Hellhole of the Pacific

No settlement in New Zealand can claim a past as colourful and chequered as that of Kororareka, in the Bay of Islands, later to become Russell. In the 1830s it was such a wild place that it earned the name 'hell-hole of the Pacific'. Whalers, sealers, escaped convicts, seamen, and adventurers descended on the little Maori village. Drunkenness, debauchery, grog shops, and the oldest profession proliferated. It rivaled similar settlements around the Pacific, such as Sydney, San Francisco, and Hawaii. Richard Wolfe's new book reminds us that early periods of European settlement were often a torrid and eventful time. Includes a photo insert and maps of the area.