Williams had been a naval officer, had fought at Copenhagen, and had in him the stuff of which Nelson's sailors were made.

Wesleyan missionaries, following in the footsteps of Marsden's pioneers, established themselves in 1822, and chose for the place of their labours the scene of the _Boyd_ disaster.
Roman Catholic activity began in 1838.
It took ten years to make one convert, and up to 1830 the baptisms were very few.

After that the work began to tell and the patient labourers to reap their harvest.

By 1838 a fourth of the natives had been baptized.

But this was far from representing the whole achievement of the missionaries.