TEV Wahine
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The TEV Wahine , (TEV stands for Turbo-electric Vessel) , was a New Zealand ferry that ran aground on April 10, 1968 in Wellington Harbor on Barrett Reef and finally capsized. 53 of the 610 passengers and 123 crew members were killed. This shipwreck is New Zealand's best known, even if in the more distant history of New Zealand there were shipwrecks with higher casualties.
New Zealand radio and television broadcast the drama during the event, as the wahine had run into a reef in the immediate vicinity of Wellington 's Seatoun district , just a few hundred meters from the shore, and was unable to maneuver, before finally before the eyes of numerous helpless helpers and Wellington resident was driven by close to the bank and capsized and sank six hours later.
The official death toll was initially given as 51, then increased to 53 22 years later and on the 40th anniversary of the disaster in 2008.
The misfortune
In the early morning of April 10, the strongest storm ever recorded in New Zealand, at speeds of up to 275 km / h, occurred over Wellington, due to the clash of the cyclone Giselle coming from the north and an Antarctic storm from the south.
At the same time reaching the coming of Christ Church ferry Wahine the Cook Strait and the entrance to the Bay of Wellington, the Wellington Harbor. At 5:50 a.m. the wind speed was between 130 and 150 km / h, but 20 minutes later it had already increased to 160 km / h. At this point, the waves were so high that the radar lost its function and the ship was almost disoriented. The entrance to Wellington Bay is narrow and criss-crossed by reefs and shallows. A huge wave drove the wahine off course and towards Barrett Reef. The captain realized the danger and tried to turn, but the ship was driven back onto the reef due to the waves and the storm and scratched the rocks with her hull at 6:40. As a result, water streamed into the engine room and the ship lost its drive and was therefore unable to maneuver.
The storm continued to increase. The Wahine drifted past the shores of the Miramar Peninsula . Despite the proximity to the shore, the wind was too strong for help.
At 11:00 a.m., a harbor tug arrived at the Wahine and tried to attach a rope to tow the ship towards the somewhat calmer harbor of Wellington, which failed.
At 13:15 which was Wahine driven by the storm and the incoming tide in a position that was somewhat sheltered from the wind. There the ship suddenly tipped over, so the captain decided to evacuate the ship now. Due to the sudden inclination of the ship and the waves, however, only four lifeboats could be lowered into the water, the first of which tilted while the water was in the water and the occupants fell into the sea. Some were able to hold on to the boat, which was driven to the east bank, but where it smashed against the rocks.
At 2:30 p.m. the wahine finally tipped over on its side. At the same time, the first survivors reached the western bank at Seatoun. Over 200 people tried to reach the eastern bank. However, this was rocky and uninhabited, and at the time of the accident it was not accessible by vehicles due to landslides. Numerous, mostly elderly, people crashed against the rocks or died from exhaustion lying on the bank before help arrived. Those who let the storm drift towards the much more distant bank of Petone ultimately had a better chance of survival, provided they did not drown along the way.
After the accident
Ten weeks after the accident, the official investigation report found deficiencies in the measures taken, but recognized that the conditions were difficult and dangerous. On the other hand, the report confirmed that the time was right for the ship to be evacuated, with more casualties likely to have occurred sooner or later.
The water that ran into the vehicle deck due to the high waves was ultimately responsible for the capsizing of the ship.
Attempts to salvage the Wahine as a whole, which had visibly overturned in Wellington harbor for several years, failed. Later storms tore the wreck apart, eventually dismantling it on the spot.
See also
literature
- Emmanuel Makarios The Wahine Disaster: a tragedy remembered (2003, Grantham House; Wellington, NZ) ISBN 1-86934-079-5
- Max Lambert and Jim Hartley The Wahine Disaster (1969, Reed) & (1974, Collins Fontana Silver Fern)
- Kevin Boon The Wahine Disaster (1990, Nelson Price Milburn; Petone, NZ) ISBN 0-7055-1478-1 & (1999, Kotuku)
- CWN Ingram New Zealand shipwrecks: 195 years of disaster at sea (Beckett, 1990; Auckland, NZ) ISBN 0-908676-49-2
Web links
- The Wahine disaster on NZHistory.net.nz
- The New Zealand Maritime Record: TEV Wahine website
- Wellington Public Library
- Deaths from the sinking of the TEV Wahine List of Fatalities
- The New Zealand Maritime Record including pictures and history of the Wahine
- On This Day BBC on the wahine
Footnotes
- ↑ a b http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4470696a11.html Recognition for 53rd Wahine victim, Dominion Post, April 10, 2008
- ↑ NZ's worst storm . Stuff - Southland Times , April 9, 2008, accessed January 12, 2015 .
- ↑ TEV Wahine (ON 317814) Shipping casualty 10 April 1968 Report of Court and Annex Thereto, November 1968. Official investigation report on the accident