Page:Old Westland (1939).pdf/133

Rh and subsequently of Westland, while Messrs. Walker and Hewitt of Canterbury also made trips to the western portion of that province.

Two years prior to the Pyke expedition, the Canterbury Provincial Government, now convinced of the existence of gold on the West Coast, sent the schooner Wild Wave (Buxton, master) to the Grey River with a general cargo of stores and provisions. Mr. Charles Townsend was appointed Resident Agent there, and he had under his leadership a party of three men, Peter Mitchelmore, John Smith and Solomon (a Maori). Townsend’s instructions were to erect a depôt at the Grey to supply survey parties, prospectors, and any men requiring relief who might be travelling through to the Buller or back to Christchurch.

Captain Buxton who had not visited the West Coast previously did not know the whereabouts of the Grey, there of course being no charts then, and in an endeavour to find out where that particular river was, stood close in, and seeing some men on the beach put off in the ship’s boat to make the necessary enquiries. He found the sea very rough, but managed to land on the beach near the site where Hokitika now stands, only to find that the Grey was about twenty miles to the north. He then tried to rejoin his ship, but the sea was too heavy to permit him to do so, and he was compelled to camp ashore that night.