ANCHOR FOUND FROM 1769

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33567, 22 June 1974, Page 11

ANCHOR FOUND FROM 1769

The anchor I found was one of those lost by the French explorer de Surville in 1769. Together with a second found in the same area, these tw’o anchors are the oldest authenticated relics of European New Zealand.

De Surville, who was narrowly beaten by Captain Cook in discovering New Zealand in 1769, was anchored in Doubtless Bay near Kaitaia when a north-easterly gale started his 650-ton 36-gun ship, St Jean Baptiste, dragging its three large anchors. When "only a pistol shot" from the rocks he cut his cables, and with masterly sailing managed to get his ship into open • water. For more than 200 years the anchors lay undisturbed in 75ft of water off Brodies Creek, Doubtless Bay. The turning point in my search came last year when I discovered a record of the magnetic compass deviation in 1769. With this information and aerial photographs of the likely area I was able to calculate the direction of drag the ship had taken. An area half a mile square was bouyed and the search begun with me riding an underwater

'manta board” towed by a boat. Suddenly, through the murk, loomed this huge anchor. It was an exciting moment. ' A second similar anchor has been found 150 yards further east; and the third is expected to lie some distance further east again. It is hoped to raise

these anchors soon, when they will be placed in an electro-chemical bath for some months to prevent corrosion on being exposed to the air. The anchors measure 16ft long and weigh almost 3 tons. They originally had a 10,ft hardwood stock which has now been eaten away by marine organisms. The wrought-iron anchors themselves are in remarkably good condition. One anchor\will be displayed in my own museum and the other in the Kaitaia Museum.

After six years of research and intermittent diving searches Kelly Tarlton, who owns the Shipwreck Museum in the Bay of Islands, recently found the illustrated anchor on the seabed in Doubtless Bay — a relic 205 years old. Mr Tarlton, shown securing a buoy line, here writes of his experience.