WAIRARAPA WRECK.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 257, 29 October 1931, Page 5

WAIRARAPA WRECK.

Tragedy at Great Barrier Recalled. RED FUNNEL SHIP LOST. (Special to the “ Star.”) AUCKLAND, October 28. The present generation cannot realise how slowly news travelled even as late as thirty-seven years ago. The Union Company’s intercolonial steamer Wairarapa was lost on Miner’s Head, Great Barrier, on Sunday, October 28, just thirty-seven years ago, but, although the tragedy occurred only sixty miles from Auckland, the news did not reach the city until the following Thursday, when the Northern Company’s usual weekly boat returned from the island. The town was horror-struck, and everyone felt all the more helpless when it was realised that the tragedy had happened and was practically over before Auckland people knew about it. The Wairarapa, though a mere cockleshell compared to the big ships of today—she was only 1786 tons —was considered a very fine craft thirty-seven years ago, and when one of the Red Funnel skippers rose to command such a vessel he was as proud as the presentday commodore of a big trans-Atlantic fleet. She used to run in the intercolonial trade, Sydney to Auckland, down the coast to Bluff and then back to Australia. The passenger trade on the New Zealand coast must have been fairly lucrative, for those were the days before the North Island main trunk railway. Foggy Weather. No one ever explained how the Wairarapa came to be wrecked, but it was always tacitly understood that she was trying to adhere to timetable—those were the days when there was competition in the Sydney-Auckland run—and that she kept going in foggy weather when prudence demanded that she should have slowed down. It was said that she turned the corner at the top end of New Zealand in a fog, and that she struck the Barrier instead of the channel, a little to the west of where she came to grief, because she was credited with having run a greater distance than she had. In plotting off the course from the point where she was assumed to be, a difference of a mile or so was of vital importance in striking the channel between the Great Barrier and the Little Barrier.

The spot where the Wairarapa struck head on is wild and rocky, and the wonder is not that anyone was drowned, but that anyone was saved. The high, rocky cliffs seem to offer no hold at all at their wave-dashed feet, and the steamer was fortunate in striking

one of the rare ledges on that part of the coast. Struck at Midnight. It was shortly after the watch had been changed at midnight on Sunday, October 28, 1894, that the look-out saw a black mass loom out of the mist right ahead. When the order was given to go astern, it was too late, and perhaps it was just as well, for, as it was, the wreck hung on the ledge, and out of the 230 people on board 137 were saved. Owing to the angle at which the hull lay it was possible to launch only two of the ship’s boats, and they could only take some sixty people. The others had to remain on the wreck. As the stern sank everyone crowded to the for’ard end, and the survivors were at last driven into the fore rigging. Many were washed overboard by the waves and some succumbed to sheer exhaustion. The sea was so rough that one of the boats capsized as soon as it hit the water and all in her were drowned. At dawn one of the stewards managed to get ashore with a line, and by this means a number of lives were saved. Those who did get ashore on the rocks had to spend thirty-six hours in scanty clothing, and with only oranges for food. Maoris and other residents on the island helped in the rescue work, and the survivors were taken to Catherine Bay. Bodies were washed ashore for days after the catastrophe, and these victims of the worst disaster that has happened in Auckland waters were buried on the shores of Catherine Bay. The seaside is healthy because its air contains more oxygen than is the case in towns. It also contains saline particles which have a tonic action on the body. Sea air is generally saturated with moisture. When the wind blows from the sea it is denser, and contains a higher proportion of oxygen than air at higher levels. The density is subject to frequent variations, which exercise an active effect on the respiratory organs. The saline particles invigorate the brain and muscles by day, thus inducing restful sleep by night. The general effect is stimulating, and particularly beneficial to people who suffer from overstrain of mind or body, anaemia and enlarged glands.