264 SHIPWRECKS. [PART n. 



The accident that befell the New Zealand Com- 

 pany's vessel Tory, which ran on a sand-bank at 

 the entrance of this harbour, the total loss of the 

 timber-vessel Aurora, and the wreck of the brig 

 Sophia Pate, when many lives were lost under cir- 

 cumstances the most distressing all of which ship- 

 wrecks happened in the last two years have ob- 

 tained for this harbour a very bad reputation. But 

 I am inclined to ascribe these accidents to the very 

 deficient knowledge possessed of the harbour, which 

 has never been properly surveyed, while incorrect 

 and untrustworthy sketches pass into our charts as 

 surveys. 



Kaipara is not a bar-harbour, but a channel- 

 harbour ; it is a large basin, into which a tide, 

 rising ten feet at full and change, rushes with great 

 velocity, which, joined with the narrowness of the 

 channel and our imperfect knowledge of the sound- 

 ings, certainly occasions great danger. Westerly 

 winds, which blow without intermission during 

 some portions of the year, and increase the current 

 setting into the harbour, are another inconvenience, 

 as they prevent ships from leaving the harbour at 

 all times. This, indeed, is the case with all the 

 harbours on the western coast of New Zealand. 

 Whether the shoals and sand-banks in the offing 

 are shifting is not yet ascertained, but it is not 

 improbable that such is the case. I am aware that, 

 being no navigator, my opinion cannot claim much 

 weight, but it certainly appears to me that, notwith- 



