Have you visited the wreck of the ‘Rewa’ near Kawau?

This massive steel hull began life as the ‘Alice A. Leigh’, a product of S. B. Whitehaven Company in the United Kingdom. The name was taken from the Mayoress of Stockport, who christened the ship in September 1889.

From the time it launched, the barque was the largest sail ship on the British register at 94 metres long, 4 masts, and 31 sails, with a 2,999-ton displacement.

For the first decade of its existence, ‘Alice’ plied the trade lanes on behalf of John Joyce & Company of Liverpool, hauling cargo between Asia, North America, and Europe.

In 1895, it made its first trip to Australia, where it delivered kerosene to Melbourne. During the First World War, the ship was nearly destroyed by a German U-boat, but it was saved by the sudden appearance of a French destroyer.

In 1917, ‘Alice’ was sold to the New York & Pacific Sailing Company. Shortly after a trip to Australia in 1920, she was sold again, this time to George H. Scales Pacific Ltd of Wellington.

The company renamed the vessel ‘Rewa’, but it proved incompatible with new unloading equipment at the port. In late 1921, the ship made its final voyage to London with a cargo of wool, returning to Auckland in August 1922. By this point, ‘Rewa’ was no longer competitive with steamships and was laid up.

Charles Percy Hanson, a hermit who owned Moturekareka off the Mahurangi Peninsula, bought ‘Rewa’ in 1930 to use as a breakwater for the cove outside his island home. Shortly after it was towed to the island, though, a storm beached the ship just offshore, where it was gradually stripped down to its gunwale.

When it was scuttled, it was the last full-rigged ship on the British register. Its figurehead is now at the Torpedo Bay Naval Museum, while the hull can be visited at its final resting place off Moturekareka.

Reposted from Auckland Research Centres