75 Died When Penguin Hit Rock In 1909

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31077, 4 June 1966, Page 5

75 Died When Penguin Hit Rock In 1909

(Specially written for “The Press”

by

TERRY McGOVERNE)

rpHE recent shipwreck of the collier Kaitawa with the loss of all 29 hands is another black chapter in the long and eventful history of the Union Steam Ship Company.

Only once in this century has there been a worse maritime disaster on the New Zealand coast and this too involved u Union Steam Ship Company vessel the Penguin. On February 9,1909, the Penguin sailed from Picton for Wellington about 6 p.m. with 100 people aboard. Four hours later 75 of them had drowned in a savage sea which cast the Penguin on to jagged rocks near the outfall of the Karori stream.

The loss of the Penguin was the culmination of a series of disasters for the Union Company. Between August, 1907, and January, 1910, it lost five ships around or near the New Zealand coast, but the loss of the other four paled in significance to the Penguin disaster.

At a subsequent court of inquiry Captain F. E. Naylor said that when the 824-ton ent n e r^ reW c^ en |^earne r wither was fairly clear but tWck WayacroSS itb «*mevery to take^h?^?" 1 decide d to rake the outside course tn Pp„ d V l ® very rocks which the S tlX n rt a sid a e llyStrUCkont he It was obvious that the we^»uJr h ':* n " g “A” ha ?£«l ** l.«»eh” g “ contained women and children. The No. 1 I™. u^S WaS smashed to matchwood as soon as it touched h^»rf Wate X’ the second was Ssfzed 8 C ' ear but later

Lost Ticket Two rafts thrown over the stern got 23 people ashore but only six were saved in the three lifeboats which reached the beach. Captain Naylor calculated that the Penguin sank at 10.52 p.m. going down bow first At dawn next day there was not a sign of the wreck. Naylor was the last to leave the ship and eventually got ashore by clinging to a piece of timber.

A constant search of the coastline near the wreck was

made immediately and over a length of eight miles 52 bodies were recovered. Later a further nine were found and those not claimed by relatives were buried at Karori cemetery.

The court of inquiry suspended Captain Naylor’s certificate for 12 months after finding him guilty of breaches of maritime regulations and failing to put the Penguin’s head to sea earlier.

One Woman Saved If the sinking of the Penguin was a national disaster it was also a personal tragedy for one of the survivors, in fact the only woman survivor. She was Mrs J. Hannen, aged 27 whose four children were all drowned before her eyes and her husband, ill with tuberculosis also perished. Mrs Hannen’s courage, though never receiving official recognition, is remembered as one of the most remarkable features of the shipwreck.

Though she had lost her entire family she tried in vain to save three other women but successfully rescued a small boy trapped under an upturned lifeboat

Mrs Hannen told after her rescue how she and her children had forcibly been separated from Mr Hannen and placed in the first lifeboat to be lowered. “Just as they went to lower the boat the tackle falls gave way and the craft went down

head first into the ocean. All my children were drowned except my youngest baby two years old whom I had lashed to one of the seats. “When the tackle falls gave way I heard one of my children crying, “mumma, mumma, help us,” but God knows we were powerless to do anything.

Parting On Deck “My husband was on the deck when we parted and I said to him “Cheer up old man.” He replied “Goodbye’ and I have not seen him since. “We drifted about it seemed for hours, everybody straining at the oars trying to avoid the reefs. My poor little baby was then still alive and I realised it was all I had left in the world.

“We knew by the breakers we were close to the shore but were unable to keep the boat with her head to the sea. Suddenly an enormous wave struck us side on and the boat capsized. Everyone was thrown into the sea but I managed to grasp a rope and God alone knows how I hung on. "A young boy Ellis Matthews was floating near me and I managed to get a rope to him. We were right underneath the boat but the air must have forced the bottom to stand out of the water.

“We were really imprisoned between the keel and the seats and it seemed that we floated about for hours before being washed up on the beach. “We were still under the boat in its capsized condition and although the water was shallow the waves continued to lap up on our bodies. We had no way of getting out.

“My poor little baby girl had meanwhile died of exposure and I think the lifebelt must have choked her. While losing my all I had saved the life of a strange boy Matthews. The terrible experience had told on him and he lay by my side unconscious.

Seaman’s Description

“I made up my mind to get from under the boat and I started to scratch away at the shingly beach to make a hole to creep out. Then I heard the voices of shepherds who lifted up the boat and we were taken to the homestead.” Even after her rescue Mrs Hannen insisted on searching the beach for survivors. She found one whose body was still warm and tried but failed to revive the victim.

An able seaman, Charles Jackson, recalled that there was a sound “like the rending of a gigantic piece of calico when the vessel struck the reef.”

, “The sea was running mountains high and the task of launching the lifeboats was a very difficult one. One boat after it was launched was smashed to pieces but another got clear. “There was no panic. Everybody strictly observed the orders given by the captain.” Jackson claimed that one of the lifeboats was nevei launched because of the lis of the Penguin.

Raft To Shore

“By great energy w, managed to get a raft clear and threw it over the side. I jumped over the side but the others were at first reluctant to follow. As the ship went down 11 others jumped and got aboard the raft and just as we moved away the boiler of the ship burst in a tremen-’ dous explosion. “We drifted for three hours and were overturned three times. It was pitiful to see the men struggling in the water but magnificent how they helped one another to safety. “About three o’clock we had worked our way pretty close to the land. The raft crashed into the rocks and we all found ourselves making for the shore. “While we were drifting we had glimpses of Captain Naylor who was clinging to a piece of wood with a young man whose hand had been tom from his arm. The captain managed to reach the shore but his companion did not.”

One of the best accounts of the disaster came from the manager of the “Marlborough Herald,” Mr F. Shaw. “I felt proud of my race when I saw the manner in which everyone was behaving,” he said.

Jumped Overboard “While the boat loading was going on about eight or nine detonations were fired and red and blue lights were burned as signals of distress. “They might have fired 50 big guns for all the good it was, for the wind was howling so high and the sea was clammering so loudly that we could hardly hear each other speak and guns would not have been heard 50 yards to windward.”

Mr Shaw had no thought of drowning. “I felt my time had not yet come.” and with that in mind he jumped overboard, swam clear and eventually got ashore on a raft four hours after the ship ran aground.

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