General Gates
On 12 August 1818, Samuel Marsden’s voyage across the Tasman Sea from Port Jackson ended when he disembarked from General Gates at the Bay of Islands. Marsden had arrived to establish a second Christian mission station at Kerikeri and brought with him John Kemp and John G Butler. General Gates was an American sealing vessel commanded by Captain A Riggs.
In early April 1820, General Gates arrived at the Bay again, with Captain Riggs still at her helm. HMS Dromedary was at the time visiting New Zealand and when it was established that there were several convicts on board General Gates that were being treated in a most brutal manner, Captain Skinner arrested Captain Riggs and put a navel crew in charge of the ship to return it to Sydney. When the vessel arrived back in New South Wales on 12 May 1820, it was found to have no fewer than ten convicts and one man on board who had never been given clearance to leave Sydney.
It was an unfortunate fate to be part of the crew of the General Gates in the early 1820's. In November 1822, when Captain William Edwardson of Snapper arrived at Chalky Bay in southern Fiordland, a group of sealers from General Gates were desperate to seek refuge on board Snapper. They claimed their lives were in danger as they were being pursued by James Caddell, a former European ship boy who had been captured by southern Maori, and now lived among them as a tattooed rangatira, or chief, taking on all of his host tribe's customs including cannibalism.
In early April 1820, General Gates arrived at the Bay again, with Captain Riggs still at her helm. HMS Dromedary was at the time visiting New Zealand and when it was established that there were several convicts on board General Gates that were being treated in a most brutal manner, Captain Skinner arrested Captain Riggs and put a navel crew in charge of the ship to return it to Sydney. When the vessel arrived back in New South Wales on 12 May 1820, it was found to have no fewer than ten convicts and one man on board who had never been given clearance to leave Sydney.
It was an unfortunate fate to be part of the crew of the General Gates in the early 1820's. In November 1822, when Captain William Edwardson of Snapper arrived at Chalky Bay in southern Fiordland, a group of sealers from General Gates were desperate to seek refuge on board Snapper. They claimed their lives were in danger as they were being pursued by James Caddell, a former European ship boy who had been captured by southern Maori, and now lived among them as a tattooed rangatira, or chief, taking on all of his host tribe's customs including cannibalism.