The final piece of the puzzle

This is the full and fascinating account of the disposing of the mine that ran as front page news on Saturday, 21 June, 1919 in the Taranaki Herald.

BLOWING UP OF NAVAL MINE

INTERESTING SCENE AT OAKURA

The German naval mine which was secured by the mouth of the Oakura River on Wednesday morning was blown up at 25 minutes to eight o'clock this morning in the presence of about 25 people. 

The report was plainly heard within a radius of twelve or fifteen miles from the spot, and the concussion is stated to have shaken houses on the higher levels in New Plymouth.

The scene on the beach was most picturesque and interesting to those who witnessed it.  The mine lay about 75 yards from the left bank of the river, and a little below high-water mark, with the end bearing the five horns inclined towards the east. 

At half-past seven the onlookers had retired to safe positions five or six hundred yards away.  A hole was scratched out at the base of the mine, inside which was the charge of 300lb of guncotton.  In this hole a 2 1/4lb charge of guncotton, with detonator and fuse attached, was placed and the sand was heaped back. 

Of the four people who remained by the mine to the last moment, one was Mr. John Kendall, who dragged the mine ashore on Wednesday morning, and another was Mr. R. B. Eyre, Collector of Customs at New Plymouth, who in his official capacity, was in charge of the arrangements. 

The former held an unlighted match head against the end of the fuse, while the latter struck another match and applied it.  The fuse fizzed viciously.  During the few minutes while the little curl of white smoke was rising from the fuse there was time to take in details of the scene. 

The mine was in the sandy centre of a shallow rock-flanked bay.  Beyond the right bank of the river was a headland above which the golden glow of the rising sun was just visible through a crack in the clouds. 

On the point of rocks at the westward end of the bay the remains of the hulls of the steamer Gairloch, which was wrecked about 20 years ago, were visible. 

Then a spark from the burning fuse reached the detonator, a shoot of red flame was seen, and from the spot where the mine had been there rose into the air and was silhouetted against the eastern sky, a huge column of black smoke and sand, flying out from the edges of which could be seen fragments of mine-casing and rock. 

A violent report and shock caused the watchers to flinch involuntarily and after a second or so of quietness, the pattering of falling fragments was heard. 

The rush for the crater and souvenirs then took place.  The hole left in the beach was bowl-shaped and almost twenty feet wide and four feet deep.

The securing of the mine when it was seen bobbing about in the surf at half-tide by Mr Kendall on Wednesday morning and the subsequent holding and watching of the machine of deadly destruction, was an onerous task, considering the possible results if the mine had drifted away once more into the path of steamers.

It can be wondered how many vessels traversed the waters close to this very mine in its desultory wanderings before it was beached at Oakura.  An hour or two after the mine was seen on Wednesday a steamer passed the spot. 

The reward to the finder should be a substantial one, as, in a case like this, considerable risk was involved.  Mr Kendall was on the beach with his horses and dray at the time. 

He took the reins and chains that were part of the harness, waded out up to his waist in the sea and dragged the mine by the mooring tackle as far up on the beach as he could. 

Several rocks studded the sand, which was then just covered with water and bump on one of the horns would have had disastrous results. 

Messrs. Kendall, E. J. Walsh, F. H. Mace and G. Julian were engaged by the Customs to watch the mine.  Considerable difficulty was experienced in holding it on the beach during the storm on Wednesday night.

A fragment of the mine casing fell on the Main South Road, not far from a car which was crossing the bridge over the Oakura River when the explosion occurred.  The mine was just to the side of the mouth of the river valley. 

As the Oakura Hotel and several smaller buildings were not more than a quarter of a mile away from the mine in a straight line, though sheltered from the direct force by the curve of the ground as it falls to the shore, it was thought that some damage might result. 

The windows in the hotel were opened beforehand and the bottles on the shelves in the bar were moved to some place where they could not fall. 

Though a severe shock was felt no breakages occurred.  Pieces of the debris were picked up not many yards away towards the shore.