Empire builders. William Stuart Long. 1987.

Empire Builders opens in England in 1860 with Lieutenant Adam Vincent of the Royal Navy being tried by court martial and cashiered as a result of the loss of his ship by fire at sea. On impulse, he joins the 40th Foot Regiment as a private. On the voyage out to Australia to join his Regiment, his ship is driven onto a reef and Vincent heroically saves most of the passengers and crew when they take to the life boats……

The Māori Wars (1860-66) are a burdensome conflict in which, with the 40th being sent there as well as a number of Royal Navy ships (among them Red Brooke’s), Adam Vincent becomes embroiled together with the Van Burens and the De Lanceys.