His first approach was to Captain Briggs of the Hobart ship "Dragon", but Briggs rejected the proposal. Te Rauparaha then offered Captain John Stewart of the brig "Elizabeth", just arrived from London via Sydney, a cargo of 50 tons of flax as payment for the transportation of the war party to Akaroa. Although Briggs warned him that taking on board so large a number of Māori would give them effective control of his ship, Stewart, who was on his first voyage to New Zealand, would not be dissuaded, apparently seeing the arrangement an easy way of filling his ship with a valuable cargo.