PARRAMATTA, schooner:
The first vessel to be actually wrecked on the coast of New Zealand, the schooner, commanded by Captain Glynn, sailed from Port Jackson (Sydney) on 14 April 1808, for the Bay of Islands. Here a contract was entered into with the Maori to load the schooner with certain commodities. Loading completed, the Maori remained on board awaiting payment, but those on board the Parramatta had no intention of paying, and the Maori were thrown overboard, and a volley discharged at them, three of their number being wounded. The schooner immediately got under way, but a heavy gale of wind sprang up, blowing directly on to the land, and the Parramatta was driven ashore near Cape Brett, where she became a total wreck. Her crew paid the penalty for their breach of faith, all being massacred by the Maori.

Text from New Zealand Shipwrecks, 8th edition (Hodder Moa, 2007). Used with permission of the publisher and authors.