Barrett Reef

The reef is named after Richard (Dicky) Barrett (1807–1847), a whaler and trader.

[1] Its Māori name is Tangihanga-a-Kupe, (Mourning of Kupe), which may refer to the reef's similarity to a line of mourners at a tangi,[2] the sad sound of the water around the reef,[3] or Kupe crying for people he left behind in his travels.

The reef, much of which is exposed even at high tide, is located to the west of the two-kilometre-wide channel that links Cook Strait with Wellington Harbour, close to the shore of the Miramar Peninsula.

[5] Due to the channelling effect of Cook Strait, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, the currents are strong and fickle and gales are common.

Add to this the volume of traffic which uses the shipping channel (including several crossings daily of the inter-island ferries to Picton), and it is not surprising that the reef has a lengthy roll-call of shipwrecks.