50 metres off the coast of Whitianga in Coromandel lies the wreck of the HMS Buffalo - A royal British Navy ship that sunk after being caught in a storm while anchored in Mercury Bay in 1840.
But there are fears the wreck, which is a protected archeological site, will disintegrate - after four large pieces of timber from it washed up on the beach during the storms that hit the region late last month.
Rebecca Cox from the Mercury Bay Museum is a leader of the HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project explains why the museum is worried about the wreck.
