EXTRAORDINARY DISAPPEARING GUN

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An amazing example of 19th Century military technology rests in its own hideout below the world’s only mainland breeding ground of the Royal Albatross.

Taiaroa Head Lighthouse (fishing.net.nz)

CHOOSING THE RIGHT LOCATION

In the 1850s, it was not uncommon for ships to spend days trying to find the entrance to Otago Harbour on the lower eastern side of New Zealand’s South Island. Only 60 vessels had arrived at the port in 1860, but three years later, this number had dramatically increased to 983. With the ever present danger of shipwreck at the entrance to the harbour, apart from not finding it in the first place, a lighthouse became a priority. read more