Descendant of dead miner backs tourist initiative

Rescuers, crew members and lifeboats from the Ventnor on Omapere Beach in 1902. Photo / Te Wake Drummond Collection

A descendant of one of the 499 Chinese miners whose remains went down with a sinking ship off the Hokianga coast has backed calls for the shipwreck to be declared a tourism attraction.

Dunedin GP Peter Sew Hoy, whose great-great-grandfather Choie Sew Hoy's remains went down after the SS Ventnor sank near the mouth of the Hokianga Harbour in 1902, said the shipwreck was an important and historical site for families of the dead.

The ship was discovered in December 2013 by John Albert under 150 metres of water about 21km west of the Hokianga Harbour. Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis said the site could become significant for tourists and attract businesses in a number of areas from China.

He made the comments after Mr Albert officially confirmed the identity of the ship at a press conference in Auckland last week. Dr Sew Hoy said his family wished tourism could benefit from the shipwreck.

"Hopefully tourism can build on something like this and bring people to the site.

"As for business opportunities, only time will tell what sort of impact the shipwreck could have."

He said the challenge now would be to find other ancestors of the dead miners.

"We need to talk to others in the Chinese community around New Zealand to decide where to from here.

"More identities would bring more closure to families and if we can find a manifest or list of those that died, may be some inquiries could be made in China," he said.

Dr Sew Hoy represents about 500 descendants of businessman Choie Sew Hoy, who came to New Zealand in 1868.

The Hong Kong-bound vessel was on a repatriation mission to return the bodies to their families for burial, but sank just two days after setting sail from Wellington in October 1902.