Wahine Disaster 40th Anniversary 10 April 2008
Media Release, 31 March 2008
On 10 April 1968 the 8,948-ton Wahine capsized off the coast of Wellington with the loss of 51 lives.
Two Ministry for Culture and Heritage websites have an extensive range of information and stories as New Zealand remembers its worst maritime disaster 40 years on.
NZHistory.net.nz
NZHistory.net.nz has a comprehensive feature at http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/wahine-disaster.
A detailed timeline follows the Wahine as it left Lyttleton carrying 734 people at 8:40pm on April 9 1968 to 2:30pm on the 10th when the now abandoned ship capsized in just 11.6 metres of water. Fascinating sections on the rescue and Court of Inquiry relate the lasting impact of the tragedy.
The site provides links to a number of useful resources including Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, the Museum of Wellington, books and articles.
The Wahine disaster media gallery holds the images, videos and sounds of the tragedy: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media_gallery/tid/1709
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
TeAra.govt.nz has a stirring section on the sinking of the Wahine
The shipwreck story tells of the freak winds that pushed the Wahine onto Barrett Reef. Devastating pictures show the Wahine listing and a video captures helpless onlookers silhouetted against the Wahine as it capsized to starboard.
Some moving personal accounts of the effects of the Wahine storm with accompanying images can be found in the What’s Your Story section of Te Ara.
John Laker tells of waking up to the awful sound of “hundreds of nails in the roof being wrenched from their timbers.” Upon returning to the house later that afternoon he and his wife found it “split in two”.
Bob Maysmor was almost washed into the sea as he drove between Hutt Valley and Eastbourne on the evening of the 9th of April. He recalls pulling bodies from the water in the aftermath the following day. Brian Hollis relates being blown out into the middle of the street in downtown Wellington, and quickly realising nowhere was safe that day.
The riveting descriptions and historical accounts at NZHistory.net.nz and TeAra.govt.nz are a valuable resource and reminder to New Zealanders of the extent of the Wahine tragedy 40 years later.
For more information contact:
- Jock Phillips, General Editor, Te Ara, Ministry for Culture and Heritage 04 496 6346
- Neill Atkinson, Senior Historian, Ministry for Culture and Heritage 04 496 6355 (for NZHistory.net.nz)