The Reverend Samuel Marsden, then chaplain in Sydney, became intimately
acquainted with Tippahee, and he, too, states that he found him "a man of
very superior understanding and capable of receiving any instruction. His
companions also manifested strong mental faculties." When the Maoris had
remained in the colony as long as they wished - by that time becoming
familiar figures to all the citizens of Sydney - the Governor gave
instructions for the Lady Nelson to be fitted up to convey them back to
their own country. Before their departure they were loaded with presents
by the Governor and other friends, the gifts being carefully packed in
chests and put on board the brig. On this voyage Governor King also
ordered some bricks and the framework of a house for New Zealand to be
received as part of the cargo.
On February 25th, Tippahee and his sons bade farewell to New South Wales
and their numerous friends there, and on their going on board, the Lady
Nelson immediately set sail for the Bay of Islands.
During the voyage the Chief was taken ill and Mr. Symons ordered a young
man named George Bruce to nurse him. So well did Bruce carry out his
duties, that Tippahee afterwards requested that he might be allowed to
remain in New Zealand.* (* The request was granted, and Bruce was
afterwards given Tippahee's daughter in marriage. How badly the pair were
treated by the captain of a British vessel, which called at New Zealand
to refit, is told in the Sydney Gazette, which states that Bruce and his
wife were carried away from New Zealand in the Wellesley, first to Fiji
and afterwards to Malacca, where Bruce was left behind. His wife was
taken on to Penang, but on his making a complaint to the commanding
officer at Malacca, that gentleman warmly espoused Bruce's cause and sent
him to Bengal, where the authorities extended him aid, and eventually his
wife was restored to him.)
The Chief's illness may have been an attack of sea-sickness, due to the
roughness of the passage, as the log records that the weather was very
squally.
On March 2nd the Lady Nelson made a great deal of water and had to be
pumped out. The vessel still remained in a leaky state, and this
drawback, in conjunction with the cross currents and heavy gales that she
encountered, greatly retarded her progress.
A succession of gales followed, consequently the land of New Zealand was
not sighted until March 30th, when at noon it was observed for the first
time, trending from east-south-east to north-east.
At eight o'clock in the evening a prominent cape was seen eight miles
distant, which Symons records was North-West Cape (or Cape Maria Van
Diemen). At eleven the ship hauled round to the eastward and hove to.
Native fires were seen burning on land.
