The cluster of rocks that is Barrett Reef (often known as ''Barrett's Reef'') is one of the most hazardous
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...
s in
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 ...
.
It lies on the western side of the entrance of
Wellington Harbour, on the approaches to the city of
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, at coordinates . The reef is named after
Richard (Dicky) Barrett (1807–1847), a whaler and trader.
Its
Māori name is ''Tangihanga-a-Kupe, (Mourning of Kupe)'', which may refer to the reef's similarity to a line of mourners at a tangi, the sad sound of the water around the reef, or Kupe crying for people he left behind in his travels. The reef is popular with recreational divers.
Dangerous entrance
The reef, much of which is exposed even at high tide, is located to the west of the two-kilometre-wide channel that links
Cook Strait
Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...
with Wellington Harbour, close to the shore of the
Miramar Peninsula. The shipping channel lies between the reef and Pencarrow to the east. The area to the west between the reef and Point Dorset on the Miramar Peninsula is known as Chaffers Passage, after the captain of the ''
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
'', a ship sent to New Zealand by the
New Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...
in 1839. Due to the channelling effect of Cook Strait, which lies between the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
and the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...
, the currents are strong and fickle and gales are common. Add to this the volume of traffic which uses the shipping channel (including several crossings daily of the inter-island ferries to
Picton), and it is not surprising that the reef has a lengthy roll-call of
shipwrecks.
History of vessels damaged, stranded, or wrecked on Barrett Reef
* 1848 ''Subraon'', barque, bound for Sydney on Barrett Reef. This vessel was carrying people away from Wellington on account of the Awatere valley, Marlborough earthquake (7.5) 16 Oct 1848; they were fleeing to Sydney.
* 1850 Ship, ''
Inconstant'' struck Barrett Reef. The vessel was afterwards purchased by
John Plimmer
John Plimmer (28 June 1812 – 5 January 1905) was an English settler and entrepreneur in New Zealand who has been called the "Father of Wellington".
Early life in England
Plimmer was born at a village called in contemporary accounts "Upton-unde ...
and used as a store, called "Plimmer's Ark," where the Bank of New Zealand (now the '
Old Bank Arcade') was later built.
* 1866 ''Tui'', iron steamer, wrecked, north end of Barrett Reef.
* 1871 ''Lady Bird'', schooner (3-masted), 303 tons stranded on the south end of Barrett Reef.
* 1874 ''Earl of South Esk'', wooden barque, 336 tons. Became a total loss
* 1874 ''Cynthia'', schooner, 63 tons. Stranded; partial loss. Abreast of north end of Barrett Reef
* 1876 ''Hunter'', schooner, 90 tons. Stranded; total loss. Southernmost rock of Barrett Reef
* 1876 ''Shepherdess'', schooner, 38 tons, Stranded; partial loss
* 1880 ''Malay'', barque, en route from Newcastle. When off Barrett reef the vessel struck a rock, got off and arrived at port making a little water.
* 1882 ''Napier'', steamer, 48 tons Barrett Reef, 8 December 1882; got off.
* 1883 ''Caberfeidh'', barque, 333 tons, struck outer rock of Barrett Reef. She received but little injury, only a few feet of her false keel having been carried away.
*1885 ''Coronilla'', barque, had a narrow escape when she drifted on to the reef. Towed away by ''Tui''.
* 1895 ''Wakatipu'', steamer, 1258 tons, and ''Flora'', 838 tons, collided heavily about 200 yards inside the outer rock of Barrett Reef while racing at top speed. The directors dismissed each master even though they both were credited with great skill and each had many years’ experience under his belt.
* 1897 ''Clansman'', schooner, 157 tons stranded inside outer reef of on Barrett Reef, 6 October 1897; got off, repaired at Evans Bay Patent Slip.
* 1912 ''Haupiri'', steamer, struck Barrett Reef in heavy rain, 17 May 1912; put back to
Evans Bay and repaired.
*1915 ''Corinna'', steamer, 812 tons.
* 1927 ''Norma,'' fishing launch, struck Barrett Reef and sank. Retrieved from 60 feet of water by the floating crane
Hikitia.
* 1933 ''Golden Harvest'', steamer, 5644 tons, struck the rocks of Barrett reef and ran aground. Stuck fast for 24 hours, then unloaded onto lighters and retrieved by tugs Toia and Terawhiti to Jubilee Floating Dock in Wellington.
* 1936 ''Rangatira'', inter-island ferry, 6,152 ton
* 1947 , liner, 9576 tons. Stranded; refloated and repaired.
* 1968 , inter-island ferry, 8,948 tons, 53 lives lost. Wrecked; complete loss.
Sources
Evening Post, volume=XCIII, issue=48, 24 February 1917, Page 6
Wanganui Chronicle, issue=19883, 27 August 1913, Page 5
Evening Post, volume=CXV, issue=126, 31 May 1933, Page 10
See also
*
Steeple Rock
References
{{Reflist
Landforms of the Wellington Region
Cook Strait
Cook Strait Ferry
Reefs of the Pacific Ocean
Reefs of New Zealand
Wellington Harbour