380 Years Of Naval Activity Published

The Defence of NZ Study Group has published a major contribution to NZ’s naval history with the 2-volume book Ships of War in NZ Waters. It is sub-headed ‘380 Years of Naval Activity’ – going back to the visit of the first non-Maori waka to NZ in 1642.

Research has shown that Europe became aware of New Zealand through the East India Company and Dutch equivalent trading with India and China, including by taking passage through the Tasman Sea. This global expansion of trade and navies was made possible by the Portuguese development of the 3-masted ship. The book’s Introduction charts Indo-Pacific history from a navalist perspective and how maritime technology overcame extreme difficulties and distance to initiate global exploration, trade and migration.

Three years of study during lockdowns have created a list of every warship to visit New Zealand, noting all their port visits and dates. Over 2600 warships are recorded visiting NZ and the book’s Part 2 publishes images of more than half of them (1500). The types of ship include naval gun-armed vessels, troopships, storeships, pirates and any other ship on an official or martial mission.

Some strange facts have emerged. No Russian warship has visited since the 1890s but dozens of non-military Soviet Union research ships have arrived sporting long-range electronic surveillance equipment. No warships from South Africa, Thailand or the Philippines have visited NZ. More Japanese ships than Canadian have visited. More submarines have visited than aircraft carriers. More American ships (966 of them) have visited than from any other navy; WWII was the most intense period of activity; and Auckland the most visited port. William Bligh, made famous by the mutiny on the Bounty, visited NZ twice. The Chatham Islands, Coromandel Peninsula, Miranda and Galatea are named after warships.

One of the surprising outcomes of this research is that the New Zealand Wars period is far more significant that the First World War period in terms of the use of ships to support the armed forces. For instance, 147 different vessels delivered soldiers to and around NZ during the wider New Zealand Wars compared to 82 ferrying them north and back in WWI.

The book is aimed at libraries and serious students of naval history.

Previously the Defence of NZ Study Group has published Defending New Zealand–Ramparts on the Sea 1840-1950s (2000), Warrior Craftsmen (2016), Roll of NZ’s Second World War Dead (2018), Wrights Hill–New Zealand’s 9.2-inch Coast Defence Batteries (2020), and Duigan’s Circus–NZ Engineer Tunnelling Company 1915-1919 (2021).

Peter Cooke has also written the books All Formed Up (Wellington RSA, 2008), Fit to Fight–Compulsory Military Training & National Service 1950-1972 (David Ling, 2013), and Won by the Spade–How the Royal NZ Engineers Built a Nation (Exisle, 2019).

BOOK LAUNCH: Ships of War in NZ Waters will be launched on 13 June 2023, 7.30pm at Wellington Museum, Queens Wharf, 3 Jervois Quay, Wellington, an event hosted by Friends of the Maritime Museum Inc.

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