Selwyn Times: September 01, 2021

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wednesday September 1 2021 Selwyn Times
NEWS 13
Steamer wreck mystery likely solved
• By Susan Sandys
THE MYSTERY of an unknown
shipwreck in a remote part of
Fiordland may have been solved.
A cannon, found by a scientific
expedition team from Willowbank
Wildlife Reserve, is possibly
from the Star of the South. The
steamship wrecked in the area
in 1865. Its passengers and crew
were all rescued.
The drawing of a galleon with
names etched underneath in
a nearby cave is unlikely to be
related. They are believed to have
been left by early sealers.
Members of the expedition
made the discovery of the cannon
in June, as they searched for
the elusive South Island kōkako.
They unearthed the vintage
naval gun by moving stones with
their bare hands after spotting a
patch of rust on the stony beach
at Chalky Inlet. It followed them
viewing the etchings in the cave
the previous month, and they
wondered if the cannon and
etchings may be linked and both
be evidence of an unknown
shipwreck.
Managing
director Michael
Willis, who
lives in Halkett,
said information
which has
surfaced since,
suggested the
Michael
Willis
cannon may
have come from
the shipwrecked
Star of the South.
The Star of the South was a
West Coast trading ship with
three masts. She was transporting
cargo and passengers from
Dunedin to Hokitika when she
took shelter from stormy seas at
Chalky Inlet. On December 15,
1865, she struck a sunken rock
and was beached on sandy shores
to prevent her foundering.
A newspaper article on Papers
Past, discovered by a follower on
the Willowbank Facebook page,
suggests one of the ship’s cannons
was taken to a nearby shore
by a look-out party to be used as
a signal gun. A January 18, 1866,
The Press article details the efforts
of two crew members going
in the ship’s boat to the shore in
the Cape Providence area, and
climbing a hill to light a fire to
alert passing ships so they could
be rescued.
“By the difficulty they had in
ascending and descending the
hill, they also ascertained that to
convey to the summit the cannon
they brought with them as a
signal-gun, was out of the question,”
the article says.
This suggests that after arriving
in the boat, they left the cannon
behind on the beach as they
climbed the hill.
Willowbank general manager
Dale Hedgcock said the area of
the beach where he and his fellow
team members found the cannon
would have been an obvious location
for the two Star of the South
crewmen to land their boat,
before walking along the beach
for about 1km to access the hill
referred to in the article.
“That’s probably the only area
you would try and land a boat,
there’s so many rocks around,”
Hedgcock said.
Other articles on Papers Past
reveal the more than 15 passengers
and crew were lucky to be
rescued from the remote location
six days after the shipwreck, on
December 21. Another steam
ship, the William Miskin, happened
to come across the wreck
as she took shelter from stormy
seas.
“Through her providential
arrival, the passengers and crew
were saved much distress and
inconvenience,” said a reporter in
the January 20, 1866, edition of
the Taranaki Herald.
The passengers arrived at their
original destination of Hokitika
on December 27. The Star of the
South was retrieved, but later
stranded on a beach, at Napier in
1870, before ultimately wrecking
in 1884, on the mouth of the
Grey River.
Hedgcock said a maritime historian,
archaeologist and DOC
representative planned to visit
the site and ultimately preserve
the cannon. They hoped to determine
whether it came from the
Star of the South or an unknown
shipwreck. The team was awaiting
the right permissions in order
to make the visit.
Naval artillery expert Peter
Cooke said the Star of the South
story “seems to ring true” in
STRANDED: The
Star of the South
continued in service
after being retrieved
from Chalky Inlet.
This painting
shows the steam
ship stranded on
a Napier beach in
1870.
answering the question as to how
the cannon was buried on the
beach at Chalky Inlet.
“If that story places the wreck
of the Star of the South or the
people from it at this location,
then I think that does solve the
mystery,” Cooke said.
He said merchant ships carried
arms in the 1800s in case of attack
from pirates. Additionally,
cannons were used for signalling.
They were fired as a ship came
into harbour to alert the pilot
boat to come out and guide the
ship into port.
“It’s great that it has been found
and has a back story to it, because
hopefully now some museum authorities
will preserve it,” Cooke
said.
Weapons of that sort needed
a special type of preservation
involving an electrolysis bath to
reverse the rusting process.
Cooke said it was an exciting
find, in that it referenced an event
that went back to New Zealand’s
early history.
From looking at photos of
the cannon, he determined it
was a Carronade. These type of
cannons were first used in 1779,
and generally dated from at least
1800. They were named after the
Scottish foundry Carron where
they were designed and made,
initially for the Royal Navy.
There were 37 other cannons of
this type that he was aware of in
New Zealand, most of them held
in museums around the country.
Department of Conservation
senior heritage adviser Matthew
Schmidt said the etchings which
UNEARTHED: Dale Hedgcock and Mark
Willis with the cannon they discovered on
a beach in Chalky Inlet. Above: The Star
of the South met her final demise on the
Grey River mouth in 1884.
had also been viewed by the Willowbank
party, were possibly left
by early sealers using the cave for
shelter.
He said the cave itself did not
have a formal name, but the site
was familiar with locals and formally
recorded in the early 1980s.
DOC issued a reminder after
the cannon find about the importance
of not disturbing heritage
sites.
However, Schmidt acknowledged
the Willowbank team
made the right decision following
their find of the cannon to contact
the Ministry for Culture and
Heritage.
“The immediate parties which
additionally should have been
contacted were Environment
Southland and the Department
of Conservation,” Schmidt said.
However, Willis said if DOC
wanted to be told, this information
should be on the Ministry
for Culture and Heritage website.
Ten weeks after informing the
ministry, he still had not heard
back from anyone from the
ministry.
Meanwhile, while Willowbank
initially hoped to obtain custodianship
of the cannon, this now
seems unlikely.
“For finds like this, it is important
for finders to work with local
agencies and the community to
ensure that if it is recovered and
conserved, it is displayed locally
so it remains part of the heritage
story of Fiordland. The finders
and conservators would then
become part of that local heritage
story,” Schmidt said.
“Capital gain was a big
influence...”
MICHAEL WILLMER - RETIRED BUILDER,CABINET MAKER
“..we knew there’d always be money left to help
our kids - especially the grandchildren. But it was also the
quality of the build that swayed us...it was very good.”
There are many more reasons why Woodcroft Estate could be the right
choice for you. Why not visit our website and discover just how much
more there is to gain in your retirement living.
VISIT US ONLINE | KARAKAPINES.CO.NZ
TO DISCOVER HOW GOOD YOUR RETIREMENT LIVING COULD BE.
34 KENDON DRIVE LEVI PARK, ROLLESTON | CORINNE 03 421 7796 | 021 292 1141 |
SALES@WOODCROFTESTATE.CO.NZ |
0800 KARAKA