Spanish twists provoke research

An Oxford-educated researcher is investigating whether Spanish sailors visited New Zealand 116 years before Abel Tasman.
Historians generally accept that  Tasman, a Dutchman,  first  sighted  the Southern Alps on December 13, 1642.
  But Qatar-based researcher Winston Cowie, who spent part of his childhood in Dargaville, is investigating whether
  the Spanish  visited New Zealand  as early as the  start of the 16th century.
A sighting of a caravel wreck near Aranga on Northland's west coast by Dargaville's shipwreck explorer Noel Hilliam 25 years ago was the catalyst for Mr Cowie's project.
 Sketches  suggested the caravel is the San Lesmes, which disappeared in the Pacific in 1526.
 Mr Hilliam says  22 of the 53 crew  listed on the 80-tonne caravel came from a Spanish town  called Aranga - the same as the Northland area close to  the wreck.

 Mr Hilliam said in June this year  Mr Cowie had spent a month in the northwest Spanish town where  the main street was  called "Rua Tui" - a Maori name.
 Mr Cowie  found what he believes are two ancient  pohutakawa trees at La Coruna, not far from  Aranga.
 Mr Hilliam says that in June  next year, a Lincoln University scientist, Dr Jonathan Palmer,  will take a core samples to determine the age of  the Spanish trees.
Further speculation of the Spanish visitors  arises from a number of local Maori surnames that also have Spanish derivatives.
 
 Winston Cowie will present his theory on the Pre-Tasman Spanish Discovery of New Zealand at Lighthouse Function Centre, on Sunday, January 10,  as guest of the New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group.