Merry Christmas to you all. Last month I had a holiday at Stewart Island which is the smallest and southernmost of New Zealands 3 main islands. In the entrance to the only harbour is a small group of rocks known as the "Bunker Rocks" These were apparently named after Capt Eber BUNKER. Eber was a Nantucket Whaler who was contracted to transport Convicts to Sydney Australia in the second fleet (1790?). He then went on to hunt whales in the southern ocean and put a sealing party ashore in southern NZ. He became a prosperous land owner in Sydney (the suburb of Liverpool was originally his land). His other claim to fame was getting the job of transporting Capt Bligh (of Bounty fame) back to England after he was stripped of his post as Governor General for New South Wales. Eber married well as his wife was a Collingwood and closely related to the Admiral who took command at Trafalgar after Lord Nelson was killed. I suspect this connection was why he, as an American, was favoured by the English so soon after the events of 1776. My interest in Eber BUNKER arose from the search for the parentage of my Gt Gt Grandmother Elizabeth BUNKER (1818 to 1898). This search continues!! Murray Reid Auckland NZ