[1] She sank with the loss of 28 lives on 23 July 1851 near Cape Terawhiti on the North Island of New Zealand.

Maria was a barque built at Yarmouth in 1836 and originally owned by J Somes to 1838, then Gardiner and Co.

On 23 March 1849 Maria, under Captain Plank, transported convicts from Dublin to Hobart.

Two days after leaving the Navigators, Nortoa, the second mate, had stabbed two men and then jumped overboard.

[10] Maria had come to Wellington, New Zealand from California in April 1851 with a 260 tons of coal, having sailed on 22 February.

At 6am on 24 July, she struck a submerged rock at Ohariu Bay, to the north of Cape Terawhiti.

Only two crewmen survived, a Malay and Stewart, an ordinary seaman who had been at the wheel at the time of the accident; in all 26 lives were lost.

William and his brother, John Deans, had established Homebush, a sheep and cattle station near Darfield.