A monument dedicated to Captain Cook in the Coromandel has fallen into the ocean.
The memorial slipped off the coastline at Mercury Bay on Sunday morning.
Thames-Coromandel district mayor Sandra Goudie says the council had active plans to save the structure.
"We have already got that work underway but the actual physical work has not quite got there."
"[It is] really disappointing that even though the work is in the pipeline, the sea bet us."
Ms Goudie said the district council is working as quickly as possible to come up with a recovery plan.
"We are having a meeting on site tomorrow to rescue the plinth, work out where the locals think it should go, and looking at expediting the work that is going to be needed."
The British ship, Endeavour, captained by James Cook, anchored in Mercury Bay in 1769.
The beach and nearby road were named after him, and the memorial was erected in 1969 to commemorate the bicentennial of his visit to the Bay.
It is believed coastal erosion and the stormy weather caused the monument to fall.
Newshub.
