Capt. John Rodolphus Kent

John Rodolphus Kent, known to his Maori friends as Amukete, is of obscure origin, neither his parents' names nor his date and place of birth being known. An officer in the Royal Navy, serving the government of New South Wales, he first entered New Zealand history as captain of the schooner Prince Regent, which left Port Jackson (Sydney) on 15 February 1820 as tender to the naval storeships Dromedary and Coromandel. During their survey of northern timber resources Kent was able to explore the Hokianga and other Northland harbours. His work was interrupted by the arrest of the American sealing ship General Gates for smuggling convicts out of Port Jackson; Kent took the documents of arrest to Port Jackson, then returned to survey parts of the coast as far as the Firth of Thames. Kent's was the first European vessel to traverse Rangitoto channel and enter Waitemata Harbour. Source: Neil Begg. 'Kent, John Rodolphus', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990, updated May, 2002. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1k10/kent-john-rodolphus (accessed 13 July 2023)

Dark Cloud (Chalky) Bay seems to have had a fairly good traffic during the early part of the thirties. July 7, 1831, Captain Briggs, of the Dragon, reported the Elizabeth, with 1600 barrels of oil, Courier (300), William Stoveld (700), and that the Juno had just left, a full ship. On this occasion the Dragon returned to port a full ship. In view thereof, Sydney Gazette, from which these particulars are extracted, congratulates Australian whaling establishments on "this splendid addition to their riches." It is significant that, while the Elizabeth entered in at Sydney, February 1, 1831, with 361 tuns, we find her again, in less than six months, reporting the handsome freight noted above. She is described as the richest whaler that ever entered Sydney Harbour.

https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-CarHist-t1-body-d15-d...

Captain Kent of the Mermaid was also in the Foveaux area in 1823 , when he met the chief Tupai, also known as Honekai, along with Te Wera. According to Kent’s log (in Hall-Jones 1945: 22; see also Howard 1940: 350), the chief appeared
“old and feeble, and it is said by the Natives that he has never been well since he killed the white man upon Codfish, who they say fought hard for his life, and would not have been conquered had not more Natives come to Tupai’s assistance.” HallJones reckons Tupai’s age at this time as about 70, confirmed by genealogy, and expects that “he would not be more than 50 when he was engaged in combat, which would date the latter about 1803”. While this is only conjecture, Hall-Jones goes on to hypothesize that the unknown white man may in fact have been George Bass, a well-known explorer and sea captain who disappeared after leaving Australia for Dusky Sound, where he had been assured of a monopoly over fishing and sealing, , in February 1803. Leaving aside the question of identity, Hall-Jones does place Codfish Island as a scene of action well before 1823 and Kent’s meeting with Tupai.
file:///C:/Users/17489/Downloads/Two_Hundred_Years_on_Codfish_Island_When.pdf

"It is stated in the publication of the 'New Zealand Association' that a hook was fastened under his chin, and he was kept in that state for two or three days on board the brig; is that correct?"—"No; it is not correct."

The version hitherto accepted as correct was the following, reported by Mr James Busby, who afterwards became British Resident at the Bay of Islands. He visited Southern New Zealand in 1824 in connection with the wreck of the Elizabeth Henrietta on Ruapuke Island: —"An English brig, the … of London, … master, had been chartered by a mercantile house in Sydney to proceed to New Zealand for the purpose of procuring a cargo of New Zealand flax. Finding that the commodities he had carried with him were not suitable for the trade, and that he would have to return to Sydney without a cargo if he could contrive no other means of procuring one, the master of the brig entered into a contract with the young chief of the Kapiti tribe, in the Northern Island, at Cook Strait, to assist him in revenging the death of his father, who had been recently killed by the chief of the Marinouis (Tama-i-hara-nui), another tribe residing on the Middle Island, about 300 miles distant, on condition of his receiving a full cargo of flax. He accordingly received his chief, with 200 of his followers, all armed with muskets, on board his vessel, and sailed for the enemy's harbour, where he came to an anchor, having the chief and all his party concealed from sight in the hold.
https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-CarHist-t1-body-d17.html