Rangitoto Island maritime history

Maritime History & Shipwrecks

Rangitoto Island’s coastline serves as a final resting place for over 13 vessels abandoned between 1887 and 1947. Most remains are concentrated at Boulder Bay and Wreck Bay, where hulks like the steamer Duchess and the barque Gladbrook were intentionally run aground. Complementing this maritime graveyard, the Bach 38 Museum at Islington Bay preserves a restored 1930s holiday home, providing a glimpse into the island's unique social history and early 20th-century maritime life.

Bach 38 Museum

A restored 1920s holiday home at Islington Bay. It serves as a museum showcasing the social history of Rangitoto’s early bach communities, featuring original furnishings and historical photographs from the mid-20th century.

Duchess

Remains of an iron-hulled excursion steamer built in 1897. Once a popular ferry in Wellington and Auckland, it was abandoned at Rangitoto’s shipwreck graveyard in 1947.

Rarawa

Steel-hulled remains of a Northern Steamship Company vessel built in 1903. This twin-screw steamer was used for coastal trade before being scrapped and abandoned here in 1934.

Columbia

A three-masted schooner built in 1891. The remains of its wooden hull lie within the intertidal zone of the island's northern coastline.

Dartford

An 1877 iron-hulled, full-rigged ship. After decades of service as a merchant vessel and later a coal hulk, it was towed to Rangitoto and abandoned in 1946.

Arapawa

A steel steamship built in 1908. It served as a coastal trader until it was dismantled and its remains left at the Boulder Bay graveyard in 1933.

Rothesay Bay

An iron barque built in 1877. It spent its final years as a coal hulk before being abandoned on the Rangitoto shoreline in 1937.

Jubilee

An iron-hulled steamer built in 1887. After serving as a passenger ship and later a coal hulk, it was run aground at the shipwreck graveyard in 1937.

Polly

An 1875 barque used for timber and coal transport. Its remains were abandoned at the island's wreck graveyard in 1930.

Gladbrook

Originally a Russian barque built in 1877. It was converted into a coal hulk before being abandoned at Boulder Bay in 1945.

Elinor Vernon

A three-masted barquentine built in 1873. It was used in the kauri gum and timber trade before being abandoned on the island in 1934.

Ngapuhi

A Northern Steamship Company steamer built in 1900. After years of service on coastal routes, it was scrapped and abandoned at Rangitoto in 1941.

Other Lists

Rangitoto Island Essentials Rangitoto Island Highlights Rangitoto's Shipwrecks & Ruins