The Uruaokapuarangi (Uruao), captained by Rākaihautū, who was accompanied by his wife Waiariki-o-āio and their son Rakihouia, landed at Whakatū (Nelson). Rākaihautū and several of the crew left the canoe and journeyed south through the inte...

 The Mānuka canoe set out for Hawaiki, the Polynesian homeland, and successfully returned with a cargo of kūmara (sweet potato). Unfortunately, the tubers failed to germinate because of the extreme cold in the South Island. It is said ...

. The traditions of the Taranaki tribes of Ngāti Ruanui and Ngā Rauru name at least five other ancestral leaders, and the canoes they captained. They are: Rakeiwānangaora of the PangatoruPuatautahi of the MotumotuahiTamatearokai of&nbs...

 According to one Taranaki account, some of the earliest inhabitants of New Zealand landed at Ngāmotu near New Plymouth on three canoes, the Kahutara, the Taikōria, and the Ōkoki. These were commanded by Maruiwi, Ruatāmore and Tai...

 The Aotea left Hawaiki after a dispute between its captain, Turi, and a chief, Uenuku. Uenuku took offence at an offering from Turi and killed Turi's son Pōtikirōroa. In the reprisals which followed, Turi killed Uenuku's son Awepōtiki...

 The Taranaki tribes say that Te Moungaroa was the captain of the Kurahaupō and that the canoe was wrecked in Hawaiki, or on Rangitāhua, an island in the middle of the sea, and that the crew were brought to Aotearoa on the Mataatu...

 The earliest Taranaki canoe tradition says that conflict arose in Hawaiki when a party of spear-makers, led by Tūpenu and employed by the chief Manaia, had molested Manaia’s wife, Rongotiki. Manaia’s people attacked and killed the workmen. Retr...

 The Tākitimu canoe is known in several regions. Northern East Coast accounts say that the Tākitimu left Hawaiki after a dispute between the people of the chief Uenuku, and those of Ruawharo and Tūpai. It is said that Ruawhar...

The Horouta canoe belonged to Toi, the great Polynesian explorer. One day Kahukura, a visitor from Hawaiki, arrived with some dried kūmara (sweet potato), which the locals had never eaten before. Toi gave the canoe to Kahukura to go and obt...

 For Ngāti Porou, the Nuku-tai-memeha of Māui is the foundation canoe. According to tradition it lies upturned in stone on Hikurangi mountain. Of the major East Coast ancestors, Whironui (Whiro) and the Nukutere canoe were th...

 The Tōtara-i-kāria canoe is said to have been taken by the priest Ngātoroirangi back to Hawaiki, where he fought a battle at Ihumotomotokia and Whatatiri against the chief Manaia. After defeating Manaia, he returned to his pā in New Z...

 The canoe Ngā Māhanga-a-Tuamatua (the twins of Tuamatua) is sometimes considered to be an ancient reference to both the Tainui and Te Arawa canoes. The scholar Apirana Ngata suggested that the two canoes were in fa...

 ... The Tainui canoe, under the command of Hoturoa, landed at Whangaparāoa about the same time as Te Arawa. A whale was found stranded on the beach and the place was accordingly named Whangaparāoa (whale bay). The people of ...

. Te Arawa and its crew left Hawaiki after a conflict over food resources involving Houmaitawhiti and his sons Tamatekapua and Whakatūria against the chiefs Toi and Uenuku. When Whakatūria was killed, Tamatekapua departed on the Arawa,...

Tāwhirirangi was the canoe of Ngāhue, who is said to have landed in the Bay of Plenty and then explored much of New Zealand. According to the tradition Ngāhue discovered greenstone and the moa in the South Island and returned to Hawaiki with gre...