Shipwreck artefacts surface at Police Museum

Artefacts from one of New Zealand’s most famous and unusual shipwrecks are in the care of Police while their ownership is established.

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is seeking claims of ownership of the five artefacts from SS Ventnor, which sank in 1902 while transporting the remains of 499 Chinese men back to China.

Meanwhile, the objects are in the care of the New Zealand Police museum in Porirua – but not on public display.

Museum director Rowan Carroll says Police has no claim to the items - a brass bell, porthole, lamp holder and engine telegraph, and a porcelain saucer. “They’re not something we would collect – we’re just caring for them,” she says.

“Representatives of the Chinese community have visited and blessed the artefacts. They’re quite happy for them to be here in the interim.”

The telegraph is undergoing a desalination process to preserve it.

The Ventnor was chartered to take the remains of the men, mainly West Coast gold miners, back to China in accordance with the belief that their spirits would not be able to rest away from home.

It sank off Hokianga on 28 October 1902. Some remains washed ashore and were honoured and buried by local iwi.

The wreck site was discovered in 2013 and artefacts were retrieved last year to prove its identity, angering some community members who thought it should remain untouched.

The wreck was declared an archaeological site under the Maritime Transport Act and in February the artefacts were handed to Wellington’s Maritime Police unit, who passed them to the museum.

Submissions to the ministry are due by 23 November. Click here for the public notice.

This story and others can be found in the November issue of Ten One, the New Zealand Police magazine.

Photos: New Zealand Police Museum