In Maori oral tradition, Te Aumiti is the resting place of Te Kawau-a-Toru, the loyal king shag of the legendary Polynesian navigator Kupe. The story holds that Kupe discovered Cook Strait while battling a giant octopus, and the violence of that fight gouged the coast into the convoluted shapes that form the Marlborough Sounds today. Kupe's shag, a sacred bird reputed to possess the eye of the ancestor and insight into ancient knowledge, flew ahead to test whether the channel was safe for Kupe's canoe. But the tidal rip caught Te Kawau-a-Toru, broke his wing, and dragged him under. The broken reef adjacent to the channel is that bird turned to stone. A nearby rocky point, where a lighthouse now stands, is said to be the shag's petrified bones. The local tribes, Ngati Koata and Ngati Kuia, know this place by the story it carries: Te Aumiti a te Kawau-a-Toru, the currents that swallowed Toru's shag.

The first recorded European navigation of the pass came in 1827, and it did not go well. Admiral Jules Dumont d'Urville attempted the passage in the French Navy corvette Astrolabe during his second voyage to New Zealand. As the vessel entered the narrowest section, the current swung her sideward. The helm went unresponsive. Astrolabe struck rocks twice before the tidal force washed her bodily over the reef and into Admiralty Bay on the far side. D'Urville's assessment was blunt: no one should attempt to navigate French Pass except in extreme emergency. The island on the far side now bears his name, D'Urville Island, and the pass itself carried the French designation until 2014, when its official name was formally altered to Te Aumiti / French Pass to honor both traditions.

In 1888, a Risso's dolphin appeared in the waters near the pass. For the next 24 years, this dolphin made himself indispensable to local shipping. He would meet boats emerging from the pass, ride their bow waves for 8 kilometers into Pelorus Sound, then turn back to escort returning vessels. He never navigated the pass itself or ventured into Tasman Bay, keeping strictly to the Pelorus side. Sailors named him Pelorus Jack, and his fame grew until he became the first dolphin in the world to receive legal protection, shielded by a special order in council. Pelorus Jack was last seen in April 1912. The lightkeeper at French Pass later claimed to have found the dolphin's body decomposing on the shore, though the account was never confirmed.

The dangers of Te Aumiti are not confined to the surface. Near the pass lie deep depressions where powerful vertical currents can drag objects, and divers, down without warning. In 2000, a group of student divers undertaking a drift dive during an ebb tide were separated from their surface float and caught in a whirlpool. The current dragged them into Jacob's Hole, a 68-meter-deep depression southwest of the pass. A dive computer recovered from one survivor recorded a maximum depth of 89 meters, far beyond recreational limits. The descent resulted in multiple fatalities. According to the coroner's report, the accident occurred on a falling tide with current flowing from southwest to northeast, a reminder that the same forces that carved a legend into Maori mythology remain as lethal as ever.

Reaching French Pass by land requires commitment. The settlement of French Pass / Anaru sits at the end of a 70-kilometer road from State Highway 6, much of it unsealed, with sharp bends that demand two hours of careful driving. A short walk from the settlement leads to a lookout overlooking the channel, where you can watch the current rip through the narrows and understand why d'Urville's warning has held for nearly two centuries. The road itself crosses Ronga Saddle with views of Croisilles Harbour, passes through Okiwi Bay, and skirts Elaine Bay before branching at the head of Admiralty Bay. It is remote, unhurried country. Those who make the journey tend to stay.