Cable Bay

Rotokura / Cable Bay is a bay and small settlement 18 kilometres (11 mi) north-east of Nelson in New Zealand. The settlement at the head of the bay is at the southern end of a thin strip of land or causeway connecting Pepin Island with the South Island.

The bay itself is a 600 metres (2,000 ft) wide, northwest-facing bay in the Tasman Bay. It lies just north of the Horoirangi Marine Reserve, between the tidal island Pepin Island and the mainland. It provides a natural boulder barrier from the sea for the Wakapuaka estuary.

There is evidence that Māori used the area around Cable Bay from about 1150 for fishing and camping. There was also a pā on Pepin Island near the end of the causeway linking the island to the mainland. Both the pā and the bay itself were known as Rotokura.

European settlers named the bay Schroders Mistake following an incident in April 1843. A cutter owned by Schroder, a Nelson merchant, was taking a survey party led by John Barnicoat to Marlborough, but it became stranded on the sand bar. The general locality is known as Wakapuaka.

The name Cable Bay arose from New Zealand's first overseas cable link, to Australia, which was opened on 21 February 1876. The international telegraph cable established a connection with the world-wide telegraph network via Sydney. The cable came ashore into a timber building, continuing through a cedar-topped cable, a stone-cemented passage and underground to the cable house. From the cable station, messages were sent to Nelson via telegraph wire. This new service meant communications to Europe only took four days instead of up to six months for letters. With a population of about 30, the cable station was a self-contained village.

The company's offices and sleeping quarters burned down in 1914. The cable station remained in operation until 1917, when the cable was shifted to Titahi Bay near Wellington due to the increasing economic importance of the North Island. The place name changed to Cable Bay in 1926.

...
Wikipedia