What was the significance of the Wahine disaster?

What was the significance of the Wahine disaster?

On 10 April, 1968, the Wahine sunk in the Wellington Harbour. A total of 51 people on board died that day, and two others died due to their injuries – making it New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster.

What changed after the Wahine disaster?

The Wahine disaster helped shape maritime safety systems in New Zealand. It changed the way ferries operate on the Cook Strait and gave rise to organisations such as the Life Flight rescue helicopter service, which Interislander sponsors.

What was the background to the Wahine disaster?

The main cause of the Wahine’s sinking was that the ship went off course in one of the worst storms in New Zealand’s recorded history, and as s result went out of control and struck Barrett Reef. The build-up of water in the vehicle hold was the reason the ferry finally capsized.

Who helped in the Wahine disaster?

This was a difficult task in appalling weather, and many worked through the night to assist survivors. In all, 371 police members out of a total of 629 in the Wellington district, national headquarters and the training school were involved.

How did the Wahine disaster affect people?

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. The Wahine’s demise also marked a coming of age for television news broadcasting in New Zealand as images of the disaster were beamed into the nation’s living rooms.

Did the captain of the Wahine survive?

Captain Robertson and Captain Galloway, the deputy harbourmaster who risked his life by jumping from the vessel Tiakina to the Wahine, were the last two to leave. About an hour after the ‘abandon ship’ order was given, the Wahine capsized in less than 12 metres of water – some 8½ hours after entering the harbour.

Where is the Wahine ship now?

“The Wahine no longer exists as a ship,” The Evening Post said. “It is gashed, torn and crumpled into unrecognisable shape. It is thought that the continual surging of the surf had scooped out a trench alongside the hull which then slid down into it, breaking her back.”

What year did the Wahine go down?

1968
Tragedy in Wellington Harbour The sinking of the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Wahine on 10 April 1968 was New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster.

What was the worst train wreck in New Zealand?

At 10.21 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1953 the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10 km west of Waiōuru in the central North Island. Of the 285 passengers and crew on board, 151 died in New Zealand’s worst railway accident.

How did the Tangiwai disaster affect the lives of people?

The Tangiwai tragedy killed more people than the combined total of all the other rail accidents in New Zealand history (the next-worst accidents, at Hyde in 1943 and Ōngarue in 1923, claimed 21 and 17 lives respectively). It is worth noting, too, that in 1953 road accidents in New Zealand claimed 279 lives.

Why was the Wahine disaster so famous in New Zealand?

The Wahine disaster remains the most famous of New Zealand’s maritime tragedies, one that was witnessed by hundreds of would-be rescuers who stood by helplessly as people were swept past so close to shore but out of reach, and by thousands of shocked New Zealanders who witnessed the event on television.

What was the worst maritime disaster in New Zealand?

Television report of the disaster. The sinking of the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Wahine on 10 April 1968 was New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster. 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.

How many people died in the Wahine ferry disaster?

Then, in the early hours of 10 April, the ferry ran aground and capsized at the entrance to Wellington Harbour. 53 people lost their lives. This is the story of the Wahine Disaster, told by those who were there.

How old are the survivors of the Wahine disaster?

He’s 75 now, retired, and enjoying the comfort of the late summer sun streaming into his Port Chalmers home. But his mind is elsewhere, conjuring memories of the shrieking wind and towering waves that claimed Wahine, the lives of 51 people on board on the day, and, very nearly, his own. Video Player is loading. This is a modal window.