KEY POINTS:
Three experienced Kiwi adventurers are embarking on a mission to remote islands to try to uncover a special piece of New Zealand's war history.
Heritage Expeditions founder Rodney Russ, Seaworks Ltd founder Bill Day and naval historian Mike Fraser will travel to the Kermadec Islands, 1000km northeast of New Zealand, in March to try to find the wreck of the Wairuna - the first ship sunk in New Zealand waters in World War 1.
The Wairuna was taken by surprise and captured on June 3, 1917, after a German biplane buzzed the freighter, dropping a sandbag with a note ordering the crew to stop engines, not use its radio and to take orders from the German raider, the Wolf.
A bomb was dropped just ahead of the Wairuna to emphasise the point.
After the Germans removed all the cargo they could use, they took the Wairuna out to deeper waters to sink her on June 17.
Time-bombs placed on the freighter failed to do the job, so the Wolf used its 5.9in guns to riddle the Wairuna's waterline. Two hours later she rolled over and sank.
"There have been stories that the Wairuna has already been found, but these are fiction. We want to be the first," Mr Russ said. "It will depend on how far the ship drifted before it finally sunk. In the four days we are there we hope to get enough material to include the story in a series of shipwreck documentaries focusing on wrecks.
"If it is too deep, the location will be recorded and the team will consider various options for another expedition in 2008."
The trio insist the trip is not a treasure hunt.
"The cargo on the Wairuna was mostly biodegradable. This is an opportunity to delve into a small part of New Zealand's history that is little known."
Mr Day has led an expedition to the Auckland Islands in search of the historic General Grant shipwreck. Mr Fraser lost an arm in a shark attack while stationed on Campbell Island as a meteorologist.
- additional reporting NZPA
