Ninety-nine years after the event, Walter Wright painted this impression of the burning of the Boyd in Whangaroa Harbour in December 1809. On a voyage from Sydney to Cape Town, the Boyd anchored at Whangaroa to load kauri spars and allow Māori to disembark. During the voyage a Māori chief, Te Ara, had been mistreated by the ship’s captain. In retaliation, a group of Māori boarded the ship, killed the captain, crew and passengers, and looted the vessel. When a barrel of gunpowder accidentally exploded, the ship burnt to the waterline. Only four of the 70 people aboard survived.