A 2000km shipwreck

STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL: Ship Creek.

Relevant offers

New Zealand

An island recovered First Church treasure 36 hours in Wanaka Tourists flock in, but Kiwis flee to Australia Migration figures to turnaround - report Small panel falls off during Jetstar flight Cycling Marlborough's vineyards National mosaic of cycleways Top spots for 2012 Naked tramper stalks bush

My companion is someone who will never pass up an opportunity to fossick along a lonely ocean beach.

Driving through South Westland one late afternoon we are anticipating those pleasant things in life - a pint in the Haast Tavern and a bottle of chardonnay cooling in the chilly bin.

We agree to delay these simple pleasures and turn off State Highway 6 at Ship Creek as the winter sun slides towards the Tasman Sea.

To the Maori this is Tauperikaka Creek. Rain-fed, it gets its dark inky colour from the tannin and humus acid of swamp forests absorbed along its 11-kilometre course.

A soft light spreads across the lagoon. We hear the swirling sea grating beach stones. We glimpse breaking waves, back-lit in gold against the retiring sun.

We walk along the lagoon to the beach, not meeting another human. We pick over pebbles of many colours, typically keeping some as souvenirs. Ocean-crafted driftwood, too, attracts our attention.

The beach, wild, lonely, and stunningly beautiful, has associations with a curious shipwreck.

The Ship Creek name has its origins in 1871, when a large fragment of a ship of unusual wood construction never seen in New Zealand was discovered at the mouth of Tauperikaka Creek. Fragments of a ship were again found four years later. When pieced together, the wreckage suggested the bows of a stylish sailing clipper.

Additional hull pieces were seen in the 1920s. Then, in 1973, the remaining wreckage was found by divers off the southwestern coast of Victoria, Australia.

The ship was identified and confirmed by shipbuilders in Aberdeen, Scotland, as the Schomberg of the Black Ball line, wrecked on December 26, 1855, near the end of its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne. It was an unspectacular wreck on an uncharted sandbar, from which over 300 passengers stepped ashore in Victoria.

Remarkably, fragments of the ship had drifted 2000 kilometres to a desolate New Zealand beach.

The Schomberg was hailed as the finest and fastest ship in the world. Its unlucky captain James "Bully" Forbes boasted he would reach Melbourne in 60 days "with or without the help of God" and set a new record for the voyage from England.

The ship was frequently becalmed, lengthening the voyage to more than 80 days. Maritime historians have suggested a disgruntled Forbes purposely let Schomberg founder under the Australian high cliffs, where many other migrant sailing ships also wrecked.

Subsequent charges of negligence against Forbes, heard in an Australian court, failed owing to a lack of evidence.

Fittingly, that part of Australia is named the Shipwreck Coast.

At Ship Creek the event is briefly recorded on a Department of Conservation information board. Nearby is a tower, offering a worthy view of the lagoon and ocean. Pieces of Schomberg are displayed at the Haast Visitor Centre.

Watching the sun vanish into the Tasman Sea, and feeling the chill of the darkening evening, we scurry to our car. Sounds of a thundering ocean are replaced by the vehicle's heater on full blast. A short drive down the highway, warm lodgings at the Haast Wilderness Backpackers and a friendly tavern awaits.

Ship Creek car park is a short distance from SH6, about 10km south of Knights Point. A 15-minute circular walk leads along the lagoon to the beach and returns via the dunes.

- © Fairfax NZ News