The cluster of rocks that is Barrett Reef (often known as Barrett's Reef) is one of the most hazardous reefs in New Zealand. It lies on the western side of the entrance of Wellington Harbour, on the approaches to the city of Wellington, at coordinates -41.3525°N, 174.835°W. The reef is named after Richard (Dicky) Barrett (1807–1847), a whaler and trader. Its Māori name is Tangihanga-a-Kupe, (Mourning of Kupe), which may refer to the reef's similarity to a line of mourners at a tangi, the sad sound of the water around the reef, or Kupe crying for people he left behind in his travels. The reef is popular with recreational divers.

Dangerous entrance

The reef, much of which is exposed even at high tide, is located to the west of the two-kilometre-wide channel that links Cook Strait with Wellington Harbour, close to the shore of the Miramar Peninsula. The shipping channel lies between the reef and Pencarrow to the east. The area to the west between the reef and Point Dorset on the Miramar Peninsula is known as Chaffers Passage, after the captain of the Tory, a ship sent to New Zealand by the New Zealand Company in 1839. Due to the channelling effect of Cook Strait, which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, the currents are strong and fickle and gales are common. Add to this the volume of traffic which uses the shipping channel (including several crossings daily of the inter-island ferries to Picton), and it is not surprising that the reef has a lengthy roll-call of shipwrecks.

History of vessels damaged, stranded, or wrecked on Barrett Reef

Sources Evening Post| volume=XCIII| issue=48, 24 February 1917, Page 6 Wanganui Chronicle| issue=19883, 27 August 1913, Page 5 Evening Post| volume=CXV| issue=126, 31 May 1933, Page 10