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53-560: Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin , New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, 21 km (13 mi) from the harbour mouth. It is home to Dunedin's two port facilities, Port Chalmers (half way along the harbour) and at Dunedin's wharf (at the harbour's end). The harbour has been of significant economic importance for approximately 700 years, as

106-399: A body of water is protected and deep enough to allow anchorage. Many such harbors are rias . Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, and many great cities of the world are located on them. Having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. Some examples are: For harbors near

159-645: A diplomatic letter from Governor King attesting his bona-fides and that his sole purpose, if he were on the West coast of South America, would be in procuring provisions. As many months passed with no word of his arrival, Governor King and Bass's friends in Sydney were forced to accept that he had met some misfortune. In England in January 1806, Bass was listed by the Admiralty as lost at sea, and later that year Elizabeth

212-557: A knife, a red shirt, and some other articles sparked what has been called " The Sealers' War ". A much-discussed affray in that conflict occurred after James Kelly of Hobart anchored the Sophia in the harbour in December 1817 with William Tucker on board. After a visit to nearby Whareakeake (Murdering Beach), where Tucker had been living since 1815, and where he and two other men were killed, Kelly took revenge on Māori on his ship in

265-513: A means for ships to reach the city's wharves. Though a contentious and expensive decision, it was agreed to dredge a channel along the northwestern side of the harbour. The channel was finally opened on 30 December 1881. The initial channel was narrow and shallow, and did not get off to an auspicious start, as the Union Steam Ship Company's SS Penguin , the first ship to use it, was temporarily grounded while using it. The channel

318-711: A pound where he'd been paying a shilling (12 pence) previously. The arrangement suited King's thrift, and was profitable for Bass. With his partner Charles Bishop, Bass sailed from Sydney in the Venus for Dusky Sound in New Zealand where they spent 14 days stripping iron from the wreck of Captain Brampton's old ship the Endeavour . This was made into axes which were used to trade for the pork in Tahiti before returning with

371-472: A sheltered harbour and fishery, then deep water port. The harbour was formed from the drowned remnants of the giant Dunedin Volcano , centred close to what is now Port Chalmers. The remains of this violent origin can be seen in the basalt of the surrounding hills. The last eruptive phase ended some ten million years ago, leaving the prominent peak of Mount Cargill . The ancient and modern channel runs along

424-612: A strait separated the mainland from Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania ) was backed up by his astute observation of the rapid tide and the long south-western swell at Wilson's Promontory . Bass visited the Kiama area and made many notes on its botanical complexity and the amazing natural phenomenon, the Kiama Blowhole , noting the volcanic geology around the Blowhole and contributed much to its understanding. In 1798, this theory

477-653: Is Long Beach Harbor , California , United States, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal flats too shallow for modern merchant ships before it was first dredged in the early 20th century. In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour , New South Wales, Australia, Halifax Harbour in Halifax, Nova Scotia , Canada and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka. Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known

530-464: Is almost certainly an invention. Jørgensen's writing, though entertaining, was often far from factual. A search of Spanish archives in 1903 by scholar Pascual de Gayangos and a search of Peruvian archives in 2003 by historian Jorge Ortiz-Sotelo found no mention of Bass. His ultimate fate remains a mystery. Australia Post honoured George Bass in 1963 with a postage stamp , and again in 1998 in association with Matthew Flinders . A re-enactment of

583-463: Is flanked by major roads leading from Dunedin to Port Chalmers ( SH 88 ) and to Portobello and Otakou (Portobello Road). A long-distance cycleway and walkway, Te Aka Ōtākou , runs parallel to both roads along the harbour's edge for 36 kilometres (22 mi). It was completed in 2023 and links Port Chalmers and Portobello. The South Island Main Trunk railway also runs parallel to the state highway on

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636-514: Is shallow and silty, and mudflats are often visible at low tide. In 1946 Otakou Fisheries was started based out of the township of the same name on the eastern side of the harbour. This was later to become a major part of the Otago fishing industry. As the city grew, and particularly with the increase in commerce that developed following the Otago gold rush of the 1860s, it became desirable to provide

689-578: Is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf , on the Red Sea coast, which is at least 4500 years old (ca. 2600–2550 BCE, reign of King Khufu ). The largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai . Other large and busy artificial harbors include: The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons . A natural harbor is a landform where a section of

742-406: Is tidal, shallow and seldom rough and for that reason is popular for water sports such as yachting and windsurfing . Substantial container port facilities exist at Port Chalmers, 9 km (6 mi) along the western shore from the harbour mouth. A channel along the western side of the harbour is regularly dredged, allowing vessels with a draught of 12.5 m to Port Chalmers, and 8 m all

795-534: The Blue Mountains . In 1797, without Flinders, in an open whaleboat with a crew of six, Bass sailed to Cape Howe , the farthest point of south-eastern Australia. From here he went westwards along what is now the coast of the Gippsland region of Victoria , to Western Port , almost as far as the entrance to Port Phillip , on the north shore of which is the site of present-day Melbourne . His belief that

848-662: The Brothers , anchored in the harbour and picked him up. This is the first explicit and identifiable reference to a European ship in Otago Harbour. The court record containing it, made in 1810, refers to the harbour as 'Port Daniel', a name which stayed in use for some years. Another English sealer, the Sydney Cove , under Captain Charles McLaren, was anchored in the harbour late in 1810 when Te Wahia's theft of

901-464: The North and South poles , being ice-free is an important advantage, especially when it is year-round. Examples of these are: The world's southernmost harbor, located at Antarctica 's Winter Quarters Bay (77° 50′ South), is sometimes ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions. Although the world's busiest port is a contested title, in 2017 the world's busiest harbor by cargo tonnage

954-581: The Reliance a small boat with an 8-foot (2.4 m) keel and 5-foot (1.5 m) beam, which he called the Tom Thumb on account of its size. In October 1795 Bass and Flinders, accompanied by William Martin sailed the Tom Thumb out of Port Jackson to Botany Bay and explored the Georges River further upstream than had been done previously by the colonists. Their reports on their return led to

1007-695: The Weller brothers established their whaling station at Te Umu Kuri, Wellers Rock, at what is now called Otakou in November 1831. The busiest whaling port south of the Bay of Islands , it was also the hub of the largest European population in New Zealand after the Bay of Islands/ Hokianga district by the end of 1839. By that time whaling had collapsed and Dumont D'Urville and his officers, visiting in 1840, observed

1060-555: The 1300s, soon after they first settled in New Zealand. Being too far south for the cultivation of sweet potato they adopted a hunter-gatherer society. This initially involved sealing and fishing in the harbour, with the latter dominating as seal stocks diminished. This time in the history of the harbour is recorded in place names such as Kamau Taurua (Quarantine Island), which means "a place where nets are set". Captain Cook never entered Otago Harbour, but speculated that it existed when he

1113-529: The Colony', John Oxley (1783/85?–1828). As noted, however, it had already been named. In 1826 Thomas Shepherd, one of a party of intending colonists, explored the site of Dunedin and left the oldest surviving pictures of the harbour and nearby coast, now in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. From its origins as a secret sealers' haven, Otago Harbour developed into a busy international whaling port after

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1166-620: The South American story is that all British prisoners held by the Spanish in Chile and Peru were freed in 1808 and returned to Europe. If the crew of the Venus had indeed been captured, then none of the 25 survived. Adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen wrote about Bass in his 1835 autobiography, claiming Bass had attempted forced trade at gunpoint in Chile, and was captured when he let his guard down. Jørgensen probably met Bass, but this account

1219-534: The area. The outer peninsula adjacent to Taiaroa Head is one of three main congregating areas for dusky dolphins in New Zealand waters and the harbour and peninsula hosts important areas for breeding and nursing. Bottlenose dolphins and critically endangered, endemic Hector's dolphins also frequent the water. Other species such as common dolphins and orcas also visit the harbour entrance, where orcas and dusky dolphins have been seen interacting without violence. Southern right whales were historically seen inside

1272-482: The channel was gradually widened and deepened, and by 1907 twice as many ships were using Dunedin's wharves as used Port Chalmers. It was only with the advent of Port Chalmers' container port in the early 1970s that the Victoria Channel again became quiet. The channel is maintained by Port Otago Ltd, which keeps it dredged to a depth of eight metres, allowing ships of up to 40,000 tonnes deadweight to travel up

1325-410: The city. The flat land at the southern end of the harbour and close to the isthmus of Otago Peninsula was ideally suited for a city (and was the site for Dunedin), but the harbour itself could naturally accommodate deep-drafted ships only as far as Port Chalmers. At Port Chalmers, two islands ( Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua and Goat Island / Rakiriri ) almost bisect the harbour. Beyond them, the harbour

1378-518: The colony awash with goods and he was unable to sell his cargo. Governor King was operating on a strict programme of economy and would not take the goods into the government store, even at a 50% discount. What King did though was contract with Bass to ship salt pork from Tahiti . Food was scarce in Sydney at that time and prices were being driven up, yet pigs were plentiful in the Society Islands and King could contract with Bass at 6 pence

1431-477: The discoverer of the Antipodes archipelago. He expected much from it, but before he heard it had been declined he sailed south from Sydney never to return. Bass and Flinders were both operating out of Sydney during these times, but their stays there did not coincide. What became of Bass is unknown. He set sail on his last voyage in the Venus on 5 February 1803 and he and his crew were never seen again. His plan

1484-465: The entrance of the harbour possibly up to Quarantine and Goat Island / Rakiriri . They used the shallow, calm water for nursing calves before commercial whaling wiped them out locally. The number of humpback whales visiting the peninsula have increased as this species recovers much faster than the southern rights. There have also been observations of blue whales , minke whales , and long-finned pilot whales . Māori first arrived at Otago Harbour in

1537-465: The harbour at its southern end, which along with numerous streams lowers the salinity of the harbour water. Similar to the Otago Peninsula, the harbour water is known for various rare wildlife. The area is the home of many species of wading birds. Other bird species which visit the harbour include two species of penguins, the blue penguin and the rare yellow-eyed penguin . Taiaroa Head , at

1590-418: The harbour to Dunedin. Much of the channel's larger traffic in the early 21st century is oil transport to Dunedin city and chemicals and fertiliser to and from Ravensbourne 's fertiliser works. Aramoana , at the harbour mouth, has twice been projected as the site for New Zealand's second aluminium smelter. The proposals, in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, were abandoned after major public protest. The harbour

1643-532: The harbour, including local chief Korako. He then burnt a harbourside village, 'the beautiful City of Otago', probably on Te Rauone Beach. Peace was achieved in 1823, and on 17 July of that year John Rodolphus Kent of the Naval cutter Mermaid from New South Wales , while in the harbour, took 'the liberty of naming it (as it has not hitherto been named) "Port Oxley", in honour of the Surveyor General of

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1696-783: The honour of submitting them to your inspection." He was made an honorary member of the Society for Promoting Natural History, which later became the Linnean Society . Some of his observations were published in the second volume of David Collins 's An Account of the English colony in New South Wales. He was one of the first to describe the Australian marsupial , the wombat . On 8 October 1800, George married Elizabeth Waterhouse at St James's Church, Westminster . She

1749-476: The latter to Sydney by November 1802. In January 1803, Bass applied to King for a fishing monopoly extending from a line bisecting the lower South Island of New Zealand from Dusky Sound to Otago Harbour – now the site of the city of Dunedin – and including all the lands and seas to the south, notably the Antipodes Islands , probably on the basis of information from his brother-in-law Waterhouse,

1802-746: The mainland be called Bass Strait . "This was no more than a just tribute to my worthy friend and companion," Flinders wrote, "for the extreme dangers and fatigues he had undergone, in first entering it in a whaleboat, and to the correct judgement he had formed, from various indications, of the existence of a wide opening between Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales." Bass was an enthusiastic naturalist and botanist, and he forwarded some of his botanical discoveries to Sir Joseph Banks in London. "In this voyage of fourteen weeks I collected those few plants upon Van Diemen's Land which had not been familiar to me in New South Wales," he wrote to Banks, "and have done myself

1855-473: The port had become the centre of a riotous trade in liquor and prostitution. This continued until the Scottish settlers arrived in 1848 and made Port Chalmers and Dunedin the new population centres on the harbour. While Otago Harbour might have the appearance of an excellent deep-water port, it was not naturally suited to such a role, especially in the early days of settlement when ships needed to dock close to

1908-565: The settlement of Banks' Town . In March 1796 the same party embarked on a second voyage in a larger boat, which they called the Tom Thumb II. During this trip they travelled as far down the coast as Lake Illawarra , which they called Tom Thumb Lagoon. They explored Port Hacking . Later that year Bass discovered good land near Prospect Hill , found lost cattle brought out with the First Fleet , and failed in an attempt to cross

1961-544: The summer of 1805 to 1806. Daniel Cooper, master of the London sealer Unity , probably did call in the summer of 1808 to 1809 when his Chief Officer, Charles Hooper, probably gave his name to Hooper's Inlet on the Otago Peninsula . William Tucker (1784–1817) was with a gang employed by Robert Campbell , a Sydney merchant, who were dropped on islands off the Dunedin coast in November 1809. Tucker and Daniel Wilson were at Otago Harbour on 3 May 1810 when Robert Mason, master of

2014-431: The tip of the Otago Peninsula, is home to the only "mainland" colony of northern royal albatrosses in the world. The bay and peninsula provides a critical habitat for Hooker's sea lions and New Zealand fur seals . Southern elephant and leopard seals are occasional visitors into the harbour. In total, four species of pinnipeds , and at least nine or more species of cetaceans are known to inhabit or migrate through

2067-750: The way to the heart of Dunedin. New Zealand's frozen meat export trade was inaugurated at Port Chalmers in 1882. Portobello is home to one of New Zealand's leading marine research establishments, the Portobello Marine Laboratory , a department of the University of Otago . This lies at the harbour's edge on the tip of a small arm of the Otago Peninsula, the Portobello Peninsula. There are currently numerous sightseeing and fishing boats that can be chartered and one scheduled ferry from Port Chalmers to Portobello . The harbour

2120-486: The western side of the harbour, the eastern side being shallow, with large sandbanks exposed at low tide. Two islands form a line between Port Chalmers and Portobello half way along the harbour— Goat Island / Rakiriri and Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua . The nearby smaller island known as Pudding Island (Titeremoana) lies close to the Peninsula shore and can be reached by foot at low tide. The Water of Leith flows into

2173-431: The western side of the harbour. The settlements of Otago Harbour clock wise from the harbour mouth. and starting place of Otakou Fisheries. Harbor Harbors may be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters , sea walls , or jetties or they can be constructed by dredging , which requires maintenance by further periodic dredging. An example of an artificial harbor

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2226-452: The whaleboat voyage marked the 200th anniversary of Bass's voyage; the 9 metres (30 ft) "Elizabeth" skippered by Bern Cuthbertson arrived at Western Port on 5 January 1998. A plaque memorialising this was added to the Bass and Flinders memorial at Flinders . The following places commemorate the name of George Bass: Attribution [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

2279-775: Was 6. He had attended Boston Grammar School and later trained in medicine at the hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire . At the age of 18, he was accepted in London as a member of the Company of Surgeons , and in 1794 he joined the Royal Navy as a surgeon. He arrived in Sydney in New South Wales on HMS Reliance on 7 September 1795. Also on the voyage were Matthew Flinders , John Hunter , Bennelong , and his surgeon's assistant William Martin. Bass had brought with him on

2332-556: Was confirmed when Bass and Flinders, in the sloop Norfolk , circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land. In the course of this voyage Bass visited the estuary of the Derwent River , found and named by Captain John Hayes in 1793, where the city of Hobart would be founded on the strength of his report in 1803. When the two returned to Sydney, Flinders recommended to Governor John Hunter that the passage between Van Diemen's Land and

2385-424: Was described by some 19th-century historians as a base for such smuggling Britain's strained relationship with Spain at that time meant British authorities were unconcerned. Bass still had much of the general cargo he had brought to Sydney in 1801, and he may well have been tempted to take some to Chile. Two of his last letters have hints at a venture which he could not name, but in any case he set off in 1803, with

2438-492: Was engaged in smuggling and returned to Sydney some three months after Bass's departure. However, this story dates from 1811 in a report by William Fitzmaurice. There are good records of Campbell in 1803, and then in 1805 when he captured a Spanish ship, but Bass is not mentioned at those times. Three months is also too short a time for Bass to reach Chile and then the Harrington to get back to Sydney. Another factor against

2491-457: Was granted an annuity from the widows' fund, backdated to when Bass's half-pay had ended in June 1803. Bass had made the usual contributions to the fund from his salary. A good deal of speculation has taken place about Bass's fate. One story, attributed to William Campbell of the brig Harrington , has it that Bass was captured by the Spanish in Chile and sent to the silver mines. The Harrington

2544-570: Was off the Pacific coast in 1770. It is not known exactly when the first Europeans (likely sealers) entered the harbour, though Māori oral tradition puts it some time 'long before' 1810. Written records of this time are restricted to a handful of journals and newspaper accounts of sailors who only stayed briefly. George Bass made the Dunedin end of the harbour the north east limit of his proposed fishing monopoly in 1803. The American ship Favourite and its supercargo Daniel Whitney may have called in

2597-583: Was officially named the Victoria Channel by Keith Ramsay, chairman of the Otago Harbour Board. A significant area at the head of the harbour — much of it referred to as the Southern Endowment — has been reclaimed since the founding of Dunedin, primarily for industrial use. Smaller portions have also been reclaimed at a number of places around the harbour, including Port Chalmers, Macandrew Bay, and Broad Bay. As finance allowed,

2650-503: Was the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan . The following are large natural harbors: George Bass George Bass ( / b æ s / ; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia . Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby , a hamlet near Sleaford , Lincolnshire , the son of a tenant farmer , George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah (née Newman). His father died in 1777 when Bass

2703-603: Was the owner-manager and set sail in early 1801. (Among his influential friends and key business associates in the Antipodes was the principal surgeon of the satellite British colony on Norfolk Island , Thomas Jamison , who was subsequently appointed Surgeon-General of New South Wales.) On passing through Bass Strait on his 1801 voyage, he recorded it simply as Bass Strait, like any other geographical feature. It seems, as Flinders' biographer Ernest Scott observed, that Bass's natural modesty meant he felt no need to say "discovered by me" or "named after me". On arrival, Bass found

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2756-520: Was the sister of Henry Waterhouse , Bass's former shipmate, and captain of the Reliance . In January 1801 Bass set sail again for Port Jackson, leaving Elizabeth behind, and though the couple wrote to each other, they did not meet again, as Bass never returned from this journey. Bass and a syndicate of friends had invested some £10,000 in the copper-sheathed brig Venus , and a cargo of general goods to transport and sell in Port Jackson . Bass

2809-553: Was to go to Tahiti and perhaps on to the Spanish colonies on the coast of Chile to buy provisions and bring them back to Sydney. It has been suspected Bass may also have planned to engage in contraband trade in Chile. Spain reserved the import of goods into her colonies for Spanish ships and Spanish merchants, but the colonists needed more than they could supply, and shortages and heavy taxation caused high prices, encouraging an extensive illegal trade with foreign vessels. Port Jackson

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