Assassination Cove

French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne was slayed and possibly eaten here in 1772.

There is a plaque in place recognisng the incident.

The backstory goes that three years after Captain Cook's visit, The Mascarin, under Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and The Marquis de Castries, a 16 gun ship captained by Ambroise-Bernard-Marie du Clesmeur, arrived in the Bay of Islands. Enroute they had sited Mt Egmont (Taranaki) and anchored in Spirits Bay, declaring French names for everything they saw including some landmarks which had already been named by Cook and all of which undoubtedly had Maori names.

In the Bay of Islands, an initial friendship with chief Te Kauri, suddenly soured, possibly over Marion du Fresne's habit of fishing in a bay which was Tapu. There may have been other reasons for the falling out and the Frenchmen may not have even been aware of the Tapu, which was several years old and related to the bodies of several locals washing up here after a skirmish with neighbouring tribes.

Whatever the reason, Marion du Fresne and his fishing party of 26 were slain and taken. Gory stories about what happened to the remains are thankfully unable to be substantiated. The rest of the crew were armed with firearms including blunderbusses, and retaliated by taking 250 Maori lives before weighing anchor and taking their leave.

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