A 112-year-old mystery wreck has been found in about 150 metres of water, 21 kilometres due west of Hokianga Harbour, near the tip of New Zealand's North Island.
The 'SS Ventnor' had been transporting the remains of 499 gold miners from Otago back to their homeland of China when it went missing off the coast in 1902.
Following an almost three-year search, the Ventnor Project Group, supported by Definitive Productions, discovered what it believed to be the wreck of the steamer last year.
Ventnor Project Group chairman John Albert said his team duly enlisted the services of Keith Gordon, an author and former president of the New Zealand Underwater Heritage Association, to undertake relevant testing and research.
Authorities in both China and New Zealand have been duly notified and the find has now been gazetted by Heritage New Zealand, which means no items may be removed from the wreck without permission.
"Finding the 'SS Ventnor' highlights the significant ties between China and New Zealand," says Mr Albert.
"It is important historically in terms of the early Chinese contribution to New Zealand and culturally in terms of the shared attitudes towards human remains. Since the time of the shipwreck, remains have drifted to shore. These have been interred and their graves cared for by local Maori."
A British steamer, the 'SS Ventnor' was chartered by the Cheong Sing Tong – a charity organisation led by Dunedin businessman Choie Sew Hoy – to transport the exhumed remains of Chinese men who had died in New Zealand back to their homeland for reburial.
Iain MacIntyre
