New Zealand, where on 28 June 1841 he was appointed private secretary to Governor Hobson. On 3 Aug. 1842 he was appointed protector of aborigines. On 10 Aug. 1843 he landed at Hakaroa on Banks' Peninsula, to act as interpreter to Colonel Godfrey's court of inquiry into the land claims of the French company which was then endeavouring to establish itself at that point. After the court was closed he took a census of the natives of the peninsula. He reported on various land claims on 18 March 1844. This is merely a sample of the quiet work which he did among the natives for many years. About 1851 he returned for a time to England, and resided chiefly at Plymouth, where in 1853 he dated the preface to his first book. He was again in England in 1860, when he became M.R.C.P. He practised medicine for many years in New Zealand, and subsequently resided for some time at Parnell. In October 1889 he finally returned to England, and died at Plymouth on 5 July 1893.
His name is chiefly identified with the relations between the English and the Maoris in the earlier days of settlement. He was a profound Maori scholar. His chief works are:
- ‘The Southern Districts of New Zealand,’ London, 1851.
- ‘Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders,’ London 1854.
- ‘Maori Religion and Mythology,’ London, 1882.
Apparently he also published in New Zealand, ‘How to learn Maori.’
[Auckland Weekly News, 19 Aug. 1893; his own works; official records.]
SHORTLAND, JOHN (1769–1810), captain in the navy, born in 1769, was elder son of Commander John Shortland (1736–1803), and was elder brother of Thomas George Shortland [q. v.] He entered the navy in 1781 under his father, then employed in transport service to and from North America. He was afterwards in the Surprise, and from 1783 to 1787 in the Latona frigate in the West Indies. On his return to England in 1787 he joined the Sirius with Captain John Hunter (1738–1821) [q. v.], and in her went out to New South Wales, made the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, and was wrecked at Norfolk Island, whence he returned to England in company with Hunter in April 1792. On 10 Oct. 1793 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Arrogant, and in 1795 was selected by Hunter to be first lieutenant of the Reliance, in which he was going out as governor of New South Wales. As Hunter's duties detained him on shore, Shortland was thus in acting command of the ship, in which he made several voyages to the Cape of Good Hope, Tahiti, and New Zealand. He returned to England with Hunter in 1801, and having been promoted to be commander on 1 Jan. 1801, was appointed transport agent for the expedition to Egypt. In the following year he commanded the Dolphin, from which he was moved to the Trompeuse, going out to the Guinea coast, where he was promoted, on a death vacancy, to be captain of the Squirrel. On his return to England his commission as captain was confirmed, to date from 6 Aug. 1805. He was then sent out to the Halifax station, where, in February 1809, he was transferred to the Junon. In September he sailed for the West Indies, being then a hundred men short of complement, and on 13 Dec. fell in with four large frigates sailing under Spanish colours. They proved able to answer the private signals, and Shortland consequently stood towards them to gain intelligence of the enemy. But when the Junon was well within gunshot, they struck the Spanish colours, hoisted French, and poured in their broadsides. Notwithstanding the tremendous odds against him, Shortland defended his ship with the utmost gallantry, till he was carried below most dangerously wounded; the Junon, which had lost ninety men killed and wounded, was then boarded and taken possession of, but she was such a complete wreck that she was cleared out and set on fire. Shortland had both legs shattered and his left arm; he had also a severe wound in the side, and others less serious. His mangled body was taken on board one of the French frigates, and was afterwards sent, thirteen miles in a canoe under a blazing sun, to the hospital at Guadeloupe, where he died on 21 Jan. 1810, and where he was buried with military honours. He was unmarried.
[Naval Chron. xxiv. 1; James's Naval Hist. (ed. 1860), v. 47; Troude's Batailles Navales de la France, iv. 78; Navy Lists.]
SHORTLAND, PETER FREDERICK (1815–1888), vice-admiral, born in 1815, son of Captain Thomas George Shortland [q. v.], entered the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in January 1827, and, having passed through the course with distinction, served afloat till 1834, when, on 4 Dec., he passed his examination. In 1836–8 he was a mate of the Rattlesnake in Australian waters, and, on the settlement of Melbourne, made a survey of Port Phillip, which was approved by the governor of the colony. On returning to England in 1838 he obtained leave of absence, matriculated at Cambridge as a member of Pembroke College, and in 1842 graduated as seventh wrangler. He then applied to join
