SAILOR’S GRAVE

In May 1842, twenty-two year old William Simpson, a sailor on board the British Navy ship HMS Tortoise, was accidentally killed while loading kauri spars onto the ship in Te Karo Bay. According to the original kauri headboard, “He drowned in the surf," however, another report states he was crushed between a log and the side of the ship.

Today his lonely grave is surrounded by a white picket fence in a small part of the Pohutukawa Grove Recreation Reserve. It is maintained by the Royal New Zealand Navy. The grave is thought to be the oldest sailor's grave in New Zealand.

Sailors, sealers, and whalers were among the first Europeans to frequent New Zealand waters. Deaths among sailors were not uncommon and burying crew “at sea” was standard practice. Land graves were rarer and serve as reminders of the hard physical labour and the treacherous conditions that sailors endured. Sailors Grave is a significant spot on the Coromandel Peninsula marking the history of the early European settlers.

Sailor’s Grave can be found by taking Sailors Grave Road off State Highway 25 between Tairua and Whitianga and then heading to the car park at Te Karo Bay. Once at the Pohutukawa Grove Recreation Reserve, a short walking track leads you to the grave of William Simpson.