Emigrants Watched Eagerly

for the New Land

THERE was always competition in the last days of a voyage to see land first. One of the most usual landfalls was suddenly to see the clouds part to reveal the distant cone of Mount Egmont, as it were floating in the air, which the emigrants saluted as ‘ the highest mountain in New Zealand.’ More rarely, boats blown to the South of their course would see first the mighty ramparts of the Southern Alps, perhaps the most awe-inspiring landfall possible. But if the^ weather was heavy, they might see first the rocky capes of Cook Strait. The variable winds of this narrow channel were often tantalising to sailing ships. In some instances a ship had to veer and tack between Cape Filliser and Kapiti for a whole week, unable to make the entrance to Port Nicholson. The voyage from Wellington to Nelson might occupy ten days.

Landing from a ship in those days was not so simple as walking down a gangway. Passengers and their property had to be ferried ashore in the ship’s boats. New Plymouth, frequently the first port of call, had an open roadstead. Nelson, Wellington, Otago, and Lyttelton had more sheltered accommodation for vessels, but even these deep harbours could not always fend off winds that could interrupt the unloading of boats for days together. At Wellington, at Nelson, and later at Otago, the first ships carried pre-built houses which were taken ashore and run up by the men before the women and children were let ashore at all. These houses were designed to accommodate about a quarter of the first arrivals, the idea being that the women and children and any sick persons could have first claim on this shelter. The Company had had three long houses built by Maoris before its emigrants reached New Plymouth. The cabin passengers had tents of their own and quickly had more substantial dwellings built.