RELICS EXHIBITED IN NAPIER

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5323, 8 February 1947, Page 7

RELICS EXHIBITED IN NAPIER

Relics from ships which have been wrecked on variou^ parts of the coast of New Zealand have been arranged in a showease by the Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and.Museum staff and are on exhibition in the entrance foyer of the Napier Municipal Library, where they are attracting more than passing interest. It is several years sinoe a ship has been wrecked on the New Zealand coast, and the stranding of the Wanganella on Barrett's Reef has recalled to many the history of wrecks of the past.

The toll of the sea in these days of ( travellirfg in liners is slight compared : with that when sailing was the chief ' method of sea travel, and in the early ; days ship wrecks on the New Zealand j coast were fairly numerous Fate of the 'Northumberland. An old wooden bucket and a piece of timber, relics of the Northumber- ( land, recall the story of this ship j which was wrecked early on the morn- | ing of May 10, 1887, during a heavy j gale which swept the East Coast. A ; full-rigged iron ship of 2095 tons, the Northumberland arrived o.ff Napier from London and Lyttelton with an English cargo of 1000 tons and 4000 bags of wheat and other* produce shipped at' Lyttelton. There was loss of 'life indirectly connnected with the wreck, but the crew of the Northumberland reacKfed the shore safely. Commencing to drift towards the shore when her cables parted, the vessel was steadied by the second anchor, and a spare anchor was also laid out.- The anchor began to drag, however, anc^ all attempts to save "the vessel were useless. She was carried rapidly on to the beach and cast on the shore broadside on. v The tender Boojum, while ' going under the lee of the Northumberland to take her boat's crew on board, was drawn into the 'breakers and capsized. The Boojum was manned by Captain Setter, an engineer, two seamen and two landsmen, and although the Northumiberland's lifeboat went to their reseue, it suoceeded in saving only the engineer. In a short time the masts of the Northumberland went over the side, and on the following morning only a small portion of the ship was visible. The figurehead of the Northumberland, a Viking, was for mapy years to be seen in the garden of a fisherman at Westshore. Later the relic graced a small garden plot at Whakatu, and it was subsequently acquired by a sheepfarmer at Akito, near Caue Turnagain. The wreck of the Northumberland reappeared during the upthrust of the earthquake of 1931. Her mast'er was Captain Richard Todd. Destroyed by Fire. Another old wreck which can still be seen at law tide off Hardinge^Road, Pori Ahuriri, is the immigrant ship Montmorency, Which arrived at Napier on March 24, 1867, and was totally I destroyed by fire at midnight on March 27. The passengers and luggage had been landed, but the cargo was intact. The cause of the fire" was not kn'own, and it was considered providential that the fire did not break out while the ship was at sea when many lives must inevitably have been sacrificed. The Montmorency was said to have carried more immigrants in !her day than any other British ship. A tragedy involving- the loss of 19 lives occurred in the Inner Harbour at Napier at 11.30 p.m. on Decem'ber 28, 1932, when the launch Doris, with 31 men aboard, which was returning from tlie roadstead, collided w!th the small steamer Tu Atu and sanlc. The men on boa'rd were waterside workers who had been engaged on the Port Hunter and Port Brisbane, which were lying in the roadstead. Twenty-one men reached the shore alive, some being piclced up by the tug Coralie, while others were rescued by the ferr.v launch Naomi. Ten hodies were recovered from the water after the tragedy.

A relic of the Star of Canada, which was wrecked on Kaiti Beach, Gisborne, on June 23, 1912, is still to be seen in Gisborne and forms part of an attractive residence. The bridge and upper structure was purchased by a resident who contemplated building a honie, and this portion of the wrecked ship has been built into the house, which has a decided nautical appearance. Purchased by a 'Napier resident, the Weka, %which bro'ke her moorings and was washed ashore on Petane Beach some years ago, has been transformed into a week-end house boat while still remaining on the beach where she was stranded. Other shipwrecks on the Hawke's Bay coast include the following: Greecihn Bend, which founded in Hawke's Bay in 1894; all hands being lost. Tasmania, an inter-colonial steamer, wrecked on the north of_ Mahia Peninsula on July 29, 1897; six lives lost. Ripple, founded on the^ way to Napier on August 7, 1924, pieces of wreckage being found at Castlepoint, all h.ands lost. Schooner Annie, wrecked at Cape Kidnappers in August, 1869. Winona, stranded at Napier on June 2, 1906; total loss. Duncan Cameron, schooner, capsized in Napier roadstead on March 13, 11867, three men lost. Cog du Village, wrecked on Petane Beach on January 23, 1876. Ketch Mary Ann Hudson, wrecked .at Mohaka on Septemfoer 4, 1874. Acadia, left Napier on March 9, 1880, for Auckland and never heard of again. Transit, wrecked on Petane Beach on July 10, 1883.

Historical events are also recalled by some of the relics exhibited, such . as two pieces of tim'ber from Lord Nelson's ship Victory, which was launched in 1765, and a piece of copper bolt from the Bounty, which the Museulin has received from the great great grandson of Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny. Convict Ship. Three pieces of copper sheathing, a bolt and two pieces of timber which have been under water for nearly 90 years are off th'e lEinglish ship Boyd, which set out from Thames in 1809 with convicts for Port Jackson. In the same year she ealled at Whangaroa to load kauri spars en route to Africa. Three days after her ! arrival in Decem'ber, the Maoris, in ' revenge for injustices enforeed upon their chief Tara while a passenger on the ship, carried out the pillage of the Boyd, and the massacre of ! almost her entire complement, only^ I a youth^ a woman and two children" j being rescued. The remains of the jBoyd were found drawn up on the } beach near the present site of Kaeo, | stripped of everything of value and I burned to the water's edges I A piece of timber ' off Captain | Cook's Endeavour, which was hauled Jup in 1910 after havin-g been under i water for nearly 116 years, recalls the i loss of this ship, which is of considj erable fiistorical interest. Not only is ■ it the first authentic instance of a | ship becoming a total loss on the coast * of New Zealand but it is immediately ' connected with the first, though only ! temporary, . settlement in these | islands. . There is also a piece of the tree to | which Captain Coolc moored the En- ■ deavour in 1770 when he hurriedly i beached at what is now known as '■ Cooktown, to repair his buffeted eraft. | The Endeavour was a very old ship I when she was pressed into service in 1 1794 for the carriage of a shipment of cattle and grain from India to Sydney, where she arrived in May, : 1795. On her way to New Zealand ; the Endeavour encountered a heavy | gale on October 3 and the pounding ! of the seas openedb up her seams. i Upon arrival at Dusky Sound, in the South Island, eight days later a thorough examination revealed that the old shap was literally falling to pieces. Built of teak, hel1 age was ! placed then at about 70 years, and it is possible that she was much older i even than that. j. - The Endeavour was condemned j and everything in her, including ' stores, masts and rigging, were taken I ashore, and the high-pooped shell of the old trader was cast loose on October 25, 1795. Two days later 1 she piled up on a rock where what is left of her still lies.