Henry Williams, who had translated the Treaty of Waitangi into Māori, sailed from the Bay of Islands on 2 April 1840 with two Māori-language copies of the document. He left one with his brother William Williams at Tūranga (Gisborne) on 8 April. He arrived at Port Nicholson (Wellington) in mid-April, but for 10 days could not persuade chiefs to sign. A meeting was finally arranged on the schooner Ariel on 29 April, when 39 chiefs signed.