The roughly 12m-long section of mast has been stored in the North Otago Yacht and Power Boat Club compound in Waterfront Rd for the past year, after the Waitaki District Council removed it from the end of Oamaru’s main wharf, where it had stood since the 1970s.
"It held the leading light to the harbour at the end of the Holmes Wharf. They replaced it with a tanalised pole with an upgraded light on it, because it had a bit of rot in it.
"They were going to throw it out ... because they didn’t know what it was until I said it was from an old sailing ship."
However, it is not known what ship it was from or exactly how old the mast was.
Mr Murdoch estimated it dated from the mid-to-late 19th or early 20th century — a period when several sailing ships were wrecked in and around the harbour.
It was also a mystery why the mast was recovered in the first place, and where it was stored until it was erected on the wharf decades later.
Mr Murdoch had his own
theory as to what ship it might have come from.
On May 13, 1873, the North Otago Times reported the schooner Margaret Campbell was anchored in fine weather off Oamaru in smooth conditions until a "heavy roll" came in from the south east about 2am on May 10 and swamped its deck.
With no immediate danger assistance was not called for.
However, 45 minutes later the vessel started to drag and
additional anchors were dropped and the sail set.
Lights were hoisted to attract attention, but were not seen from the shore due to fog.
The ship, which was carrying about 1000 bags of grain flour, continued to drag and hit ground about 5am.
There was no loss of life, as a line was fired to help the crew disembark shortly before the ship broke up on the shore.
"In a few hours after taking the beach, her masts went overboard and the port side was stoved in, and the cargo washed out and scattered along the beach," the report said.
Mr Murdoch said if the mast was from the schooner, he wanted to erect it in the harbour area with a plaque about its history.
In the meantime, he appealed for anyone with information about the mast to come forward.
