Wairarapa (ship)
_-_SLV_A-S09-04-84-60_b.jpg) Wood engraving by Alfred Martin Ebsworth (1884)
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The Wairarapa was a 1882 commissioned passenger ship of the New Zealand shipping company Union Steam Ship Company , which was used for passenger traffic between New Zealand and Australia . On October 29, 1894, the Wairarapa rammed a reef on the northern tip of the Great Barrier Island in thick fog and heavy seas and sank. 121 of the 251 passengers and crew members on board were killed as a result of the adverse circumstances .
The sinking of the Wairarapa is one of the most famous shipping disasters in New Zealand and, in terms of the number of fatalities, after the HMS Orpheus (1863) with 189 deaths and the Tararua (1881) with 131 deaths, the third largest shipwreck in the country's history. In addition, its demise is the seventh largest disaster in New Zealand in general.
The ship
The 1,786 GRT steamship Wairarapa was built in Dumbarton (Scotland) in 1882 at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard and was launched on May 19, 1882 on the Clyde . The Wairarapa was 86.92 meters long, 11.15 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 5.79 meters. The two-cylinder compound steam engine drove a single propeller and made 2,000 nominal horsepower. It was completed on July 3, 1882.
She was built for the New Zealand shipping company Union Steam Ship Company (USS Co.) founded in 1875, part of the New Zealand Ltd. concern. based in Dunedin . She was launched in May of the same year and was part of a small fleet of luxury steamers that crossed the Tasman Sea and brought passengers and cargo from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. It was considered the pride of the shipping company.
The Union Steam Ship Company was New Zealand's most successful shipping company and existed until 2000. The Wairarapa was named after the region of the same name on New Zealand's North Island . In the fall of 1894, the Wairarapa set a record for the fastest passage of a passenger ship in the Tasman Sea . Accidents occurred repeatedly during her service, for example on February 20, 1884, when she collided with the steamer Adelaide during a race at the record speed of 16 knots , or on November 1, 1885, when she was crossing from Napier to Gisborne Caught fire. The damage amounted to a total of 6,000 pounds. No personal injury was reported in either of the incidents.
The last ride
On Wednesday, October 24, 1894 at 6:00 p.m., the Wairarapa set sail in Sydney under the command of Captain John S. McIntosh to return to Auckland, 2,000 miles away. There were 186 passengers and 65 crew members on board. The freight included 16 horses and several sheep . Four days after departure, on the morning of October 28, at dawn, the ship reached the coast of New Zealand's North Island. At the height of North Cape the ship struck a south-easterly course, which it should now lead on the west coast of the North Island towards Auckland. During the day, the ship got caught in a severe storm accompanied by thick fog. Captain McIntosh, who was considered capable and reliable, did not reduce the speed of the Wairarapa , but kept the previous 13 knots. Some passengers and crew members therefore expressed concern and asked for a speed reduction, which the ship's command did not implement.
A compass check and a dead reckoning were incorrectly or not at all, resulting in a deviation of the course of about 10 to 15 miles. The Wairarapa struck a westerly course towards Hauraki Gulf instead of the originally intended eastward direction , which brought them closer to the coast of the Poor Knights Islands . The ship was much closer to land than the navigating bridge assumed.
At midnight there was a change of guard between the guards at the lookout . Only a few minutes later, at 12:08 a.m. on October 29, the Wairarapa rammed an underwater reef at almost full speed off Cape Miners Head on the northern tip of the North Island. The engines were brought back to full speed, but the steamer remained seated on the rocks and was tossed to and fro by the high waves. Immediately water penetrated through the holes in the ship's hull . Cliffs more than 200 meters high towered over the ship.
A great panic broke out immediately , people streamed out of their cabins on deck and confusion and fear reigned on the boat deck. The ship got a strong list , which many people found hardly stop abglitten and were rinsed by the waves overboard. Many men pushed women and children aside and stormed the lifeboats , hardly any of which could be properly lowered into the water. Some hit the hull, others capsized after being lowered and sank. One of the boats disappeared and was never seen again. Only two boats with about 50 people were safely launched and escaped.
Many passengers could not swim and drowned trying to reach the nearby bank. Many people climbed up the ship's rigging in fear of drowning . At around 3:30 a.m., a breaker struck the bridge, destroying it, and taking everyone there with it, including Captain McIntosh. At daybreak it was a terrible sight. The Wairarapa was stuck on the reef, listing heavily to port , and was surrounded by rubble, corpses and dead horses. Many passengers were still holding on to ropes and sails.
A single lifeboat reached land and made it to the Māori- inhabited village of Ngati Wai Māori in Katherine Bay. From there, some villagers came to the aid of the castaways about 30 hours after the collision with the cliffs . A steward was able to tie a line between the bank and the ship, which saved several dozen passengers. The only connection to the island at the time were weekly arriving and departing ships, so it took a full three days for news of the disaster to reach Auckland, where the Wairarapa was expected. Of the 251 people on board, 121 people (101 passengers and 20 crew members) died. Most of the women and children perished.
consequences
A judicial investigation into the accident, which was completed in mid-December 1894, came to the conclusion that the responsibility for the accident was to be laid on the captain and the crew. Navigation errors as well as failure to observe the current and a wrong course had led to the accident . First officer AS Moyes, who survived the sinking, was charged with negligence . It was also criticized that there had been no rescue drills and that passengers and crew were not adequately prepared for such an event.
The stewardess Annie McQuaid was posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor for bravery because they a child a life jacket was wearing and tried to save it. Both were drowned. All three Wairarapa stewardesses , Charlotte McDonald (34), Annie McQuaid (27) and Elizabeth Grindrod (34) had died. The Union Steam Ship Company erected a memorial in her honor. The ship's photographer David Alexander De Maus (1847–1925) produced a montage of a painting of the sinking of the Wairarapa , into which he inserted details of the memorial and portraits of the three women.
The Wairarapa tragedy found its way into New Zealand folklore and was incorporated into numerous narratives. The wreck (position 36 ° 4 ′ 2.6 ″ S , 175 ° 21 ′ 6.8 ″ E ) has been in Listed under the Historic Places Act 1993 and is also to be included in the Auckland Regional Plan: Coastal.
See also
literature
- Eric Walmsley Heath. Shipwrecks around New Zealand . Grantham House (Wellington), 1994
- Gavin John McLean. Shipwrecks and Maritime Disasters . Grantham House (Wellington), 1991
- Bruce Morris. Darkest Days . Wilson & Horton (Auckland), 1981
- Steve Locker-Lampson and Ian Francis. Eight Minutes Past Midnight: The Wreck of the SS Wairarapa . Rowfant Books (Wellington), 1981
Web links
- Summary of the sinking of the Wairarapa on the website of Christchurch City Libraries (English)
- Detailed Summary of the accident (English)
- 1894 - 121 lives lost when SS Wairarapa strikes Miners Head, Great Barrier Island. greatbarrierisland.com, November 4, 2007, archived from the original on March 12, 2012 ; accessed on January 18, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).
- Loss of the Wairarapa, the Fault of the Captain and the Crew . In: The New York Times . New York December 11, 1894 (English, online [PDF]).
- Image montage by DA De Maus