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Shipwreck · Partially salvaged

The Elingamite

Sank 1902, Three Kings Islands, New Zealand
RECOVERED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

The Elingamite: still unexplained.

A bullion cargo of gold & silver coin

The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
A bullion cargo of gold & silver coin
Last known, where the trail went cold
She struck West King in fog with £17,000 in coin aboard; divers in 1907 died for it, and a 1965 expedition raised much, but not all.
The account

A mail steamer, a fog bank, and an island that appears out of nowhere even on clear charts. The bullion room gave up most of its coin to hard-hat divers and then to wetsuited ones generations later. The remainder is scattered in a kelp-dark gutter where the swell never quite rests.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Where the trail goes cold: She struck West King in fog with £17,000 in coin aboard; divers in 1907 died for it, and a 1965 expedition raised much, but not all. That is where any serious search begins.
  • What you are chasing is A bullion cargo of gold & silver coin. Work the documented record of The Elingamite back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Confirm who owns and governs Three Kings Islands, New Zealand and get written permission before any search; treat protected or archaeological ground as off limits.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Where the trail goes cold: She struck West King in fog with £17,000 in coin aboard; divers in 1907 died for it, and a 1965 expedition raised much, but not all. That is where any serious search begins.
  • What you are chasing is A bullion cargo of gold & silver coin. Work the documented record of The Elingamite back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Confirm who owns and governs Three Kings Islands, New Zealand and get written permission before any search; treat protected or archaeological ground as off limits.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position -34.160°, 172.130° (approx.) View on the Map