The Shipwreck.

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Canon 7D, 18-55mm Lens with CPL Filter


This is a shipwreck that lies in the Kenepuru Sounds at the top of the South Island, New Zealand. The wreck is of the ship Amokura, which was launched in 1899 in England. In the 1890s it was used to suppress slave labour in the Congo Area. In 1901 it escorted the Royal Yacht ‘Ophir’ around the coast of New Zealand. In 1905 it was taken over by the NZ Navy and used as a training ship until 1919 when she was stripped for repairs andwas found to have disintegration due to life on active service in the tropics, cost of returning her to sea-worthiness deemed prohibitive. In 1922 she was sold for use as coal hulk until 1953 when she was sold and towed to St Omer Bay, Kenepuru Sound where she was used as a Store Hulk and jetty. The council never approved so she sat there and rusted and eventually broke away and came to rest on the beach where she is now.

Length: 165 feet.
Beam: 31 feet.
Draught: minimum; 11.6 feet, maximum; 13.9 feet.
Displacement: 805 tons.
Propulsion: single 720 hp (normal draught) and 1,200 hp (forced) coal fired horizontal steam engine driving a two bladed propeller.
Cruising speed: 13 knots.
Armament: six 4-inch breech loading guns, two Hotchkiss 3 pounders and two Nordenfelt machine guns.