Ha'ano shipwreck thought to be Port au Prince [1]
Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 14:47. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Two Ha'apai divers who have sighted the remains of an old ship wreck in Tonga's Ha'apai islands could not confirm yesterday whether or not the age of the wreck had been identified by experts in Britain, but they believe that it might be the Port au Prince.
Tevita Moala, a local diver said he found the wreck off a reef in the island of Ha'ano in April, claiming that it is the wreckage of the English private ship of war, the Port au Prince which was sunk in the area in 1806.
Tevita told Matangi Tonga on August 10 that he had been looking for the wreckage for months, but he kept the find a secret until July when he showed the area to another diving enthusiast, Darren Rice, the owner of Matafonua Resort.
But the identity of the wreckage has not been confirmed. Tevita said that he took not more than an inch of a piece copper from the wreckage, which he claimed was sent to the United Kingdom where experts had confirmed last week that it was the type of coper that was used around 1770s to 1850s, "and that is why I think it is the Port au Prince," he said.
Meanwhile, Darren said this afternoon that the wreckage that was found by Tevita had not been identified yet. He said they had not removed anything from the wreck. What they had sent to the UK for identification was a photograph of the wreckage, which they thought could be the Port au Prince.
Sandra Fifita of the Ministry of Tourism in Nuku'alofa said that Tevita had confirmed to them that the wreckage was that of the Port au Prince. She said as a government authority they wanted to stay in touch with appropriate national authorities and work closely in preserving this as a Government property or national reserve.