First Four Ships

Bernicia called at Nelson where Thomas was told by settlers of unexplored plains stretching north and west of Banks Peninsula.

The surveyor's interest was aroused, so they proceeded to Wellington where Thomas wrote to Bishop George Selwyn saying he intended to head to Port Cooper (present-day Lyttelton) to inspect this area.

The three, along with Sir William Fox (the newly appointed principal agent to the New Zealand Company) and five survey hands, arrived in Port Cooper aboard the sloop HMS Fly in December 1848.

With Thomas's suggestion, Governor Grey and Bishop Selwyn decided to site the Canterbury Settlement in this area rather than in the Wairarapa.

With Godley, Thomas and his companions set about arranging immigration barracks and the other necessary infrastructure for the settlement at Port Cooper and the new Christchurch.

[4] By the end of summer the colony had been joined by settlers from the Castle Eden, which arrived on 17 February 1851, and then the Isabella Hercus on 1 March.

The "colonists", who travelled in the relative luxury of the cabins, included those men and their families who could afford to buy land in the new colony.

Each ship carried a chaplain, a doctor and a schoolmaster, and included in the cargo was a printing press, a library of 2,000 books, a church organ and several pre-fabricated houses in sections.