Whilst the Barrier provides some shelter for the Hauraki Gulf it is also beset by periodic gales and, with it’s many miles of inhospitable coastline, has been the setting for numerous shipwrecks over the years.
In the book edited by Don Armitage, “Great Barrier Shipwrecks”[4] Don lists 56 known shipwrecks between 1842 and 1989 but states that is not necessarily the full list, there are probably more to be added to the list.
Some of the more notable ship wrecks were:
- Osprey On the 29th September 1864, the 39 ton schooner, Osprey, en-route to Auckland with a load of timber from Port Fitzroy, started leaking and made for the shelter of Whangaparapara Harbour but mistakenly entered the next bay south, Blind Bay and was wrecked. The Osprey was owned by the Great Barrier Land, Harbour and Mining Company.
- Wairarapa. At 8 minutes past midnight on the 29th October 1894 the Union Steamship S S Wairarapa, en-route to Auckland from Sydney, ploughed at full speed into miner’s head at the northern tip of Great Barrier with the loss of 130 lives. [1]
- Wiltshire On the 31st May 1922 the 12,160 ton freighter, Wiltshire, en route from Liverpool, UK, to Auckland struck the rocks below the high cliffs at Rosalie Bay in the south east of Great Barrier Island. Whilst the ship broke up a valiant rescue operation took place and after two days of strenuous effort the rescuers had brought all 103 of the officers and crew, including the ship’s cat, to safety on land. [4]
- Rose Noelle The Rose Noelle a 12.65m catamaran left Picton in June 1989 with the owner and captain, John Glennie and three crew to sail to Tonga. It encountered a severe gale and a rogue wave upturned the boat about 200 miles off the eastern coast of NZ. After 119 days the Rose Noelle was swept onto the rocky coast on the south west of Great Barrier Island. The four men were fortunate to survive the landing and the whole story became a major sensation in NZ. John Glennie subsequently wrote a book. [2] as did James Nalepka and Steven Callahan [3] and TVNZ also produced a TV documentary.
- Tiri – Radio Hauraki on the 20th january 1968 Tiri lost engine power and ended up on the rocks between Okupu and Whangaparapara. The ship was successfully re-floated a few days later.
References:
- Eight minutes past Midnight by Steve Locker-Lampson & Ian Francis
- The Spirit of the Rose-Noelle by John Glennie and Jane Phare
- Capsized by James Nalepka and Steven Callahan
- Great Barrier Island Shipwrecks by Don Armitage