Matoaka (1853 ship)

Matoaka was a 1092-ton wooden New Brunswick full-rigged ship built in 1853 for Willis and Gann Co. She was sold to Shaw Savill Co by 1859. Between 1859 and 1869 she made eight voyages to New Zealand. Her fastest run from Bristol to Lyttelton, New Zealand was 82 days in 1862. On 13 May 1869 she left Lyttelton for London under Captain Alfred Stevens with 45 passengers and 32 crew but was never seen again. In 1865 she was classed as 1322 tons.

The Matoaka first sailed with about 100 passengers from London to New Zealand under Captain Stevens on 13 June 1859 on the clipper route. She arrived at Wellington on 13 September and then sailed north to Auckland on 17 September 1859. Off Castlepoint she ran into a northerly gale which split several of her sails and forced her to hove-to for twelve hours.

The migrants on board the Matoaka included Thomas Ball. His family and a group of some 80 migrants he had gathered together had arranged settle at Mangonui under Government sponsored land grants. On arrival the 40 acre men as the land grant migrants were known found that the Government had changed its regulations and instead of being allocated land they had to bid for it. This caused an outcry.

On 25 December 1866 while sailing from London to Lyttelton she sailed into a vast field of ice-bergs at 48.32 south 114.40 east in the South Indian Ocean in about near Kerguelen Island. Some of the bergs were described as 300 ft to 400 ft in height.

Captain Stevens brought out English song birds for the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. On 10 January 1867 he arrived with a large number of starlings, larks, blackbirds, thrushes, pheasants, and partridges. He followed this in 1868 with twelve pairs of thrushes, 77 pairs of blackbirds, 22 house sparrows, 7 redpoles, 1 yellow-hammer, 1 pair bramble finches, and 1 robin. His third and final shipment was in 1869.

By 1879 the house sparrows were being described as a pest, with the Acclimatisation Society being blamed for their introduction.

The Matoaka sailed from Lyttelton for London on 11 May 1869. She had 44 passengers on board together with a cargo of wool, flour, tallow, flax, skins, and assorted items. She was the last ship of the season to sail and would be taking the clipper route around Cape Horn. Unknown to all on board, except for the officers, was she was carrying ₤50,000 in gold.

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