Wellington's biggest news story: The Wahine disaster

Monday, 17 April 2023

The front page of The Dominion on April 11, 1968, featured a dramatic picture by Barry Durrant of a lifeboat coming ashore.

With The Dominion Post soon to become simply The Post, we look back at some of the biggest stories the publication and its predecessors have produced.

Arguably the biggest Wellington news story was the sinking of Cook Strait ferry the Wahine.

Weather is always newsworthy in Wellington and that was never more the case than on April 10, 1968.

The sinking of the Wahine, a Lyttelton–Wellington ferry, was New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disasters.

Operated by The Union Steam Ship Company, the Wahine left Lyttelton at 8.40pm onApril 9 with 734 passengers and crew on board.

Survivors of the Wahine disaster make it to shore in a lifeboat on April 10, 1968. Barry Durrant’s image was reproduced all over the world.

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An elderly couple can still smile after their ordeal as they wade along the Pencarrow coast road towards Burdan's Gate.

A storm warning had been issued but in those days the normal practice was for the ferries to sail no matter what the weather.

Survivors suffering from hypothermia are picked up by volunteers.

The subsequent storm was one of the most severe Wellington had ever experienced.

Captain Gordon Robertson made the decision to enter Wellington Harbour at 5.50am. As he entered the harbour, the wind increased dramatically and the ship was soon in trouble.

The ferry Wahine, listing heavily as it sinks in Wellington Harbour. Lifeboats are just visible on the left. Photograph taken by Evening Post staff photographer Ian Mackley.

Its radar system failed, and a huge wave hit the ship side-on as it was pushed towards Barrett Reef. Side-on to the huge seas and in almost zero visibility the ship reversed, hitting the jagged reef.

The captain and his crew tried in vain to regain control of the Wahine, which was being bashed against rocks.

Today marks 50 years since the country's most tragic maritime disaster, when the Wahine ferry struck Barrett Reef in Wellington Harbour and sank. (First published in 2018)

The starboard propeller had broken off, there was a large hole in the hull and the port engine had stopped working.

The Wahine’s list to starboard started to worsen and the order to abandon ship was given shortly before 1.30pm. Although the ship was close to land, the storm pushed survivors towards Eastbourne, where access was poor.

Both The Evening Post and The Dominion put all their resources into the coverage.

For The Evening Post, its evening deadline presented major problems. At the time of going to press, at approximately 3.10pm, details were vague and contradictory.

Wahine survivors come ashore wet and cold.

As a result, it reported that the Wahine had rolled over and only one person had died.

The Evening Post dispensed with advertising on its front page, instead featuring photos of the boat battling the storm.

Des and Gaye Skene of Christchurch. Des was a survivor of the Wahine tragedy and featured in the famous lifeboat picture taken by Barry Durrant.

Given more time to report in detail, The Dominion was able to run survival stories and more detail on the deaths.

Both papers sent all available photographers to cover the disaster.

One of those photographers was Barry Durrant. His image of survivors battling to get ashore at Seatoun was featured on the front page of The Dominion and published all over the world.

The photos, including survivors walking to safety in Eastbourne, remain some of New Zealand’s most well known images.

When salvage experts set about their work in August, The Evening Post spelt out the magnitude of the challenge.

'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.'

As it turned out the Wahine was still connected underwater by a tangled mess of metal.

In the years since, The Evening Post, The Dominion and Dominion Post have remembered the disaster every April.

Stories often featured survivors, like that of Jim Lawrence, a crew member on the Wahine. In 2018, he said he was still struggling to come to terms with what happened.

He had once given a talk to a service club in his home town of Inglewood, Taranaki, but regretted doing so.

'I was reluctant to say anything and I wish I hadn't afterwards but the memories were raw and new, but I was shaking like a leaf during the talk.”

The sinking of the Wahine was our worst modern maritime disaster, with an official death toll of 53. Fifty-one people died on the day. May Brightwell died from her injuries on April 29, 1968, to become the 52nd fatality, and Gordon Hick was the final fatality, when he passed away on October 15, 1990.

A Court of Inquiry found no serious omissions or faults on Robertson's part. He told the inquiry he had never been in weather that bad before.

Robertson’s headstone in the Taita Cemetery tells only that he was the captain of the Wahine and a solemn verse.

“In his duty prompt at every call. He watched and wept and prayed and felt for all.”