Whatipu Beach

This guide to Whatipu Beach in Auckland retraces the wreck of the Royal Navy corvette Orpheus, which went down at the Manukau Harbour entrance in 1863 on a calm, clear afternoon while carrying over two hundred and fifty men, still New Zealand's deadliest shipwreck. You'll hear about the disputed decision that sent her onto the sandbar and the small steamer that fought through the surf to save who it could. Walk the black sand today and you're walking over a stretch of coast whose history runs deeper than the wreck alone.