Bay News; Historic images of HMS Dromedary and HMS Coromandel surface

The Dromedary as a prison hulk and floating kitchen in Bermuda 1862. Photo / Supplied. Source: National Museum of Bermuda

Historic images of two of the most renowned ships to have plied New Zealand waters in the early 1800s have surfaced thanks to some dogged sleuthing by Whangārei maritime historian Don Armitage.

An engraving from an 1848 copy of the Illustrated London Times clearly shows three ship hulks permanently anchored at Bermuda, two of which have close connections to New Zealand history.

“One of the ships shown in the picture is HMS Dromedary and the other is HMS Coromandel, the ship that gave its name to the Coromandel Peninsula,” says Armitage.

“Both the Dromedary and the Coromandel sailed to New Zealand in 1820, after being refitted to carry kauri spars in Australia.

“The Dromedary went to Whangaroa in Northland for its cargo of kauri logs while the Coromandel sailed to Thames.”

HMS Coromandel was built in 1795 and was originally called the Malabar, renamed Coromandel in 1815. She arrived with the 2nd West India regiment in 1801, eventually becoming a convict ship and departing for Botany Bay, New South Wales in 1802. She was converted for use in Jamaica as a hospital ship for the Army in 1807.

The Coromandel and the Dromedary as shown in this picture from the Illustrated London Times. Photo / Supplied. Source: National Museum of Bermuda

In later years, both ships were used as prison hulks in Bermuda, essentially floating jails moored permanently at the docks of the British colony which was a vital hub for British trade and shipping in the Caribbean.

Convicts incarcerated in the ships were put to work on a number of public construction projects in Bermuda including building a bridge and a new barracks building.

The Dromedary continued its service as a prison ship and then a floating kitchen for soldiers and prisoners until she was sold for breaking up in 1864.

After Armitage contacted the National Museum of Bermuda with a supposed photograph of HMS Dromedary, they replied saying it was a different vessel.

Maritime historian Don Armitage from Whangārei. His dogged sleuthing uncovered images of two ships that plied the waters of the Far North in the early 1800s. 

However, the museum curator surprised him by quickly sending him a copy out of a book showing a photograph of the actual Dromedary at Bermuda in 1862.

Realising that it also referred to the photograph originating from an album kept by the museum, Armitage asked for a high resolution scan of the image which hopefully had more detail.

The museum then sent a very high resolution image of the photograph from their album, as well as directing him to the Illustrated London Times website.

The historic photo shows the Dromedary demasted, roofed and permanently moored, capturing it in the later stages of her long and varied career over 40 years after she made her famous voyage to New Zealand.

Knowing the Dromedary’s historic association with the Whangaroa, Armitage shared the discovery with Heritage New Zealand’s Northland office.

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland manager Bill Edwards said the Dromedary arrived in New Zealand waters in 1820 and anchored off Paroa. On board was none other than Reverend Samuel Marsden and nine Māori chiefs who had been at Marsden’s seminary in Parramatta, New South Wales, and including the 15-year-old son of Hongi Hika.

“He had come to help with the purchasing negotiations and to bring cattle, horses and supplies to the Bay of Islands mission stations at Hōhi and Kerikeri,” he said.

Bill Edwards, New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland manager, at Mangahawea Bay, Motorua Island, central Bay of Islands.  Photo / Supplied

The rangatira Te Ara offered to sell kauri from his land at Kaeo in return for axes and the ship sat at anchor in Whangaroa Harbour for six months while its crew cut kauri with local Māori. The logs were harvested from the Whangaroa Harbour in 1820, close to where Kaeo is now, with the intention of returning to England with a cargo of spars and masts.

The logs had to be 22-25m long and in order to get them to the ship, they were winched to the top of the hill then lowered to the flats below, loaded on to wagons that were then dragged by bullocks along a road to the river and then towed behind boats into the harbour.

“To ease this process, the Dromedary’s crew built New Zealand’s first road for wheeled traffic which was named after the ship,” says Bill Edwards.

“The Dromedary Rd, also known as Te Ara Hoia, or the Soldiers’ Rd, was recorded in early survey maps and in a sketch in 1873. The remains of the road, which is an archaeological site and protected under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act, are still visible to those who know what to look for.”

In terms of archaeology, the Dromedary is a gift that keeps on giving according to Edwards.

“Because the Dromedary sat at the same spot for over 20 years as a prison ship and later as a kitchen the place where she lay effectively became a midden and in 1982 the Bermudan Government gave permission for divers to conduct an underwater archaeological dig at the Dromedary anchorage site.”

The excavation retrieved a treasure trove of artefacts which, for whatever reason, prisoners had chucked over the side during the time they were incarcerated.

“The artefacts reflected convict life including intricately carved items for trade and barter, gaming counters, dice and dominoes, buttons and tags for official use, and jewellery made from coral and mother of pearl,” he says.

“Most intriguingly perhaps was the discovery of coin forging moulds, as well as a number of coins both real and fake all of which suggest a thriving economy of gambling, trade and industry that had developed among the convicts, their overseers on the Dromedary, officials, traders and local residents.”

Edwards says that some New Zealanders have a different association with the Dromedary and the Coromandel.

“For us both ships represent an early connection between Māori and Pākehā; with New Zealand and the outside world 20 years before the Treaty was signed.

“They are remembered for their early commercial significance in what was the prime of their working lives.

“Finding these historic images with such strong provenance reinforces that sense of connection that we have with these ships.”

Anyone interested in learning more about the Dromedary’s time in Kaeo can read Cruise’s Journal published in 1824, which is available in many libraries.