Veteran sea adventurer and historian Dr David Lewis has recovered a "magic barnacle" that went down with the yacht Taniwha when it sank off Great Barrier Island on April 10.
The barnacle, considered to be a navigational tool by the Micronesians, was being taken on the vessel back to Satawal islandin Micronesia from Te Papa Museum in Wellington.
Dr Lewis, aged 82, has made many studies of Micronesian and Polynesian voyages involving natural methods of navigation. He said last night that he owed the recovery of the precious barnacle to the diving efforts of Great Barrier Island residents, particularly Sam Opie, Peter Sproule and Kevin Reynolds.
The trio had salvaged clothing belonging to him and his three crew members, Rosalind Demas, of Herald Island in West Auckland, and Kay and Walter Langdon of Kawhia.
The Taniwha, on which Dr Lewis lived at Herald Island while preparing it for the voyage to Suva, Fiji, had been badly smashed when it sank and he had donated it to the island as a diving site.
Dr Lewis will fly to the Caroline Group in Micronesia to return the barnacle to its navigator owner.
