View source for Tory Channel

{{Short description|Channel in New Zealand}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name               = Tory Channel / Kura Te Au
| native_name        ={{native name|mi|Kura Te Au}}
| other_name         = William the Fourth River
<!--    Images     -->
| image              = Wake of ferry entering Tory Channel.jpg
| alt                = Entrance of Tory Channel / Kura Te Au
| caption            = Entrance of Tory Channel / Kura Te Au
| image_bathymetry   = 
| alt_bathymetry     = 
| caption_bathymetry = 
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| location           = [[Marlborough Region]], [[New Zealand]]
| group              = 
| coordinates        = {{coord|41|14|24|S|174|14|00|E|region:NZ-MBH_type:waterbody_source:dewiki|display=inline,title}}
| type               = [[Ria]]
| etymology          = 
| part_of            = [[Marlborough Sounds]]
| inflow             = 
| rivers             = 
| outflow            = 
| oceans             = 
| catchment          = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used -->
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| length             = {{convert|16.8|km}}
| width              = {{convert|1.1|km}}
| area               = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used -->
| depth              = {{convert|39.2|m}}
| max-depth          = {{convert|65|m}}
| volume             = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used -->
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| shore              = <!-- {{convert|VALUE|UNITS}} must be used -->
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| frozen             = 
| islands            = Moioio Island
| islands_category   = 
| sections           = 
| trenches           = 
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| cities             =
<!--      Map      -->
| pushpin_map             = New Zealand Marlborough Sounds#New Zealand
| pushpin_label_position  = right
| pushpin_map_alt         = Location of Tory Channel
| pushpin_map_caption     = Tory Channel / Kura Te Au
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| website            = 
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}}
'''Tory Channel''' (officially '''Tory Channel / Kura Te Au''') is one of the drowned valleys that form the [[Marlborough Sounds]] in New Zealand. Inter-island [[ferry|ferries]] normally use it as the principal channel between Cook Strait and the Marlborough Sounds.<ref>{{cite web|title= The Voyage|url= https://www.interislander.co.nz/The-Voyage.aspx|website= Interislander|accessdate= 16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= The journey|url= http://www.bluebridge.co.nz/trip-info/the-journey/|website= Buebridge|accessdate= 16 December 2014}}</ref>

Tory Channel lies to the south of [[Arapaoa Island]], separating it from the mainland. At its western end it joins the larger [[Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui|Queen Charlotte Sound]], which it meets halfway along the latter's length. Its eastern end meets Cook Strait close to the strait's narrowest point.<ref>{{cite web|title= Tory Channel, Marlborough – NZ Topo Map|url= http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap/nz42414/Tory-Channel/Marlborough|website= NZ Topo Map|publisher= Land Information New Zealand|accessdate= 16 December 2014}}</ref> The Channel is {{convert|16.8|km||abbr=on}} long, averages {{convert|1.1|km||abbr=on}} in width, and is up to {{convert|65|m||abbr=on}} deep, with an average channel depth of {{convert|39.2|m||abbr=on}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Plew|first1=David R.|last2=Stevens|first2=Craig L.|date=1 September 2013|title=Numerical modelling of the effect of turbines on currents in a tidal channel – Tory Channel, New Zealand|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096014811300092X|journal=Renewable Energy|language=en|volume=57|pages=269–282|doi=10.1016/j.renene.2013.02.001|issn=0960-1481|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Tory Channel forms a substantial part of the [[ferry]] route between Wellington and [[Picton, New Zealand|Picton]]. Erosion attributed to the wake from the ferries, particularly the new faster ones (discontinued in 2005<ref>{{cite web|title= History of The Lynx|url= https://www.interislander.co.nz/60years/the-lynx/|accessdate= 5 Apr 2023}}</ref>), has resulted in speed restrictions.<ref>{{cite web|title= Ecologically Significant Marine Sites in Marlborough|url= http://www.marlborough.govt.nz/Environment/Coastal/~/media/Files/MDC/Home/Environment/Coastal/Ecologically%20Significant%20Marine%20Sites/Part3SitesArea59.ashx|publisher= Marlborough District Council & Department of Conservation|accessdate= 16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news
|title= Speed limit on Marlborough Sounds upheld
|url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10384548
|accessdate= 16 December 2014|work= The New Zealand Herald
|agency= APN New Zealand Limited|date= 1 June 2006
}}
</ref>

One of the two candidates for the easternmost point in the South Island (along with [[Cape Campbell]]) lies at the entrance of Tory Channel. It is called West Head.

==History==
[[Te Āti Awa]] and [[Ngāti Tama]] recognize the channel Kura Te Au as an important historic {{Lang|Mi|mahinga kai}} (food source), and settlement for [[Te Āti Awa]]. The channel was used as a primary highway by [[Te Āti Awa]], and is still monitored and defended by the iwi in the environmental courts.

The name Kura Te Au originates from the red colour of the sea caused by a variety of plankton and the high populations of crustacean krill. According to legend, Kura Te Au is where [[Kupe]] killed the giant, mythical octopus, [[Te Wheke-a-Muturangi]], causing its blood to run through the channel, turning the water red. [[Kurahaupō]] and [[Rangitāne]] give the meaning "the red current" for Kura Te Au.<ref name="NZGB Kura Te Au">{{cite web |title=Kura Te Au|url=https://gazetteer.linz.govt.nz/place/54599|website=gazetteer.linz.govt.nz |accessdate=5 January 2023}}</ref>

[[James Cook]] anchored several times in the nearby bay he named [[Meretoto / Ship Cove|Ship Cove]]. He sighted the Tory Channel in an excursion on the pinnace from his ship [[HMS Resolution (1771)|HMS ''Resolution'']] on 5 November 1774. [[John Guard]] established the first permanent whaling station on [[Arapaoa Island]] in 1827, targeting whales in the Tory Channel for their [[baleen]] and [[whale oil]].<ref>{{Cite Q|Q58677530}}</ref> Another whaler, John Stein, navigated the areas between [[Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui|Queen Charlotte Sound]] and [[Cloudy Bay]] in his whaling barque William the Fourth, and found "a very large navigable river ... which he named William the Fourth River."<ref>The Hobart Town Courier, 14 Sep 1832</ref> According to Robert McNab's 1913 book 'The Old Whaling Days', which drew upon the knowledge of John Duncan, a resident of the Sound, to identify the locations visited by Stein in his 1832 voyage, this 'river' is now known as the Tory Channel. Tory Channel was accurately surveyed in 1840 and named after the [[New Zealand Company]] ship ''[[New Zealand Company ships#Tory|Tory]]'', a pioneer ship that brought British colonists to [[Wellington]]. Around this time, whaling stations were already operating in Te Awaiti Bay. Between 1911 and 1964, the Perano family hunted whales from Whekenui Bay. [[Humpback whale]]s were spotted from the hills at the Tory Channel entrance during their migration through Cook Strait. The Perano Whaling Station was the last whaling operation in New Zealand and closed in 1964.

The name of the channel was officially altered to Tory Channel / Kura Te Au in August 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linz.govt.nz/regulatory/place-names/recent-place-name-decisions-and-place-names-interest/nzgb-decisions-august |title=NZGB decisions |date=August 2014 |publisher=Land Information New Zealand |accessdate=6 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121203027/http://www.linz.govt.nz/regulatory/place-names/recent-place-name-decisions-and-place-names-interest/nzgb-decisions-august |archivedate=21 November 2015 }}</ref>

==Tidal power==
{{See also|Ocean power in New Zealand}}
Energy Pacifica planned to install up to ten underwater [[Tidal power#Tidal stream generator|tidal stream turbines]], each able to produce up to 1.2 MW, near the Cook Strait entrance to Tory Channel. They claimed Tory Channel had tidal flows of {{convert|3.6|m/s|ft/s}} with good [[bathymetry]] and access to the electricity network.<ref name="benign">[http://www.contrafedpublishing.co.nz/Energy+NZ/Benign+tides.html Benign tides] Energy NZ  No.6, Spring 2008. Contrafed Publishing.</ref> Other designs envisaged up to 50 turbines, but there are uncertainties about flow rates, the area is about {{convert|15|km||abbr=on}} from the [[HVDC Inter-Island]] transmission station at [[Ōraumoa / Fighting Bay]] and a calculation in 2013 suggested that an economic return was unlikely.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Marlborough Region|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Landforms of the Marlborough District]]
[[Category:Straits of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Sounds of the Marlborough Sounds]]
[[Category:Cook Strait Ferry]]