But it was the loss of the 370-ton ship Edward Lombe in 1834 twenty three years before the Dunbar disaster - that led the authorities to do something to warn mariners of the reef and its dangers.

Wet and shivering, I rose from the outrigger of a Polynesian voyaging canoe. We’d been at sea all afternoon and most of the night. I’d hoped to get a little rest, but rain, wind and an absence of flat space made sleep impossible. My companions didn’t even try.