 The search for this remaining would ultimately lead to the Wairau Affray – then known as the "Wairau Massacre" – of 17 June 1843, when 22 Europeans and four Māori died in a skirmish over land in the Wairau Valley, 25 km from Nelson.Arthur Wakefield claimed to have bought the land from the widow of a whaler who, in turn, had claimed to have bought it from chief Te Rauparaha.The chief denied having sold it.