CORSAIR BAY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27563, 21 January 1955, Page 9

CORSAIR BAY

NAME TAKEN FROM WRECKED BRIG

END OF WHALING VENTURE

The wreck of the whaling brig Corsair on the rocks in a south-west gale on April 23, 1861, gave the name of Corsair to the small, sandy bay west of the port in Lyttelton Harbour. Before the stranding, the bay had no English name. The history of the naming of the bay was sought by a correspondent in a letter printed in “The Press” yesterday. In the gale the steamer Omeo dragged her anchors and fouled the Corsair, which was wrecked on the rocks. The ship, of 134 tons, was condemned and the wreck was sold, the hull realising £lOO and the sails, spars, and rigging £215. Bought in Melbourne by a company formed for whaling off Banks Peninsula, the Corsair, as a bigantine, arrived in Lyttelton on December 21, 1857. On June 11, 1958, she sailed from Port Levy on ner first whaling expedition and killed a black whale of 12 to 15 tons north of the Waimakariri river. The carcase was hauled back to Pigeon Bay and produced eight tuns of oil, worth £2BB, and eight cwt of bone .worth £4OB. At the beginning, the whaling of the Corsair was highly successful, and in 1860 her rig was changed from brigantine to brig. Before the wreck of the Corsair, the bay was well known. The paddle steamer Avon, built in Glasgow for use on the Avon river, was launched there. The Avon had a length of 63ft on the keel, a beam inside the paddle boxes of 15 feet, and a depth of sft 6in. Her load was 35 tons. After the bay was named Corsair, another steamer, the Moa, was assembled and launched there. Built in England, the Moa had a length of 81 feet, a breadth of 18ft 6in, and a depth in hold of 6ft 6in. Of 84 tons, she had a nominal 25 h.p. engine. The next shipping event in the bay—and the last of any note, as the bay has long been a pleasure .resort and bathing place—was the iflysterious burning of the ketch XXX while she was hauled up in the bay. The old Maori name for Corsair Bay is Motu-kauati-iti.