New Zealand High Sea

South of the South Island, the sea opens toward Rakiura / Stewart Island and the eastern entrance of Foveaux Strait. In 1804–05 the American sealer Owen Folger Smith travelled up Rakiura's east coast in a whaleboat to Ruapuke Island, from where he saw the passage to the west. His chart called it Smith's Strait. In 1806 the sealing ship Favorite became the first recorded vessel to pass through the strait.