At sunset on the
18th December, the Dutch anchored off the coast of Taitapu Bay (now
Golden Bay) . Here they decided to try to locate a good harbour,
and then to make an attempt to go ashore. It was necessary to find
fresh drinking water. A cockboat and a pinnace (a small, fast sailing
Schooner) were sent to survey the area.
here for a map (25k) showing the position of Golden Bay)
The two boats returned with their report, and shortly after, as
night fell, lights were seen onshore. Two canoes appeared, and the
inhabitants began blowing what appeared to the Dutch as a "Moorish"
instrument. The canoe people called out to the Dutch, but communication
was impossible as neither the Dutch nor the canoe people could understand
each other. After a while, the two canoes paddled away.
The following morning, another canoe appeared, and once again the
natives called out to the Dutch. Communication remained impossible.
Tasman noted that the men in the canoes "had black hair
tied together right on top of their heads, in the way and fashion
the Japanese have it at the back of the head, but their hair was
longer and thicker. On the tuft, they had a large, thick, white
feather. They were naked from shoulder to waist".
The Dutch tried to tempt the Māori to come on board, without
success. As the group of Māori appeared to be friendly, and
after a council on board the Heemskerck with the officers of the
Zeehaen, the Dutch decided to sail further in, and anchor as close
to the shore as possible. In the meantime seven more native canoes
appeared, some approaching to within a stone's throw of the ships.
In order to avoid the possibility of too many natives attempting
to board the ships, the skipper of the Zeehaen, who had been convening
on board the Hemmskerck, sent a cockboat back to the Zeehaen with
a message warning his junior officers to be on their guard.
However, on returning to the Hemmskerck after delivering the message,
one of the native canoes suddenly paddled swiftly and directly at
the Dutch cockboat and rammed it, killing three sailors and mortally
wounding a fourth. Three other sailors were able to swim towards
the Hemmskerck, to be plucked from the sea and to safety. The natives
made off with one dead body, threw another into the sea, and set
the cockboat adrift, which was recuperated by the Dutch.
The Dutch fired on the swiftly retreating Māori, but the canoes
were already near the shore and out of firing range. The Dutch ships
immediately weighed anchor and set sail. By this time, twenty-two
native canoes were massed on the shoreline, and 11 more, "crowded
with people", were swiftly paddling towards the Dutch ships.
Tasman waited until the canoes were close, before firing only one
or two shots at relatively close range. One Māori, standing
in a canoe, was hit. This immediately caused the canoes to turn
and return rapidly to the shore.
Because of this incident, Tasman named
the bay "Moordenaers Baij" - Murderer's Bay.
After this unhappy first encounter, the Dutch ships continued in
a northerly direction, passing by and naming the Three Kings Islands,
(in honour of the biblical Three Wise Men, as Tasman anchored here
on Twelfth Night Eve) at the northern tip of the North Island, where
the South Pacific Sea and the Tasman sea meet.
Tasman named the northwest tip of the North Island of New Zealand
Cape Marie van Diemen, after Antony van Diemen's wife, Governor
General of Batavia, before heading away, not ever having had the
chance to set foot onshore in New Zealand. He returned to Batavia
on 14th June 1643.
A further voyage was planned for October 1643, but had to be cancelled
owing to a renewed outbreak of hostilities with the Portugese.
Tasman died in 1659, apparently leaving 25 guilders to the poor
of his village. His property was divided between his wife Jannetje
and Claesgen, his daughter by his first marriage.
From the end of the 1600's onwards the Dutch began to lose their
supremacy at sea. France
and England became the new sea powers. However Dutch charters were
still consulted by other European explorers, as the Dutch were reputed
to have established the best maritime charters in the world at that