Searcher Into History

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 936, 1 April 1930, Page 8

Searcher Into History

McNAB’S LABOUR FOR N.Z. SOME time ago a piece of teak from the hull of the old ship Endeavour was found in Dusky Sound. Mention of that famous ship brings back memories of Robert McNab, farmer and politician, the man who unravelled the early history of New Zealand. Although McNab’s name is almost forgotten, he is worthy of a prominent place in New Zealand history. For 20 years he searched the world for information concerning the early days of this Dominion. One of his most thrilling moments was when he found a ship’s log in the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.A., telling the full story of the Endeavour.

This was a ship’s log, kept by Robert Murray. It told of the record trip of the Britannia, which left the first party of sealers in New Zealand in 1792, her return in 1793, of the cruise of the Endeavour, and her abandonment In 1795, and of the Providence, the first ship built in New Zealand. ,New Zealand’s history, from the visit of Abel Tasman to the beginning of English occupation, was almost a blank so far as the activities of Europeans went. McNab shouldered the patient task of filling in that page. He succeeded admirably, writing genuine history, eliminating the personal point of view —giving the results of research and not the fruits of thought. Observe this busy farmer gleaning the history of the Otago Province, where he was born. Driven by his energy, he ransacked the world for information. He wrote to- Madrid, Paris, London and Sydney. Scattered throughout the world, he discovered, were official papers relating to the early history of New Zealand. These were in England, France, Spain and America —in ship’s logs, in narratives of travellers, in forgotten newspapers—all fragments of history which could be pieced together. He resolved that the work must he done. For two years he patiently studied French so that he could go to Paris and search the archives. He took journeys to Hobart and to the splendid Free Library in Sydney; he followed the trail to America, and delved into a mine of ships’ logs in New Bedford and other eastern ports; he went to England and searched the British Museum and the Records Office in London. Abstracting, compiling, classifying, comparing, checking, translating, McNab went on with his task. From time to time he printed the results of his labours, lest fire or sickness cause their loss. Who would suspect that Petrograd would yield a picture of New Zealand? But it did, for Bellinghausen’s record of his voyage to Macquarrie Islands and New Zealand in 1820 was published in Russian.

How did McNab know Bellinghausen? Just from a mention in a Sydney newspaper that a whaler, then back from the South, had seen two Russian vessels in the Macquarries. It was a pointer, and the search went through Berlin, where an abridged edition of the book had been printed. The finding of Malaspina’s account of his voyage to Dusky Sound in 1793 took three years. It was discovered iD Madrid, written in Spanish, and had to be translated. McNab claims that these two men were the equals of Cook as explorers. Paris was a treasure house of history, as also was the Records Office with its carefully kept ships’ logs and documents. The story of the defence of Nga Motu was discovered in a stray copy of a rare Sydney paper—the “Monitor’'— and the thrilling narrative of the brig •Elizabeth was rescued from week to week, gleanings by the shipping reporters in Sydney’s early days. McNab’s passion for facts may be realised from the fact that he had prepared an edition of “Murihiku* (600 copies), and he was about to issue it when he learned that certain information was available in America. He burned the whole issue and rewrote some of it later, when he had acquired the additional facts. His other writings include “From Tasman to Marsden,” “The Colonisation of New Zealand," which he dedicated to his mother and in which he clearly analysed that the settlement of this country was carried out by men with a gospel—the gospel of Wakefield. “The Old Whaling Days" is fascinating, and its title belies its contents. Two volumes of “Historical Records," which he edited for the New Zealand Government, are ot sufficient merit to establish anyone’s reputation as an historian. McNab was bora in Southland in 1564. He graduated M.A. and LL.B. from Otago University College. Although it may be said that his books are his monument, it would be a graceful act if New Zealanders exhibited somewhere in our halls of learning a tangible recognition of his genius. T. WALSH.