"FATHER OF THE NAVY."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 231, 29 September 1928, Page 9 (Supplement)

"FATHER OF THE NAVY."

ADMIRAL SIR E. R. FREMANTLE

SERVICE IN THE MAORI WARS

STORIES OF H.M.S. ECLIPSE,

(By J.C.)

A wonderful old man of the sea is Admiral the Hon. Sir Edmund I*. Fremantle, the senior retired Admiral of the British Navy, who, according to a recent message from London, has entered his ninety-second year and looks likely to score "100 not out." A wonderful naval family indeed are the Fremantles. The grand old sailor's son, Admiral Sir Sydney Fremantle, has now joined his venerable father on the retired list. This is something quite without precedent, so it is stated, in the Royal Navy—a father and son both retired Admirals. The father entered the Navy in the days when sail was in its glory, away back in 1849; the son first went to sea in 1881. Sir Edmund's grandfather was captain of H.M.s. Neptune in the battle of Trafalgar; his grandson is a lieutenant in the Navy to-day. So here is naval heredity for you if you like: Six generations of active service on the quarterdeck.

We in New Zealand should be interested in the story of the Fremantles, for this veteran Sir - Edmund had many exciting months on these coasts in the days of the Waikato war and the first Hauhau campaign in the Bay of Plenty and about the East Cape. There are a good many old colonists who will remember his smart little vessel, H.M.s. Eclipse, which in size, rig and general appearance strongly resembled a well-known gunboat of much later days, H.M.s. Torch, stationed in these waters.

The Eclipse was one of a class of Navy ship then called dispatch boats. She was a clipper-bow steamer of 750 tons, rigged as a "jackass" barque (like the Torch); she was of good speed for those days of the 'sixties, having steamed at 11 knots over the measured mile. She was 200 ft long; her draught of water was 12ft. She had a screw which could be lifted up out of the water when she was put under sail. The Eclipse's crew numbered 90 all told. She had been on the New Zealand coast for some time before Fremantle was appointed to her command.

His predecessor, Commander H. G. Mayne, took her into the Waikato River entrance. She was the first vessel of the British Navy to enter Waikato Heads. Mayne and a detachment of his bluejackets were in the Naval Brigade sent up to Rangiriri in November, 1803, and he was severely wounded in the attempt to storm the strong Maori earthworks there.

Fremantle commanded the Eclipse from the end of 18fi3 to the end of ISGG, vvhen this useful little ship returned to England from Auckland roxuid (.'ape Horn. Jt was her last voyage, for she was broken up at Sheerness soon after her arrival. When Volkner Was Murdered. Captain Iremantle's most notable service in command of the Eclipse was his patrol duty along the East Coast in the period immediately following the mui der of the Rev. Carl Sylvius Volkner, by Kereopa and his Hauhau band at Opotiki in 1865. His part in the rescue of the Rev. Thomas Samuel Grace, who had a narrow escape from sharing Vol liner's fate, has frequently been told. Not so well-known are his adventures on shore expeditions a little later, when attempts were being made to capture Kereopa and Patara Raukatauri, the leading Pai-marire apsostles, and other prominent rebels.

Two of the. Eclipse's guns were 32pounders; the other two were large pivot guns—one an Armstrong 110-poundei (7-inch b.1.), and the other a GB-pounder, of 95cwt. These two guns were the important armament of the ship, and as the crew was usually short of the fill 1 complement, the guns could not all be worked at once. Fremantle narrate, that it was his custom at general quarters to ignore tho 32-pouiulers after clearing them away, and to use their crews to fill up those of the other suns When the Eclipse was employed in visiting disturbed districts along tin Bay of Plenty Coast, Fremantle took with him Mr. J/mes Fullbon, the halt caste surveyor (who was afterward? murdered by the Maoris), as interpreter The ship's light draught made her particularly suitable for these visits to out-of-the-way coast bays. Camouflaged Ship and Sailors. When the Eclipse was sent from Auckland on one of her expeditions to the Opotiki coast, Fremantle had information, through Fulloon, that a J Maori named Eparaima, or Ephraim, ! who was said to have put the rope round Volkner's neck to hang him on the willow tree, was living in a village close to the beach, but he was sure to disappear inland if the man-o'-war was seen. The captain endeavoured to capture him by strategy. He disguised the Eclipse as a merchant ship, and stood casually into the bay where the village was. There a boat, with Fulloon, the interpreter, a friendly Maori who knew Eparaima, and two oi the Eclipse's smartest blue-jackets, with their faces and legs dyed, blean-shaven, and dressed only in the Maori blanket, slipped off from the ship and quietly landed on the beach. The ruse was entirely successful so far; the men were not recognised. Eparaima was pointed out, and seized by one of the sailors, but he shook himself clear, and though several shots were iired at him he escaped. Fremantle landed with a party and chased him over the hills, but to no pur|>ose. So the well-laid scheme was a failure. A Landing Party and an Ambush. On another occasion the commander of the eclipse endeavoured to capture some of the Hauhau murderers, who were said to be in a pa near Opotiki. "This time," the admiral wrote in his reminiscences, "I anchored after dark close to the beach, and landed with about sixty men, having to march about a mile to the pa. On arriving there, about midnight, it was found to be deserted, and I at once felt that the Maoris had expected us, and probably they would endeavour to' ambush my party on oyr return to our boats, which I had left in the river. Our road led along the beach, and there were sandhills on our left which would give good cover to the Maoris, so I was careful to search them as we proceeded. "We had got about half-way when I was dissatisfied with our scouts and advance guards, and I halted the main

body, and relieving the officer in charge of uur advance 1 pointed out the necessity for his making a more thorough examination of likely spots for ambushes before I proceeded. 1 even directed him to go round a particular sandhill, where 1 believed the path led to Opotiki. As soon as I saw that my orders were being carried out 1 again advanced, and we had not gone 50 yards before a heavy lire was opened on us from the very place 1 had fortunately pointed out; but immediately afterwards our advanced guard took the ambush in the rear. Two Maoris were killed, and the remainder ran away, and we embarked without further molestation. It being night time, the Maori aim was not very good, and we had only one man, a corporal wf marines, wounded, in my party, while the advanced guard had no one hit." A Thrilling Moment.

J n continuation of this cruise, the Eclipse went on to Hick's Bay, near the East Cape, and Fremantle landed with a force of 25 men. .Fulloon was with him as interpreter. Their object was to try and surprise the Hauhau prophet Patara. Hoping to get useful information from a chief called Te Hata, of the Whanau-a-Apanui, who lived at Kaukokore Bay, three miles from where the Eclipse was lying, Captain Fremantle decided to march to that place. He left his men behind a hill about a mile from Kaukokore, and went on with his interpreter, First-Lieutenant Boughey, and his coxswain. They were in plain clothes, excepting the coxswain, and carried sporting guns, being apparently a shooting expedition, though all had revolvers. While they were at Te Hata's Patara sudde'nly arrived, without about 40 armed men. The prophet had a pistol in each hand. There was a warm discussion between Fulloon and Patara, and at one time it was so alarming that Ereniantle cooked his revolver, a Dean and Adams, and the click being heard, lie found himself covered by the guns of several Maoris.

Fulloon's coolness and apparent confidence had its effect, and presently Patara and his bodyguard marched off, and the naval officers rejoined their party.

When the Eclipse was safely reached again, Fulloon said to Fremantle: "We bounced them that time, bnt if we go there again we shall certainly be murdered."

"I told him," wrote Fremantle, "that lie had better be careful, as I should not land there again except at the head of ol) armed bluejackets."

A little more than a month after this perilous meeting, Fulloon, trusting to his Maori relationship, went to Whakatane in a coasting cutter with several others, to obtain information. The Maoris came off in a canoe in the night and killed him as he lay asleep in the cabin. When Hone Melted the Shell. Later on in the year 1865 the Eclipse was ordered up to the East (" •pe to render what assistance was necessary to the friendly chief Mokena Ku! ere, whose pa at Waiapu was being attacked by the rebels. The pa was a few miles south of the East Cape, and only about half a mile from the 6hore. The Eclipse landed a force of 50 New Zealand Militia to help Kohere. She remained off the coast two or three days shelling the rebel camp at Pukemaire with the long guns. "I could not do much," the admiral said, "as it was behind the pa, and I had to be careful to give enough elevation. We had, however, some success, as one of our 'blind' 110-poundcr shells, which was covered with lead, was put in the fire by the Maoris to melt the lead for bullets, when it naturally exploded, killing two men and wounding a dozen others." Pukemaire was soon afterwards abandoned by the Hauhaus.