WRECK OF THE PENGUIN

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 51, 23 November 1929, Page 12

WRECK OF THE PENGUIN

APPALLING DISASTER RECALLED The wreck of the Union Steamship Co.’s steamer Penguin near Cape Terawhiti is recalled by the presence in the Newtown Bowling Club’s pavilion of a silver cup for the singles competition presented by Mr. S. H. Underwood, late secretary, in memory of his father, who lost his life in the wreck of the vessel. This was one of the most appalling shipping disasters in the history of New Zealand, 49 passengers and 26 members of the crew being lost, a total of 75 out of 101 souls on the vessel. She was on her way from Nelson and Picton to Wellington, and was believed to have struck Tom’s Rock, to the south-east of Cape Terawhiti. The vessel struck at. 10 o’clock at night in a rough, broken sea and a strong southerly wind and rainladen fog. The crash shook the vessel from stem to stern, and in less than an hour the slid off the rock and plunged to her doom. The boats were launched, women and children going in the first, but it was smashed against the side of the ship. The others met the same fate, Mrs. Hanan reaching the beach under the upturned keel of the second boat. All the other women and children were lost. Rafts were launched, and it was by means of these that most of the survivors were saved, of whom half were members of the crew who had remained to the last. Mrs. Hanan was the only woman survivor, her husband and four children being among those who perished. The Penguin was a vessel of 824 tons and was launched 45 years previously. Nothing was known of the wreck ashore until 4 o’clock next morning, when four of the survivors staggered up to Mr. MeMenamin’s house at the sheep station. Help was at once forthcoming and search parties went out to rescue the living and recover the dead, of -whom over 50 were washed up on the beach during the day.