Story: Ports and harbours

Ōamaru’s Cape Wanbrow, pictured here around 1860, offered limited shelter to ships and passengers, and goods had to be landed on the exposed beach in the Victorian equivalent of white-water rafting – surf boating. Between 1860 and 1875, about 25 ships were lost here, earning the booming town a dreadful reputation, and driving up insurance premiums on everything landed there.