Long-lost British ship "Thames" reemerges at Ashley Rakahuri River Mouth 160 years later

What started as a routine coastal hazard report has turned into a remarkable rediscovery of maritime history, thanks to a hidden piece of shipwreck exposed at the Ashley Rakahuri River Mouth and some good old-fashioned detective work.

A section of a long-forgotten wooden shipwreck emerged from the sand back in 2023, sparking a wave of curiosity. The weathered remains were first flagged by one of our park rangers and later identified as a coastal hazard by our Harbourmaster’s team, who then coordinated a removal operation earlier this year.

Cue Nick Cable, principal archaeologist with Canterbury Heritage Consultants, who was brought in to help crack the case and uncover the identity of this salty old sailor of the sea.

Nick knew of at least six ships that met their end on this sand bar between 1864 and 1966.

“But it was the style of timber and the copper sheathing that told us this wreck was from an older, statelier vessel,” he said.

Along with Nick, local conservator Emily Fryer, who is overseeing the preservation process, began piecing together the clues with timber samples, copper sheathing, and even pin fragments all sent away for analysis to Lignum Labs in Geraldine. Ground scans and probing also helped determine if more of the vessel might still lie hidden beneath the sand.

Identity uncovered

The top suspect? A British brig named Thames, built in 1826 at Yarmouth, Norfolk. Once a proud trading ship that sailed the globe from South America to Mauritius, Thames met her end not in stormy seas but while delivering telegraph poles to North Canterbury’s wild coastline in February 1865.

While rafting poles ashore, she ran aground near Saltwater Creek and was ultimately sold off, salvaged, and stripped for parts. Her remains — some too hefty to shift — were left behind, only to be swallowed by sand for more than a century. Local folklore tells of Thames' timbers being used to build homes in the region, and her bell serving as a fire bell for Southbrook before being gifted to the local school in 1974.

“Samples confirmed the timber was English oak and elm — classic British shipbuilding materials — so that really sealed the deal for us in confirming the wreck to be the Thames,” said Nick. 

Conservation efforts are now underway to stabilise the exposed section, with plans to eventually display it publicly. In the meantime, the discovery offers a rare glimpse into North Canterbury’s maritime past and the wild days of early coastal trade.