Delaware Bay is an indentation in the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

coast east of

Pepin Island Pepin Island is a privately owned tied island in New Zealand connected by a causeway to the settlement of Cable Bay, north-east of Nelson. Geography Pepin Island is long, and up to wide. It measures in area. The highest point is Stuart Hill ...

, to the north of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. It is part of the larger

Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere Tasman Bay (; officially Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere), originally known in English as Blind Bay, is a large V-shaped bay at the north end of New Zealand's South Island. Located in the centre of the island's northern coast, it stretches along ...

. The bay is named after the ''Delaware'', a newly built

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

which sank here on its maiden voyage from Nelson to Napier in 1863, an incident best remembered for the dramatic rescue attempts by a group of local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

.The wreck of the ''Delaware''
", ''nzhistory.net'', 15 June 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.

References

Bays of New Zealand Landforms of the Nelson Region Populated places around Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere {{Nelson-geo-stub