John BARNES my 3 x gr grandfather was New Zealand's original whingeing POM!!! He was one of the skilled Deal boatmen from Walmer, Kent and was listed in Nelson as the coxswain.He applied to come with Wakefield's settlement To Nelson NZ. they arrived in 1841 but within two weeks John appled to the Captain for discharge! They were under contract for 2 years John claimed he had written to his wife from Teneriffe not to leave England.Captain Wakefield states in his journal that he released John at his own request , that he was a most contentious discontented man . Probably glad to get rid of him! The wives and children were to follow on the ship LLOYDS and indeed was on its way with wife Mary (nee DUNN) and his four children on board. This ship was the scandal of the Europe when it was found that 65 children had died on the voyage, captained by a man who was more used to conveying convicts to Australia.and a doctor who allowed a family on board with whooping cough. Mary arrived with 2 surviving ch. my gr gr grandfather Samuel and his sister Elizabeth. John had jumped aboard the ARROW and had gone. How must Mary have felt to arrive on the other side of the world to wade ashore in a swamp, 2 ch, dead and to find her husband had gone?! John turned up eventually in Deal, had a bigamous marriage with a Harriet WOOD and later lived with a Rebecca REDMAN and had ch. by her, all named BARNES. She was a fisherwoman. John died in Eastry workhouse in 1871. Mary met a JOhn ATWOOD and happily lived with him the rest of her life. See the story of John ATWOOD in my journal