the crowds expected at the Takapuna Christmas sports where her duty was, again, to convey passengers to and from larger craft. 28 She resumed at Thames with another break in duties for an overhaul in Auckland in July 1869 and then in March 1870 she was on the slip again, this time near Thames, to repair a gash in her hull caused when she struck a boulder that had washed into the main Waihou Channel. “Maori Chief” became a household name in the district: she had carried so many on their travels to and from Thames.

The Ship is Sold

But she was again caught up in changes of the times. After a wharf was constructed at Grahamstown, ships used it as the preferred port-of-call for Thames. There was no longer need for a tender on shuttle duties. 29 This more or less coincided with S. Hague Smith getting into business difficulties in 1871 and, bankrupt, he came to an arrangement with his creditors. 30

“Maori Chief” had already been sold 31 to the Bay of Islands Coal Company for £325 to be used to tow barges carrying coal down the Kawakawa River to a deep water anchorage for transhipment to cargo vessels. The same year she gave her engine to another vessel and tenders were announced for the fitting and forming of “Maori Chief”’s iron hull into a coal barge.

New Zealand Herald January 22 1873

This done, she began work as part of what the New Zealand Herald said was “…the most novel undertaking for New Zealand, a wire tramway 2 miles (1.5km)  in length, erected by the New Zealand Manganese Company in Northland, to convey manganese from the top of Tikitikiora, a hill 600 feet high, across gully and swamp, and a mile out into the bay, where there is a barge moored, with steam engine on board, to work the endless wire rope which forms the wire railway. This is a vessel of about fifty tons, the old steamer “Maori Chief””. She was the terminus for this elaborate system to transport manganese from the mines to waiting ships. 32

In July 1879 the Manganese Mining Company offered “Maori Chief” for sale, at anchor in Orongo Bay, Bay of Islands. 33 Years intervened before the next and final chapter: she was broken up in 1894. 34

That Overland Trip: Still a Record?

“Maori Chief” had many adventures in her lifetime: sailing through a war zone, transporting hopeful prospectors during the Thames Gold Rush and pivotal to an innovative mining operation in the North. But the novel episode was her overland “voyage”. Here’s how Will Lawson described it in his article in the “New Zealand Shipping Gazette” in October 1908. “It’s a pity that a photo of the “Maori Chief” has not been preserved, for without a doubt she was the central figure in a notable fleet. Seven miles overland, behind a team of bullocks, is an experience few steamers in the world have been subjected to. Sooner or later, a canal will be built across the Onehunga Isthmus, and when the greatly-needed work is completed there will be applause and rejoicing as the first steamer to negotiate the passage safely travels from coast to coast. But she will not be the first steamer to have crossed that neck of land. That honour rests with the “Maori Chief”. She won it long ago”.

Post-Script

It’s interesting to observe that three entrepreneurs who invested heavily in ventures connected with “Maori Chief” all felt the cold wind of bankruptcy: Ralph Simpson with his shipping services on the Waikato and Manukau, George Hodge, the Onehunga pioneer settler, businessman and publican and S. Hague Smith, merchant and owner of a shipping line.

RCC February 2026

Sources:

DSC Daily Southern Cross

NZer New Zealander

HZH New Zealand Herald

O Observer

Star Auckland Star

Sources:

DSC Daily Southern Cross

NZer New Zealander

HZH New Zealand Herald

O Observer

Star Auckland Star

1 NZer  25 September 1865

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

4 DSC 24 January 1866

5 DSC 13 August 1866

6 “The Road to War”, Maurice Lennard, 1986

7. DSC26 December 1866
8. NZer 25 September 1865
9. DSC 25 December 1866

10.DCS 15 December 1866

11. O 25 September 1880
12. NZH 6 June 1936

13.DSC 18 April 1867

14. NZH 8 November 1867
15. Star 1 May 1908
16. O 9 May 1908
17. NZH 7 January 1868
18. NZH 8 November 1867
19. Ibid
20. Ibid
21. Ibid
22. Star 29 January 1903
23. NZH 8 November 1867
24. Ibid
25. DSC 7 January 1868
26. NZH 11 January 1868
27. Appendix D03 to the Journals of the House of Representatives 1868
28. DSC 22 December 1868
29. NZH 21 December 1872
30. DSC 8 June 1871
31. NZH 28 October 1870
32. NZH 23 August 1875
33. NZH 29 July 1879
34. www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/Onehunga/notable vessels from the 1800s to 1950s