Summary Dillon was a seafarer, born in 1788, in Martinique. He found the relics of La Perouse's ill-fated expedition aboard the Astrolabe and la Boussole on the island of Vanikoro and was awarded title of Chevalier de l'Ordre royal de la Légion d'honneur.
He appeared in Tauranga in 1835, aged 50, on the brig 'Jess' after a cargo of flax from Māori traders.
Dismantling an unused missionary's house near the CMS Mission at Te Papa, he created a shore office at Maungatapu and moored 'Jess' nearby.
He traded muskets for flax with both local iwi and those from Ngati Haua and Te Arawa.
Peter Dillon died in Paris in 1847.SourcesTe Waharoa of the Ngatihaua » Melvin, L. W. (1962) Journal of the Polynesian Society (Volume 71, No. 4,
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Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Dillon, Peter 1788-1847 (Person). Pae Korokī, accessed 23/04/2026, https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/118620