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Description

A Rare Early Sea Chart of Kawhia Harbor, Prior to the Land Wars of the 1860s.

Fine large format map of Kawhia Harbor and environs, published by the British Admiralty, first published in 1857.

The chart is based upon British surveys undertaken by the Admiralty in 1854 and incudes a large profile view of the harbor.

 Regional History

Kawhia was the birthplace of Maori warrior chief Te Rauparaha of the Ngati Toa, who lived in the area until the 1820s, at which time his tribe along with Ngati Rarua and Ngati Koata migrated southwards.

Kawhia is known in Maori lore as the final resting-place of the ancestral waka (canoe) Tainui. Soon after arrival, captain Hoturoa made it first priority to establish a whare wananga (sacred school of learning) which was named Ahurei.

European traders arrived in the 1820s and were followed by Wesleyan Methodist missionaries, who established mission stations on land nearby in the 1830s. Land was also sold to European settlers. Kawhia was closed to Europeans after the Waikato land wars of the 1860s.

In 1880, the government bought a block of land previously owned by an early settler. The new town of Kawhia was laid out at Pouewe on the northern shores of the harbour in 1882. King Tawhiao was not consulted, but eventually agreed to the town’s establishment, and Europeans returned.

British Admiralty Biography

The British Admiralty has produced nautical charts since 1795 under the auspices of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (HO). Its main task was to provide the Royal Navy with navigational products and service, but since 1821 it has also sold charts to the public.

In 1795, King George III appointed Alexander Dalrymple, a pedantic geographer, to consolidate, catalogue, and improve the Royal Navy’s charts. He produced the first chart as the Hydrographer to the Admiralty in 1802. Dalrymple, known for his sticky personality, served until his death in 1808, when he was succeeded by Captain Thomas Hurd. The HO has been run by naval officers ever since.

Hurd professionalized the office and increased its efficiency. He was succeeded by the Arctic explorer Captain William Parry in 1823. By 1825, the HO was offering over seven hundred charts and views for sale. Under Parry, the HO also began to participate in exploratory expeditions. The first was a joint French-Spanish-British trip to the South Atlantic, a voyage organized in part by the Royal Society of London.

In 1829, Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort was appointed Hydrographer Royal. Under his management, the HO introduced the wind force scale named for him, as well as began issuing official tide tables (1833). It was under Beaufort that HMS Beagle completed several surveying missions, including its most famous voyage commanded by Captain FitzRoy with Charles Darwin onboard. When Beaufort retired in 1855, the HO had nearly two thousand charts in its catalog.

Later in the nineteenth century, the HO supported the Challenger expedition, which is credited with helping to found the discipline of oceanography. The HO participated in the International Meridian Conference which decided on the Greenwich Meridian as the Prime Meridian. Regulation and standardization of oceanic and navigational measures continued into the twentieth century, with the HO participating at the first International Hydrographic Organization meeting in 1921.

During World War II, the HO chart making facility moved to Taunton, the first purpose-built building it ever inhabited. In 1953, the first purpose-built survey ship went to sea, the HMS Vidal. Today, there is an entire class of survey vessels that make up the Royal Navy’s Hydrographic Squadron. The HO began to computerize their charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1968, the compilation staff also came to Taunton, and the HO continues to work from there today.