Calls for more protection as parts of shipwreck allegedly stolen from Northland beach

Police are investigating the alleged theft of an old shipwreck washed up on a Northland beach.

A group of people using a tractor apparently took timber from the ship's carcass at Pouto Point in Kaipara on the weekend.

It is an offence to disturb a wreck that happened before 1900 under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act.

Police said they found a vehicle with a trailer loaded with material allegedly from the wreck in Ruawai, which they have since seized.

Steven Cochrane was on the beach as things unfolded.

He told Checkpoint the whole scene was chaos.

"We caught it just at the end as a tractor was dismantling what was left, and a bunch of people just loading it onto a trailer to get it gone."

He said it appeared the group was taking a piece of one of the ships that had wrecked on the coastline.

While it was already in pieces, he said it was still a significant portion of the ship.

"It was some of the side panels of the boat, some of the carcass, a couple of bits of wood.

"It was a good three or four metres long, a couple of metres wide, a good chunk of ship."

Cochrane said he tried to speak with the group taking the pieces. They justified the move by telling him it was either going to be burnt or be put into a garden.

"I wasn't too impressed, but we didn't have the opportunity to discuss. It was pretty obvious that we should leave."

While a portion of the boat that was exposed was removed off the beach, Cochrane said the tides had since uncovered more pieces that hadn't been pilfered.

"There is actually quite a few pieces exposed at the moment, which is actually really good [to see]."

Cochrane said the shipwrecks exposed on the beach were an important reminder of the history of Kaipara.

"It only comes now and then, you can't see it all year round, it's very specific times, so it is a lot of history that doesn't get talked about unless you see it really.

"It's something quite special."

While it was impossible for people to know how old a shipwreck, or any other artefacts washed up on the beach may be, Cochrane said it would be useful for more signage to be installed on the beach so people could know what they were looking at.

"There's a very small amount of history written up, but nothing really telling you what the law is.

"It's normally based on common sense, if it's something that looks that sort of age, you don't really touch it.

"It definitely needs some more signage ... there's a lot of people that wouldn't know the rules around it."

But with many of the washed up relics holding so much history, Cochrane said he would like to see further measures taken.

"I'd like to see that whole area kind of put under some sort of protection, there's so much stuff that washes up, not just necessarily boat parts."

"There's all sorts of random bits that were on the boats that gets washed up quite often, and it's all strewn up all along that coastline."

For anyone that did encounter something out of the ordinary on the beach and was thinking about taking it home, Cochrane said the first step should be to contact an expert, to find out whether it was trash or treasure.