Omamari

The only, and still unconfirmed, wreckage of the SS Turakina, which was destroyed in a gunbattle with the German gunboat the Orion in the Tasman Sea in August 1940.

The Turakina was an a 10,000 tonne cargo steamer, actually British owned and manned despite her name, headed from Sydney to Wellington full of drygoods, which she would trade for frozen meat. The Orion was one of a fleet of nine German converted merchant ships with far superior gunpower. The Orion and sister ships continued what they started here, dropping mines in the Tasman and taking out several other "New Zealand Shipping Company" Liners in gun battles throughout the Pacific later that year, including the much larger Rangitane.

When Charles Bernard Aston of Omamari Beach found and oilslick accompanied by a washed up liferaft, bearing the badge of the maker of the Turakina's liferafts, these pictures were taken.

NZPlaces has called this a virtual attraction, but it is not entirely true that there is nothing to be seen here. There is a beautiful Northland Beach. Any photos would be appreciated.

Image Credit: Possible Wreckage from the SS Turakina sunk by a German Raider in the Tasman Sea in 1940, Archives New Zealand Navy Records