Move To Salvage Three Historic Anchors

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30724, 13 April 1965, Page 10

Move To Salvage Three Historic Anchors

"The Press" Special Service

WHANGAREI, April 12.

Three anchors, among the most historic relics of European exploration of New Zealand, may soon be salvaged from the bottom of Doubtless Bay, Northland, where they have lain for 200 years.

The anchors were left behind by the third European ship to visit New Zealand, the French vessel St. Jean Baptiste, which made Doubtless Bay in 1769, soon after Captain Cook’s Endeavour.

Their exact position, which is now believed to be known, was discovered largely through the work of the late Dr. R. R. D. Milligan, of Mangonui, and formerly of Christchurch.

The St. Jean Baptiste expedition was unhappy. The ship sailed from the French Indian possession of Pondicherry on June 2, 1769, under the command of J. F. M. de Surville.

By the time she dropped anchor in Doubtless Bay on December 17, 54 of the crew had died of scurvy and skin diseases and the rest were weak and sickly. Anchor Dragged

They had barely time to regain their strength when a storm blew up. The anchors dragged and had to be cut loose to enable the ship to escape a nearby reef. De Surville and most of his crew died before they could reach home.

An attempt to find and raise the anchors from their resting place will be organised by the Northland regional committee of the Historic Places Trust. Members of the Whangarei Underwater Club have agreed to help with the work. They will search the floor of Doubtless Bay at the spot where the ship is said to have anchored.