I’ve been posting about the Titanic for the past few weeks. With my obsessive mind, I started to look at other shipwrecks like the Lusitania, Britannic, and other wrecks. Obbverse (who rode on this ship the year before) mentioned this ship when I started the Titanic series. It was a terrible, tragic event that happened in New Zealand.
The passenger ferry TEV Wahine (Turbine-Electric Vessel) left Lyttelton for Wellington on April 9, 1968, on what should have been a normal overnight crossing. The Wahine was one of New Zealand’s best-known ships. It was a state-of-the-art turbo-electric roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry built in Scotland for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. Entering service in 1966, she operated the overnight route between Lyttelton and Wellington.Modern for the time, steady in rough seas, and trusted by passengers who made the trip regularly across Cook Strait. But as the ship approached Wellington Harbor the next morning on the 10th, one of the worst storms (Cyclone Giselle) in New Zealand history hit hard.
Winds were over 100 miles per hour in places. Waves smashed into the ship, and visibility disappeared in rain and spray. Captain Hector Robertson tried to guide the ferry through the harbor entrance, but the storm pushed the Wahine onto Barrett Reef around 5 a.m. The impact tore open the hull and started the chain of events that doomed the ship.
The Wahine had survived rough weather before. But the storm kept hammering the ship. Water flooded in and the engines eventually failed. Lifeboats became dangerous in the huge seas. Some were smashed against the ship while others overturned in the surf. Rescue efforts were difficult because helicopters and small boats were fighting hurricane-force winds themselves. Some passengers survived by floating for hours in the freezing water while local fishermen and rescuers pulled people from the harbor. Others never made it. There were 734 passengers and crew on board. Fifty-one people lost their lives that day, another died several weeks later, and a 53rd victim died in 1990 from injuries sustained in the wreck, making it one of New Zealand’s deadliest maritime tragedies.
The sinking of the Wahine shocked New Zealand much like the Titanic disaster shocked an earlier generation. It became one of those moments people remembered for the rest of their lives. Today, the Wahine disaster is still remembered in New Zealand as both a tragedy and a story of courage from passengers, rescuers, and crew. All were caught in a storm that few ships could have survived.
Before I end this, here is where a community came together. Quartermaster Tom Dartford commanded a lifeboat through 20-foot (6 meters) swells, rescuing over 100 people. Constables John Bowman & Paul Dogget: Members of the Police Dive Squad who rushed to the harbor and pulled over 100 freezing, heavily clothed passengers out of the freezing sea and into their small boat. Local Residents fought the storm and ran to the surf and pulled in strangers and carried them to their homes.
I have included two documentaries. The bottom video is just a quick 5-6 minute video, and the top one is an in-depth documentary. (Pictures at bottom)
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These stories are so interesting. I like what you are doing here with this Max!! Good stuff.
Thanks John! It’s nice to talk about something else and I thought this was a great way to learn more about ships…thanks so much for reading!
Wow! That’s terrible, somehow you don’t expect things like that to happen in ‘modern day’ times. My question though is why did they go out? Hurricanes don’t form spontaneously….they would have known they would be sailing into the storm
Yea nothing is unsinkable…old or modern. I can’t imagine in a cyclone. From what I read it was an overnight thing…and it was basically a ferry. Obbverse can tell us more…he was on this ship the year before…a very modern ship that was put into service 2 years before.
well thank God he wasn’t on that crossing. But your point goes to mine, you kinda think newer modern ships would be safer… but there’s no accounting for stupidity. Sounds like it wasn’t a failure of the ship design as much as human error in going out in terrible unsuitable conditions
I don’t know if in 1968 if storms could creep up that fast without us knowing? I don’t know. Ship wrecks…man so many ways Dave. The one way I hate most of all is collisions. It seems 9 out of 10 times the one ramming is the one that survives. But this? I’m not sure how much warning they had.
This will shed some light on it: The “Perfect Storm”: Tropical Cyclone Giselle traveled down the country and collided directly with another Antarctic storm system. The cyclone’s speed and violence vastly outstripped initial predictions.
well the last point is valid – sometimes storms can intensify quickly and surprise forecasters, even now, with all the computer modeling so it would be more easy to imagine in the ’60s. Still though, a ‘cyclone’ as they call it is the same as a hurricane here, and they are hundreds of miles across and usually run over a week from formation to dissipating (usually over a land mass) so there’s no way they didn’t know they’d be in the path.
Are there that many boat collisions involving large ships? That also surprises me, how do they not see each other in time?
I just watched a lot of that doc…yea the storm changed paths…it was not expected to do what it did. From what I read…it really was a perfect storm so to speak. Not one that happens all of the time. Like when Nashville got those rains back in 2010…once in a generation.
Yes…you would be surprised Dave…the ship I’m into right now…the Empress of Ireland was hit by another ship. BUT…it was thick fog…in the Saint Lawrence River near Quebec.
At the time Gisselle was, as Max says, a kind of perfect storm. The Cook Strait is notorious for rough seas. There’s a narrow band of sea separating the two main islands of NZ and if a nasty storm is added to the already turbulent Strait you’re in for a frikkin’ rough ride.
I honestly believe the disaster was a combination of mounting factors rather than poor decision making on the Captains part, but there are different opinions.
On my school class trip the year before (1967) it wasn’t considered at all dangerous to ship out classes of schoolkids to Wellington, it was just a trip to learn more about our countries capital, no big thang. It was not that unusual for schools to do the Christchurch-Wellington trip on the ferry. We thought of it as a bus trip along the coast as far as safety went.
I’ve mentioned this to Max before- our school trip was just an average normal trip, the weather was as per usual, but I wound up seasick as a dog. As a reference point as a six year old I’d sailed with my Ma and brother from Vancouver to Australia on a big ol’ ocean liner and hadn’t even burped or belched on the whole trip!
Hindsight may be a wonderful thing but I think there is an element missing in the discussion of whether to go or not. This was a ferry that people depended on. It was a ferry that ran a regular schedule and moving away from that regular schedule would have been a political disaster. I’m not saying this to defend anyone, only to throw more wood on the fire.
Very valid points; there’s always a forensic review of these disasters, and sadly there is always much to review, in hindsight. I’m all for apportioning the blame because real people died. There must be a reckoning, the survivors and those left behind need to know ‘why?’
Incredible footage. The Wahine was a new name for me, Max, and I’m sure there are so many others I don’t know about. Such a tragedy.
Yes it was…one blogger was on the ship the year before. Just a terrible thing… it was good to see though the country rally behind rescuing those people. Thank you Nancy.
I can only echo the previous comments. The amazing reaction of the people to help in times of crisis. I’d never heard of the Wahine Disaster.
I have no problem with the Ferry going out even in bad weather. Just from what I read (what you present) it was obviously a public service that people depended upon. The hubris of thinking it capable of taking on such an adversary is not unusual.
Max, again, my compliments. Splendid work.
I also liked the link to the five photographs.
Thanks Arthur, I hadn’t either. When obbverse told me about it I started to read about it…just horrible but I loved that the country came together and helped people out.
One thing this blog will have more than the other is pictures. I think they are important on this subject.
One of the Titanic posts has me wondering. What does TEV stand for, as in TEV Wahine.
I should have put that…I’ll go back in and add it. Turbine-Electric Vessel.
Turbine-Electric Vessel. NOW THAT’S A SURPRISE. I mean, I was expecting some derivation of HMS or even RMS. Tasmanian something or other.
Well, at least I admit it when I’m wrong. And boy, my guess on that was wrong.
I with you Arthur! I didn’t expect that either. I’ve seen SS, HMHS, RMS…but never heard of that…like you I thought it was a proper title for something.
Thanks to you pointing me in the right (?) direction, I recently read a post of Weave A Web where Bruce was going on about something, you were interjecting and Obbverse interjecting his refusal to make a comment any reader could tell was a bad pun. Obbserse continued this throughout the comments. His comments added a hilarity to the post.
In honor of that, I am not making any comment relating Obbverse, the tragedy, and his fore-presence.
🙂
Oh yes! Bruce and obbverse both…Bruce and I love puns…bad puns…obbverse tries to keep us in check. We have a great time.
I have 3 New Zealand readers and all three are some of the best commentors. I didn’t know where New Zealand was before I joined WP…I will admit it.
There is only one kind of pun. And I love ’em. If it doesn’t elicit a groan, it ain’t a pun.
Obbverse tries to keep you two in check? I’ve read some of his postings and I heartily and happily disagree. His are as bad as any I’ve read. And as my first paragraph suggests, that is high praise.
Yea…but Bruce and I get carried away with it. I remember one post he had about electricity…the puns were flying all day long…it was a crazy amount…I would say 30 or more comments or so going back and forth. Obbverse can get off some good ones.
The joy of Bruce’s blog is watching the puns fly back and forth. I love the set up. He posts some “story” that is highly suspect and then the fun begins. You give me stuff to think about. His is a barrel of punsters. And then there is Beth, with her wonderful photos that I send to some of the people I work with for their enjoyment and to break the daily workaday boredom.
My finding your Power Pop blog has been a highlight of the last ten months or so and I can’t ever say thank you enough.
Bruce is truly a wonderful man… he is a true renaissance man. Great musician and wonderful storyteller. Of course Obbverse is great as well…they are both very witty.
I’m glad you are enjoying it Arthur…and I thank you for reading. Lately I haven’t been great replying quickly…those puppies were 3 weeks old yesterday. We got a playpen today. They have taken over our house. I’m happy I’m going through this…but it’s a lot of work.
I don’t think anyone is commenting on a delay in responses. The puppies, and then you turn around and start a new blog. Busy fellow there, even with Martha’s help. (The joke, for those that don’t know, is Martha is the mother St. Bernard and they are her puppies,)
You know…you are right…it doesn’t make sense! I probably shouldn’t have done it…but my Prisoner will end soon so this will take its place.
Miss Martha…or Mrs Martha is worn out. She is sleeping all of the time now…I dont blame her.
I get the feeling you’d be sleeping more if situations allowed. 🙂
The joy of Bruce’s blog is watching the puns fly back and forth. I love the set up. He posts some “story” that is highly suspect and then the fun begins. You give me stuff to think about. His is a barrel of punsters. And then there is Beth, with her wonderful photos that I send to some of the people I work with for their enjoyment and to break the daily workaday boredom.
My finding your Power Pop blog has been a highlight of the last ten months or so and I can’t ever say thank you enough.
Nothing wrong with a bit of homes-pun philosof- philassifi- silliness is there?🙄
Wrong? I can speak only for myself but I need it. And I am truly appreciative for the madness you and the others bring to the table.
I’m humbled by the courage of all involved. Sitting here looking at my computer is a million miles away from the reality of that event. People still step up in the face of overwhelming odds to help others. Nothing but respect and thanks to them. Oh yeah Mother Nature rears her head and you are at her mercy.
CB…that’s what makes these stories so compelling to me. Not the tragic circumstances themselves as much…but the community, the sailors, the passengers, all stepping up and helping people and each other.
My PE teacher in high school was on the Wahine when it sank (and obviously survived…). We normally go on the ferries once a year, we’re just north of Wellington.
Thanks for that personal connection…what a long scary ordeal that must have been for him/her. So, they still run them…I didn’t know that.
By way of context Max the ferries run from Wellington-Picton now so it’s across Cook St Island to Island, about a three hour trip. The problem being theres been mechanical breakdowns galore, ferry running ashore,(unintentional rhyme, honest,) all sorts of reasons for cancellations. NOT good when transport between the two islands is reliant on ferries actually functioning!
Thank you…yea I can see where they need it. I didn’t understand a ferry that was overnight back then. That part confused me.
See I’m limited because the only ferry that we ever had around here was a 15 minute ride. You drive up on the ferry and drive off in 15 to 20 minutes. So the overnight thing threw me.
(I love the way Max blithely says ‘the ferries are still running!’ Lately-IF they are running they’re running into the side of the channel, or dropping a propeller off…)
Amazing stories of courage!
wow, i’ve never heard any mention of this sad event. very tough conditions, amazing that anyone survived, lucky that the heroes helped. p.s. when i went to ireland i went to belfast to see the titanic museum, it’s where it was built and it was amazing and very emotional. most people were crying as they went through the exhibits. later on in the trip we rented an old farmhouse airbnb in the south, in kinsale, and our land ran up to the sea where the lusitana was sunk and still in the water. 2 tragic shipwrecks in one trip, the second one i had no idea about until a neighbor told us.
Oh Beth! Isn’t part of that Titanic Museum in Belfast the “Nomadic”? A tender ship that took passengers to large ships and also the Titanic.
I must do what you did Beth…that sounds great. Not the sinkings of course but how they recognize them and show the artifacts…The Lusitania is very interesting all in itself. Thanks Beth!
https://www.titanicbelfast.com/explore/
yes, it’s there and the whole thing is built near the shipyard where they built the titanic
Thank you Beth!
Re; the overnight ferry- again! Sorry Max, I’m getting overly detailed but ah what the hell, if it all gets too wordy just edit all this out, I don’t mind.It’s all just a bit of pernickity detail anyway.
In ’68 the ferry ran from the port of Lyttelton, which is just over the Port Hills from Christchurch, (say 15 minutes or so to get from Southern Christchurch driving through the Port Hills road tunnel to Lyttelton). Back then the ferry sailed out of Lyttelton, along the South Islands East coast to Cook Strait where it then crossed North to Wellington. So about 11 hours of travel out on the coastal seas.
Now it’s so much faster because Picton is at the northern part of the South Island. So North to South Island and back, now there is far faster turnarounds, less travel along the South Island in what can be pretty tricky seas. (When the ferries ARE running…)
Man, I’m so nerdy!
No, I’m the one that complicated this ordeal lol. I just couldn’t imagine a ferry taking that long but I get it after reading what you wrote. That would be a long track.
I needed you to be nerdy to get it…and I have it now. That would have been quite the outing before.
Yep, theres a lot of backstory and detail to it that I didn’t explain. Even now that 3 hour journey not easily forgotten, for all the worst reasons. The 11 hour one isn’t really a trip, its more a voyage of discovery. Remembering this experience has sparked my interest in a future post. As Art/Purple sorta says, this inter post inter country back-and-forth comment and chat is what Social Media should be.
I totally agree with your last statement. It is…but sadly that’s not usually the case.
I sorta say? Sorta? LOL
To put this discussion into a proper perspective to me, while I am not all that interested in ship disasters and such, when was the last time you thought about a “three hour trip” that didn’t include some reference to Mary Anne?
Yeah, we need details. This wasn’t a Ferry Cross The Mersey, ya know.
Dave, I love what you posted:
But your point goes to mine, you kinda think newer modern ships would be safer… but there’s no accounting for stupidity. Sounds like it wasn’t a failure of the ship design as much as human error in going out in terrible unsuitable conditions
It is absolutely correct at the same time it is totally wrong. Yes, one would think newer modern ships would be safer, and while that assumption feels safe and comfortable, it is totally wrong. I’m not saying you are wrong, Dave, not in the least. I am saying our human selves are so given to this thing called human error.
One of the great things about the postings Max has done is to honor the bravery and goodness that sometimes matches our tenacity for error.
Yes, Max adds the human element; it’s not ‘X amount of passengers died’ it’s ”53 people- living breathing souls- perished.’
Thanks for saying that obbverse. In my next post I’m stressing that because there is a lot of tragedy, we are about to go over…I want to keep it human and not a horror show.
This is a remarkable story of tragedy and the bravery of those who risked their lives to save as many lives as possible.
Thanks for reading!
Sorry I’m so late with this Max. I’ve been running around in circles – and I don’t have a houseful of puppies. I knew someone on the Wahine when it sank – but she was rescued. I’m not sure if I ever sailed on the Wahine personally. One books the ferry and sails. I was never much into knowing their names – just nearly always wanted to get to the other side before I vomitted.
lol…that is alright! You are always welcomed here early or late!
I was going to ask you if you rode on that ship… I’ve ridden on a car ferry and a deep sea fishing boat…I’m lucky…I never got sick! Thanks for stopping by!
Yeah Bruce, Wellington is set up to be literally and figuratively ‘the perfect storm’ for travellers, especially by air and sea.
My mother lost her false teeth over the rail on the Cook Strait ferry – if you happen to come across them.
You just can’t make this stuff up…even you Bruce.
LOL! The thing was, when my mother lost her teeth she didn’t care. Those who have been sea sick will understand!
Ok now it makes sense…sea sickness…I was wondering how she lost them!
The Cooke Strait IS choppers… errr. choppy.
It’s certainly something to get your teeth into.
Not for you, yet. By the way, did anybody warn you about the evils of zinc they put in the denture adhesive? It ain’t funny
They haven’t even finished pulling the last two out yet! But I shall read about the zinc.