SHIPS THAT NEVER RETURNED

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 261, 4 November 1929, Page 12

SHIPS THAT NEVER RETURNED

OLD WRECK AT RAGLAN.

RISKS OF EARLY NAVIGATORS.

In the sketch of the career of Mr. William Duncan, published in the "Star" on Wednesday, reference "was made to tho old wreck now covered with sand above high-water mark at the mouthy of Tiparu River, near Raglan, regarding which the Maoris had no knowledge or tradition of when or how it arrived there. This is a problem that used to exercise the mind of Mr. Hill, who was at one time a well-known chemist in Auckland, and later went on the land at Raglan. It is a good many yeare ago s-ince a heavy flood in the river once more uncovered this old wreck, which was carefully examined by Mr. Hill, who found that the hull had been very strongly constructed of diagonal planking. He could not find anything to indicate from what port the vessel had sailed on the voyage that ended in New Zealand. It is, however, evidence that ship 3 reached here from other countries before the visits of Juan Fernandez, Abel Tasman and Captain Cook. When the whalers first reached the Bay of Islands, in the early years of the 18th century, the Maoris knew all about the ship's bell, as they had eeen one further north. Later this bell "was located and -was found to have an inscription on it in a language that could not be interpreted. At last a missionary on furlough from Ceylon saw this bell and at once recognised that the inscription was in the Tamil lan<mace. He interpreted it to read: "This is Boks Ships Bell." This was probably, like the wreck at Raglan, only one more instance of the dangers attending "those who go down to the sea in ships," ' particularly when sailing in uncharted waters. Even our own great explorer, Captain Cook, once ran on a reef off the Australian coast, and for a few hours it was feared the crew would have to abandon the vessel and spend their remaining years amongst savages in a strange land.

What became of the crews of the ships wrecked in New Zealand in those faroff days can only be a matter for conjecture. They may all have been drowned, or absorbed into the nearest Maori tribe, or killed and eaten. The Maoris have a tradition about white fairies who taught their ancestors the art of making nets for fishing, and the point has been suggested more thau once that these may have been sailors from ships wrecked on the coast of this country many years ago.