Kelly Tarlton

[3] They moved to Auckland where he went to Pasadena Intermediate School, although he spent nine months in hospital owing to a reaction to penicillin and a kidney condition.

[1] He then became a diver joining the Canterbury Underwater Club inspired by Jacques Cousteau's movie The Silent World.

[2] He set a New Zealand freediving record in 1959 at Curious Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, (depth of 24 metres).

[2] During these trips Tarlton collected marine specimens, discovered new species, and explored and developed ways of taking photographs and films underwater.

[2] He worked on construction and also salvaged and explored many shipwrecks in New Zealand waters and around the world including in the late 1970s with Mel Fisher looking for treasure in the Caribbean for the Atocha and Santa Margarita (sunken Spanish galleons).

[10] Tarlton converted the old sugar lighter 'Tui' into a Museum of Shipwrecks[13] tourist attraction after relocating the barque to Waitangi, then undertaking extensive renovations, adding masts and rigging.

Artefacts displayed in the museum were recovered off New Zealand shipwrecks from expeditions led by Kelly with his dive team, such as the Rothschild's Jewels from the Tasmania, gold and silver coins from the SS Elingamite and a cannon off the L'Alcmène.