Kupe and Polynesian Navigation
Te Pokohiwi, or the Wairau Bar, is one of the oldest known settlement sites in New Zealand, established by Polynesian arrivals around 1300 AD, with DNA evidence linking local Rangitāne iwi directly to these early navigators.1 Oral histories record that the explorer Kupe navigated Tōtaranui (Queen Charlotte Sound) and Kura Te Au (Tory Channel), where he fought a giant wheke (octopus).2 He crushed the creature's head with a whalebone patu, a downward blow memorialised in the naming of Arapaoa Island, before cooking the octopus in an earth oven at Te Umu Wheke and retrieving his dropped adze at Te Kakau O Te Toki A Kupe.3
Kupe's voyage left a legacy of traditional place names across the Marlborough Sounds, including Te Mimi ō Kupe at Wedge Point, the net-like cliff formations of Te Kupenga A Kupe, and Te Taonui A Kupe at Cape Jackson.4 Further west, the footprint-like rock indentations in Port Gore were named Te Ope A Kupe, while the offshore Brothers Islands were named Ngā Whatu Kaipono, comparing the rocks to the eyeballs of the slain wheke.4 During these explorations, Kupe's giant shag, Te Kawau a Toru, tested the violent currents of Te Aumiti (French Pass), perishing in the passage to form the reef that lies there today.4
European Exploration and Regional Coastal Shipping
European contact accelerated when Captain James Cook anchored HMB Endeavour at Meretoto (Ship Cove) in January 1770, relying on the Tahitian navigator Tupaia to mediate introductions with local iwi.5 Cook visited the sheltered cove four times between 1770 and 1777 to resupply his ships.6 During one visit, the Endeavour was careened on the beach for hull repairs, an action believed to have introduced Norwegian rats ashore via the vessel's ropes.6 Decades later in 1826, the French explorer Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville commanded the Astrolabe through the treacherous narrow passage of French Pass into Admiralty Bay, leading his officers to name D'Urville Island in his honour.7
As European settlement expanded, coastal shipping became the primary method for moving freight and passengers across the region.5 Small scows and steamers serviced local bays, including the scow Echo, which carried cargo between Blenheim and Wellington for decades before being converted into a restaurant at Picton marina and eventually demolished due to decay.8 Another historic vessel, the 1853 Burmese teak East Indiaman Edwin Fox, arrived in New Zealand as an immigrant ship before being converted into a floating freezer hulk at Port Chalmers in 1885.9 Towed to Picton in 1897 to supply refrigeration machinery to the local freezing works, the ship later served as a coal hulk before being preserved in a dry-dock enclosure.9
Construction and Expansion of the Marlborough Railway Network
Regional rail construction began under Colonial Treasurer Julius Vogel's Public Works scheme, with British contractor Alex Brogden bringing the first work parties to Picton in July 1872.10 Within their first month, the workers went on strike over living conditions and their pay rate of five shillings per day.10 Engineering the route out of Picton required constructing the Elevation viaduct, the largest timber structure in the Southern Hemisphere at the time, which required two steam locomotives to haul loaded trains up the steep grade.10
The railway officially opened on 17 November 1875 during a provincial public holiday.11 At Opawa Station, two locomotives named Waitohi and Blenheim were christened with champagne before pulling excursion trains filled with passengers toward Picton.11 Because the bridge over the Ōpaoa River was not yet constructed, the line initially terminated in a swamp outside Blenheim until the river crossing was completed in 1880.12
Picton's original railway station operated near the foreshore on High Street, but land reclamation at Kaiana Lagoon allowed for a replacement station designed by architect George Troup, which was opened by Premier W.F. Massey on 11 March 1914.13 Marlborough's isolated rail line was eventually connected to the wider South Island network when the final rail of the South Island Main Trunk line was laid in September 1945.14 Completing this connection required constructing a protective concrete barrel tunnel at Kahautara to join two existing tunnels and shield the track from falling rock.14
Marlborough Sounds Navigation Hazards and the Mikhail Lermontov
Despite the development of reliable shipping routes and inter-island transport links, navigating the narrow channels of the Marlborough Sounds has presented continuous hazards.15 On 16 February 1986 at 5:37 pm, the 155-metre Soviet cruise liner Mikhail Lermontov struck rocks off Cape Jackson, opening three breaches along its hull.15 The Picton harbourmaster, who was directing the vessel's course at the time, later accepted responsibility for the navigational error, citing severe physical and mental exhaustion.16
Taking on water rapidly, the damaged liner attempted to reach shallow water in Port Gore but sank on its side in 30 metres of water at 10:45 pm.15 An emergency rescue effort coordinated by the inter-island ferry Arahura, the LPG tanker Tarihiko, and local boat operators successfully evacuated 737 passengers and crew from the sinking ship, though Soviet refrigeration engineer Pavel Zaglyadimov drowned during the event.17