Mining of Wimmera brought the war closer for N.Z.

Press, 11 August 1979, Page 16

Mining of Wimmera brought the war closer for N.Z.

By

JOHN LESLIE

' During World War I, the German raider Wolf, operating in the Pacific, secretly and skilfully sowed mines in New Zealand and Australian praters. One of these moored mines claimed Australia’s popular passenger steamer Wimmera (3021 tons gross) owned by the Huddart Parker Company, Ltd. This Australian-manned, Clyde-built, 14-year-old, intercolonial steamer met disaster 18 miles north of Cape Maria van Diemen in 50 fathoms of water at 5.15 a m. on June 26, 1918. There were two sharp explosions aft and she sank in 10 minutes. Bound for Sydney, she had left Auckland the previous day with 76 passengers and 75 crew aboard. Out of her total complement of 151, 26 people lost their lives, passengers and crew. There were women and children aboard too. Before the Wimmera disaster, the New Zealand Navy had discovered 11 moored mines in our northern waters. Moreover, nine months earlier, the British cargo liner Port Kembla (4700 tons gross), bound from Melbourne to Wellington, struck a mine 11 miles off Cape Farewell at the northern tip of the south island. She was a total loss but no lives were lost. Later, an enemy mine field was discovered in this area. About three weeks after the Port Kembla’s loss, a moored mine was swept up on the Australian coast. A year before the Wimmera’s loss, the German raider Wolf captured and sunk the Union Company’s trans-Pacific cargo steamer Wairuna, near the Kermadec Islands. These events shocked New Zealanders out of any complacency engendered by their long geographical distance from the major theatre of war in Europe. Admiralty instructions were issued far safe

courses for allied vessels in New Zealand and Australian waters. Mercifully, the sea was relatively calm when the Wimmera was mined. The wind was blowing towards the shore too. The Wimmera’s social room aft was smashed to pieces. She maintained an even keel at first. Although the ship’s lights were extinguished by the two explosions, there was no panic aboard. Before she plunged to the bottom her bow rose high in the air.

The master, Captain H. J. Kell who lived in Auckland with his wife and two young daughters, had just returned to the Wimmera after a holiday in Rotorua. Captain Kell was also well known in Christchurch because Union Company and Huddart Parker intercolonial liners came down the east coast as a normal course. Captain Kell went down with his ship, as did the chief officer (Mr A. J. Nicol) the chief steward (Mr H. Verge), and several others. Mr Paxton, the Wimmera’s chief engineer, did not voluntarily leave the ship either, but was washed off the deck as she sank and was later rescued from the ■ sea by a lifeboat. In those days, Huddart Parker and the Union Company were great rivals. They vied with each other for the passenger trade by cutting their fares to a ridiculously low figure, until a truce was arranged. Passengers could travel coastwise if they wished. I do, not recall the Wimmera but I do remember travelling once from Gisborne to Auckland in the Victoria, sister vessel to the Wimmera, and also by Union Company vessels at other times, such as the Monowai (first), Mararoa r

and Mokoia. We always called at Tokomaru Bay on these trips. Fortunately, when the Wimmera sank, all too rapidly, there were fishing trawlers in the area able to render timely assistance. One of the Wimmera’s lifeboats sank and another was stove in. The Wimmera was the third Huddart Parker liner to founder in New Zealand waters. On July 29, 1896, the company’s Tasmania, also a passenger steamer, was wrecked off Table Cape, Mahai Peninsula, with the loss of 13 lives. On November 2, 1902, another of the company’s passenger vessels, the Elingamite, struck one of the Three Kings group about 40 miles from Cape Maria van Diemen, and 45 lives were lost. Huddart Parker had a fourth mishap in New Zealand waters when the popular passenger motor vessel, Wanganella struck Barretts Reef at the Wellington Harbour entrance, on January 19, 1947. But the Wanganella was one that got away. She was salvaged and repaired, and there was no loss of life. When the Wimmera sank there were individual examples of modest heroism as there usually are in such cases. A stewardess, Mrs J. Robertson who lost her life, helped women and children dress as best they could and ' then helped them into lifeboats. Afterwards she stayed on the boat deck till the Wimmera sank. An elderly woman, Mrs Gould, aged 90, who was travelling as a passenger, wanted to stay aboard and make more room for other passengers in the lifeboats, particularly younger women and their children. Mrs Gould said she had lived a full life and was not unduly concerned about death. However Mrs Gould was rescued. She was a cheerful soul in the lifeboat, and also during a long cross-country trek, wearing little clothing and worn-out shoes.

At Tom Bowling Bay, hard by North Cape, 84 passengers and crew landed from lifeboats, many of them in night clothes, or otherwise poorly clad. Thirty more survivors reached Taemaro, four miles from Mangonui, One boatload of survivors, blown clear of North Cape, drifted south and made a landing at Kaiamou beach. Those who landed at Tom Bowling Bay received kindly assistance from a sheepfarmer, Mr Murdoch Munro and also from the local Maoris. But some survivors had to walk and scramble several miles over rough country before they received assistance. They were footsore and exhausted in some cases, especially women and children, by the time they received food and clothing from local settlers. After arriving at Mr Munro’s sheep station, the Wimmera’s assistant purser, Mr K. Gorrie, accompanied by a Maori, rode 17 miles to telegraph Auckland about the Wimmer’s fate. On receipt of the drastic news, the Northern Steam Ship Company sent two of its vessels to search for survivors in the area. These were the Clansman from Whangaroa and the Waiotahi from Houhora. Ultimately, most of the Wimmera’s survivors were taken to Auckland by these two vessels. It was all a long time ago, but I can just recall, when very young indeed, seeing photographs of survivors in the now defunct “Weekly News.” Moreover, I faintly remember my parents discussing it. The sinking of the Wimmera by enemy mine, with loss of life, was certainly big news of the day, as it had happened so close to home, whereas the main theatre of warfare was in Europe. At the court inquiry, evidence was given by Captain Hall-Thompson, R.N., that Captain Kell

had been given confidential instructions about the track for all allied vessels to pursue in local waters. It was apparent, the court was told, that Captain Kell had treated the instructions too lightly. The Wimmera had sailed about five miles from the minimum limit area and obviously Captain Kell had thought he was taking maximum precautions. But the court was told that even if Captain Kell had not taken full cognisance of the Admiralty instructions for the Wimmera’s track, with the result that the ship was lost, he had given his life in the finest tradition of the British merchant service. Obviously there had been excellent discipline aboard and, due to Captain Kell, the loss of life was lower than it might have been, the court was told. The mining of the Wimmera so near to our shores brought home suddenly to New Zealand the full impact of warfare. Even in World War 11, the Niagara, a large Union Company liner in the Pacific trade, struck a mine right at Auckland’s front door. The Niagara was in the fairway between Bream Head and Moko Hinau on the morning of June 19, 1940, and became a total loss. The Niagara was also a serious loss to the war effort. No lives were lost but she took to the bottom a large quantity of bullion, most of which was later recovered by salvage. There are no Huddart Parker passenger liners sailing today but in the company’s heyday it had a fleet of handsome vessels including the Wimmera, Victoria, Tasmania, Zealandia and Westralia. The one most fondly recalled by New Zealanders is of course the twin-funnelled motor vessel Wanganella. Yet in her day, the Wimmera according to all accounts, was equally popular with the travelling public. It was the only way to travel in those days. Apart from the war, they were probably happier days for travellers — i days which will never I come again. *