Arrow Rock (New Zealand)

Waterpainting of Port Nelson, with the small Arrow Rock on the far right.

Arrow Rock (also Fifeshire Rock or Urenui in te reo Māori)[1] is a small island in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, off the coast of Nelson, New Zealand. There is a narrow channel between the rock and Haulashore Island.[2] Situated within Nelson Harbour,[3] Arrow Rock was site of the Fifeshire wreck in 1842, which gave the rock its secondary name.[4] There are a number of spotted shags who live on the rock.[5]

The rock is named after the first ship to sail into Nelson harbour, the Arrow. She was a 212-ton brig chartered by the New Zealand Company and used as store ship on the companies expedition to set up a settlement in Tasman Bay. She sailed into Nelson harbour on 2 November 1841 and was followed the next day by the surveyors barques Whitby and Will Watch.

Fifeshire wreck

[edit]

The barque Fifeshire totally wrecked on Arrow Rock on Sunday, February 27, 1842. It had brought out for a party of settlers for Nelson. After discharging her cargo, she got under way with a pilot on board. When she reached the narrows opposite Arrow Rock, the wind suddenly died away, and the tide drifted her upon the rocks.[3] Other ships to be wrecked after hitting the rock include the schooner Three Sisters on 15 September 1866.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "A rock by another name sounds wrong". Nelson Mail. 31 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Fifeshire Rock". Nelson Historical Society Journal. 2 (5). Victoria University of Wellington. November 1971.
  3. ^ a b Sherrin, Richard Arundell Augur; Wallace, J. H. (1890). Early history of New Zealand: from earliest times to 1840 (Public domain ed.). H. Brett. pp. 600. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  4. ^ Reed, Alexander Wyclif (1975). Place names of New Zealand. A. H. & A. W. Reed. ISBN 978-0-589-00933-5. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  5. ^ Booz, Elizabeth B.; Simmons, Ben; Hempstead, Andrew (1 October 2002). New Zealand. Odyssey Publications, Limited. p. 175. ISBN 978-962-217-700-0. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  6. ^ Ingram, C. W. N., and Wheatley, P. O., (1936) Shipwrecks: New Zealand disasters 1795–1936. Dunedin, NZ: Dunedin Book Publishing Association. p. 137.

41°16′06″S 173°14′24″E / 41.2682°S 173.2401°E / -41.2682; 173.2401