“It Was All So Terrifying”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31652, 11 April 1968, Page 1

“It Was All So Terrifying”

“Ladies and gentlemen: We are ashore on Barrett’s Reef. There is no immediate danger, but would you please proceed to your cabins and collect your lifejackets and proceed to muster stations.”

This was the announcement passengers aboard the doomed Wahine were given first thing yesterday morning, the Press Association reported. Last evening, at disaster headquarters, the foyer of the Wellington railway station, two Canterbury University students, Brian Goldsmith and Bill Spring, described the tragedy.

Rock In Front Brian Goldsmith said: “We were up on the top deck in the television room early this morning when a bloke yelled out ‘Look, there’s a rock,’ and we looked down and saw it right below us—a black rock right in front of us. It looked close enough to touch. “Then we hit it and we just stopped. We did not know what to do.

“Water was pouring over the whole ship.” After describing the increasing anxiety of the passengers as the hours wore on, in spite of repeated assurances that everything was under control, Brian Goldsmith said the final moments before they jumped were moments of horror. “It was terrible,” he.said. “Women were screaming for their children.” Three cricket teams were on board, bound for the Easter tournament, from the Otago and Canterbury Universities and Lincoln College. John Wasichop, a member of the Lincoln College team, said: “It seemed safe enough on the boat at first. We would hardly have known what was going on if we hadn’t listened to the radio in the lounge.

“When we had to abandon ship I jumped into the sea and swam to a large raft, but

I got tipped off. I managed to reach a smaller raft on which there was a man whose wife and two children had just disappeared. They must have drowned.”

One of the last to jump from the doomed ship was the Canterbury University cricketer, I. M. Walter, aged 20, who said: “We were all huddled on the lee side of the ship. It was very, very cold, and the sea was washing up the deck towards us. It was terribly steep; people were falling about on. the wet, slippery deck. Waves 30 feet high were causing the boat to roll violently. We had to help the older passengers down the deck to the boats. “She lurched to starboard steeply and very quickly, and when we got the order to take to the boats, we weren’t much prepared. She finally lurched over so quickly that most of us who weren’t in the boats had to jump. “I drifted in the heavy seas and was blown near one of the lifeboats. It was nearly full and someone pulled me on board.

“The engine of the lifeboat brpke down soon afterwards and a tug tried to rescue us, but it crashed into the boat and tipped us into the sea. The lifeboat was knocked upside down. "... Some of us managed to climb on to the bottom of the lifeboat, others clung together in groups in the water.

Was Seasick “I was seasick all the time. There were about 40 of us in the lifeboat before we were tipped over by the tug. Only about 15 finally managed to climb on to the bottom of it. “A woman of about 60 holding on to the boat under me was washed away by a wave, and she disappeared. When she reappeared it was obvious she had a broken arm and was unconscious. Within seconds she was washed away for good. “We were clinging to the lifeboat for about an hour. Then a launch came up, but it was very difficult to get

near us because of the big seas. The crew of the launch threw ropes over the side so that we could grab one. Then they pulled us on board.” The Press Association says that most of the passengers rescued were unanimous about the lack of hysteria on board the stricken vessel and in praising the efficiency, good spirit and helpfulness of the crew. Their comments were, however, reciprocated. “I must give it to the passengers,” .said one of the Wahine’s stewards.

“They were wonderfully calm during the whole crisis, from the original list to the call to abandon ship.

Girls Singing

“A contingent of Air Force girls were singing all the time and kept everyone in high spirits. “There was no sign of panic until the passengers had to get into the lifeboats, and then it came mainly from old ladies.

“But, with a little encouragement, even the elderly were quite calm once they had been shown how to board the liferafts.”

Mr G. Gale, a 36-year-old Christchurch businessman, said: "The passengers were waiting quietly for the weather to calm when there was a sudden lurch to one side and we all went sprawling. “People were sliding over the deck in the pouring rain and driving wind. It was very terrifying. “We were terrified, too, in the lifeboat, thinking that the ship would tip over on us, but there was not a lot of \lr Gale said he had been impressed by the number of small pleasure craft which towed some of the lifeboats and liferafts to shore. “We never expected to see such small boats in the heavy sea, yet there they were milling around,” he said.

Last Sea Trip Mr and Mrs K. Forgan, of Adelaide, who were going to visit Wellington at the end of’ »

a two-year working holiday lost their Holden car and all their belongings in the disaster. “We will never travel by sea again—we are going home by plane, that’s for sure,” said Mr Forgan. “We nearly didn’t get on the boat. We tried for a crossing tonight, but we were told it was booked up and took a cancellation for the Wahine voyage.” AH passengers interviewed said every effort was made to get the women and children into the rafts first. The Forgans described the fearful scene of passengers leaping on to the canvas roof of a liferaft that was already full of survivors. “I managed to protect our baby with my lifejacket, but the pressure of the bodies on top of the roof was almost suffocating until someone slit the roof with a broken mirror,” Mr Forgan said. “Luckily, a tug nearby took off the survivors on our roof.”

Bride Missing Another survivor was, Mr P. Madarasz, aged 23, a Wellington land agent, who was returning with his wife from their honeymoon in Christchurch

Shivering, and with a blanket wrapped round his shoulders, he was still seeking word of Ms wife who had left the vessel on an earlier liferaft. Another survivor, Mrs Pat Bateman, of Christchurch, said she was able to climb into a lifeboat lowered before the ferry sank. “I lost all my luggage, but at least I am safe,” Mrs Bateman said, adding that the passengers had been very well looked after by the crew. Mr T. Struthers, of New Plymouth, said: “It was murder, she went so quickly; but when the order was given to abandon ship there was no panic.”

A young man from Sydney,

Mr J. Cutting, said: “I woke up very early this morning and went on deck to see where we were.

“As we reached the Wellington heads things got pretty wild and the Wahine was plunging and rolling about like a mad thing. “The wind was blowing at 100 miles an hour and it was so rough that the ship’s propellers kept racing as they spun out of the water.

“. . . Then we slid on to the rocks. There was no real thud and I thought there had been little damage, but next thing was the sound of alarm bells ringing and everybody was told to get into their lifejackets.

“I wasn’t particularly worried and even when the ship began to list I thought we would still manage to get into port.”