Pioneer (paddle-steamer)
Introduction The gunboat ''Pioneer'' at Meremere during the Invasion of the Waikato. '''''Pioneer''''' was a 19th-century  paddle-steamer gunboat used in New Zealand. Built in Sydney to the order of the New Zealand colonial government by the Australian Steam Navigation Company, she cost £9,500.Launched in 1863, she was towed across the Tasman Sea by HMS ''Eclipse'', leaving Sydney on 22 September and arriving at Onehunga on 3 October 1863.She was a flat-bottomed, stern-wheel paddle-steamer of 304 tons, made of  iron. She was 42.6 m long, 6 m beam, and drew only 0.9 m fully laden for travel on the Waikato River. With twin 30 hp engines and a 3.7 m (12 foot) stern wheel she had a speed of 9 knots. She had two iron cupolas or turrets, which were pierced for rifles and 12 pdr guns. The cupolas were  high and  in diameter.She was manned by officers and men of the Royal Navy, two companies from HMS ''Curacoa''; and flew the pendant of Commodore Sir William Wiseman of ''Curacoa''. She proved of immense service in the skirmishing on the Waikato River in 1863 during the Waikato Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.On 24 December 1866, whilst awaiting repair, she broke her mooring at Port Waikato, drifted out to sea and, during an attempt to steam her into Manukau Harbour, was wrecked on the Manukau bar.The two turrets are on display in Mercer (as part of the war memorial) and Ngāruawāhia. There are two engravings of her in action on the Waikato River in Ross and Howard, from the Illustrated London News.File:The river gunboat pioneer.jpg| ''Pioneer'', 1863–1866, was New Zealand's first purpose-built warshipFile:Pioneer gun turret.jpg|A turret on display at Ngāruawāhia
See also * Early naval vessels of New Zealand
References
Bibliography *Howard, Grant (1981): ''The Navy in New Zealand'' pages 11–12 (Reed, Wellington)  *Ingram, C. W. N., and Wheatley, P. O., (1936) ''Shipwrecks: New Zealand disasters 1795–1936.'' Dunedin, NZ: Dunedin Book Publishing Association. *Ross, J O’C (1967): ''The White Ensign in New Zealand'' pages 87–88 (Reed, Wellington) *Taylor, T D (1948): ''New Zealand’s Naval Story'' pages 108-109 (Reed, Wellington) *  Entry in the ''Miramar Index''