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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts]

Port Underwood

Port Underwood.

Port Underwood was from the very early days, until 1871, the harbour for the Marlborough district. As many as a dozen barques were often seen loading at one time with wool and produce for England. It also has the reputation of having been, in its time, the most important whaling station in New Zealand. Many fine whales were captured within it, and in its neighbourhood, and it was no uncommon thing for twenty whaling ships to be in Port Underwood at one time. Port Underwood is situated on the north-east coast of the Middle Island. It is fourteen miles from Blenheim, via Marshlands, and is considered second to no harbour in the Southern Hemisphere. It is six miles in length, and one mile wide, is sheltered by hills of 500 feet above the sea level, and is easily entered in the roughest
Mr. and Mrs H. Stace and Family.

Mr. and Mrs H. Stace and Family.

page 395 weather. The port contains ten bays, which are picturesque, and accessible by land as well as by water. A bridle track from the Wairau beach to the head of the port connects the numerous bays, and there is a weekly mailservice from Blenheim every Monday. Sheep farming is carried on on the hills, and the various bays are occupied by the homesteads of the settlers.

Stace, Henry J, J.P., Runholder, Robin Hood Bay, Port Underwood. Mr. Stace was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1847, and was educated at Portsmouth, and at Elizabeth College, Guernsey. For the first ten years of his life he accompanied his father, who was a colonel in the Royal Engineers, to various countries, and came to New Zealand in the “Ravenscraig”, in 1865. After residing a short while in Nelson, he removed to Marlborough and settled down in Kaikoura, where he was one of the first settlers. Early in 1871 Mr. Stace was appointed manager of the Starborough estate, which was then in a most dilapidated coadtion. He, however, soon improved the appearance of the place by planting and fencing; and he practically founded the Merino flock which existed on the station when the land was cut up and sold by the Government in 1898. After managing the station for fifteen years, Mr. Stace purchased his present property, which formerly belonged to Messrs Jackson Brothers, at Robin Hood Bay. Mr. Stace takes at keen interest in church matters and during his residence at Kaikoura he acted as lay reader to the Church of England. His eldest son is the Church of England clergyman in charge of the Havelock and Sounds district, and is universally esteemed and liked. Mrs Stace is a daughter of Mr. Mowat, who arrived in Nelson in 1840.

Mr. Michael Aldridge , sometime of Ocean Bay, Port Underwood, was born at Oxford, England, on the 9th of June, 1820. When he was fifteen years of age, he left his native country, and went to America, where he remained a few years, but in 1838 he joined a whaling ship, and sailed for New Zealand. The ship was the “Vermont,” well known in her time in whaling waters, and was in command of Captain Kenduck. The “Vermont” reached Port Underwood in 1838, and from then until 1850, Mr. Aldridge successfully followed at whaling life. He then took up a section of kind at Ocean Bay, and thenceforward carried on business as a farmer. There were very few white people in New Zealand when Mr. Aldridge arrived in the thirties, and he had to contend against many disadvantages. One of the most tragical episodes in which he took part in the early days was the burial of the victims of the Wairaran massacre in June, 1843. Nineteen bodies were found and buried though it was supposed that more
The late Mr. M. Aldridge.

The late Mr. M. Aldridge.

lives were lost. Mr. Aldridge also assisted some of the party to escape by giving them refuge on board the Government brig “Victoria,” which then sailed for Wellington. In 1838, the year he landed in New Zealand, Mr. Aldridge was an unwilling eyewitness to the murder of a Maori woman at Kapiti Island, and after the woman was dead the body was placed on a fire and remained there until roasted and fit for consumption. A similar tragedy was witnessed by Mr. Aldridge in 1839. He was also present at Porirua at the execution of a Maori who had killed Captain Sherry, an old whaler belonging to the whaling ship “Caroline,” and who had come to New Zealand in the early thirties. Mr. Aldridge, during his whaling period, caught twenty-one whales in one season. In the forties he repeatedly crossed Cook Strait in an open boat. Latterly, he resided with his son at Ocean Bay, and lived to considerably over eighty years; but both he and his son have now (1905) been dead some time.

Mr. John Aldridge , sometime of Ocean Bay, Port Underwood, was a son of the late Mr. Michael Aldridge, and was born at Ocean Bay, in 1868. His property comprised 890 acres, all hilly country, but first-class pasture land for sheep. Mr. Aldridge had his house connected by telephone with Blenheim, twenty-two miles distant. For many years, Mr. Aldridge was a member of the Waitohi Rowing Club, and had come to the front when competing in championships at Wellington and other places. He was also a member of the Waitohi Football Club, in which he proved himself an excellent wedge forward. He was married and had one daughter. Mr. Aldridge died some time ago.

Sometime the Residence of the late Mr. J. Aldridge.

Sometime the Residence of the late Mr. J. Aldridge.