In response to Te Rauparaha's first attack in which he conquered and massacred the northern part of the South Island, 350 well-armed warriors, led by Te Whakataupuka and Taiaroa marched northwards and overtook the retreating Ngāti Toa warriors at Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay, near Cook Strait. Here Taiaroa and another young chief, Tūhawaiki, seized Te Rauparaha, only to have the wily chief slip out of his cloak and dive into the sea. He then swam to his canoes. The Kai Tahu claimed a victory; the Ngāti Toa retorted that they had successfully evaded the ambush. The subsequent skirmish at sea proved inconclusive, except that Te Rauparaha escaped. In 1835 Taiaroa, again accompanied by Tūhawaiki who, on Te Whakataupuka's death in that year, had become the paramount chief of Murihiku, organised another large expedition of four hundred men which once more inflicted severe losses upon the Ngāti Toa and their prestige, with that of their chief, had suffered considerably in these encounters with the warriors of southern New Zealand.