The Pandora Survey

by Brian Byrne

Another impressive, beautiful publication by local historian Brian Byrne in a limited, numbered edition of 500 copies, signed by author.

320pp, 19 colour plates, charts, B/W illustrations, tables, references, bibliography, index, chart endpapers.

The 1848-1856 Great Survey of New Zealand, carried out initially by Captain John Stokes in HMS Acheron between 1848-51 and completed by Commander Byron Drury in HMS Pandora between 1851-56, yielded one of the most magnificent of the many productions of the English Navy. The two surveys played a significant role in the successful settlement of Europeans in New Zealand and its subsequent economic development. Though the story of the initial phase of that monumental undertaking was told twenty-nine years ago, the full story of its completion by Drury remained unrecorded. To rectify this oversight, the author of The Riddle of The Kaipara, Wing of the Manukau, and The Unknown Kaipara, spent four years researching and writing his latest book. This long overdue book provides a comprehensive history of the Pandora Survey, together with details of its findings along the coastline from New Plymouth to Doubtless Bay, Mercury Bay to Cape Kidnappers and parts of the Hauraki Gulf and Marlborough Sounds. It also explores the origins of the Great Survey and looks into selected aspects of the Acheron Survey.

A review of this book appears in The Mariner’s Mirror August 2008 issue.

$125