much of his course to the south, he was roughly parallel with the coast of Australia and, before turning to the east, it is likely that he came close to reaching and discovering the coast of what is now New South Wales. Several birds were seen and his crew reported that they could smell land, but he continued with his change of course regardless. New Zealand On 12 December 1769 at 11:15 am, Saint Jean-Baptiste sighted the coast of New Zealand and sailed to just off Hokianga, on the west coast of the northern part of the North Island. Finding the shore inhospitable, Surville sailed northwards. On 16 December, the ship rounded North Cape and, heading south, passed through the area that James Cook's Endeavour had traversed one or two days earlier. Surville and Cook were the first Europeans to navigate New Zealand waters since Abel Tasman's voyage 127 years earlier. Sailing down the east coast, Surville reached what he called "Lauriston Bay" on 17 December 1769. Cook had already named it "Doubtless Bay" when he sailed past it less than two weeks earlier. Māori in canoes went out to Saint Jean-Baptiste and engaged in some trading for fresh fish, allaying fears of the crew who were aware Tasman had experienced a hostile welcome on his arrival in New Zealand. Surville then took his ship deeper into the bay, anchoring late in the day off Tokerau Beach near Whatuwhiwhi. Surville, along with some sailors and soldiers, went ashore the next day. The party was greeted by a Māori chief, who showed them to a source of water, and gave them cresses and celery. Over the next several days, the fresh food gathered or traded from the Māori helped the majority of the sick among the expedition to recover from their scurvy. It is likely that Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, the chaplain on Saint Jean-Baptiste, conducted the first Christian service in New Zealand and may have celebrated mass on Christmas Day 1769. If so, this would predate Reverend Samuel Marsden's service of Christmas Day in 1814, generally held to be the first religious service in New Zealand. Some actions of the French may have caused offence to the Māori. Surville attached a white ostrich feather to a chief's head, considered highly tapu. The bodies of those who died from scurvy in the bay were thrown overboard, which would have contaminated