A shark tale

Was one of the most prominent New Zealanders of his time killed by a shark in Manukau Harbour?
William Cornwallis Symonds was a British army captain who became instrumental in the founding in Auckland and whose family name lives on across our biggest city.
But there is a bit of a mystery about his death in 1841 during a boating accident in Manukau Harbour while he and four others were on a mercy mission.
Symonds was born in Hampshire, England on August 1, 1810, to William and Elizabeth Symonds. His father was Surveyor of the Navy and a prominent member of the New Zealand Association, formed to promote the colonisation of the new country.
Symonds joined the army and rose to the rank of captain. He came to New Zealand in the 1830’s, helped found Auckland and was at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
One of William Hobson, the first governor of New Zealand’s closest officers, he was one of the first six police magistrates of the country.
It was Symonds who convinced Hobson that Auckland should be the capital of the country.
He became the Chief Magistrate as well as deputy Surveyor-General and helped set the layout of Auckland.
After a failed attempt to develop a section of coast along the Waitakere Ranges he and naturalist Ernst Dieffenbach began a survey of the North Island in early 1841. Dieffenbach - whose tendencies to argue with the New Zealand Company which employed him eventually saw him kicked out of the country - spent a great deal of time with Symonds exploring the central portion of the North Island.
On his return, Symonds was appointed to the original governing body, the Legislative Council.
In November Symonds and four other men headed across the Manukau Harbour to the Āwhitu Peninsula to take supplies to James Hamlin - a pioneering missionary whose wife was unwell.
Symonds had heard of the illness and set out on the Brilliant to take medicines to her.
Along with the others he took the ship’s longboat to head to shore but a sudden squall swamped the boat about a mile from shore.
Symonds was considered a strong swimmer and he immediately struck out for the shore. He swam for over an hour, but encumbered by a heavy coat and boots, he went under.
At no point was there a mention of a shark.
But in a letter Dieffenbach wrote that Symonds was near the shore when a shark grabbed him and dragged him under.
It’s hard to know if this is correct. There was no one nearby and of the men on the boat, two seamen, a Scottish settler called Adams and a Māori man, only the Māori survived who may have seen what actually happened.
Dieffenbach was well regarded by the Māoriand he may have heard more than was in the scant official records.
Symonds, of course does not have a grave although ironically Symonds Street Cemetery and Symonds St itself are named after him. Symonds Street in Onehunga is named after his brother.
Picture by Francesco Califano.​