SS Tararua

The Tararua was a New Zealand passenger steamer. He ran on April 29, 1881 on a reef off Waipapa Point, on the Catlins on the South Island of New Zealand and sank the following day. This was the worst civilian maritime disaster in New Zealand. Of the 151 passengers and crew members on board survived only 20 It is only surpassed in New Zealand from the sinking of the HMS Orpheus with 189 victims.

Ship

The Tararua was a steam ship with propeller drive with 116 kW drive power, 67.8 m long, 8.5 m wide and 4.9 m depth. Built in 1864 in Dundee by Gourlay Brothers and Co., the ship had a tonnage of 523 tons, which was later enlarged to 563.

Shipwreck

The ship had gone with stops at Bluff and Hobart on April 27, 1881 at 17:00 Clock of Port Chalmers in Dunedin on the trip to Melbourne. The night was dark and the sky was clear, but above the land haze. The captain navigated along the shore waved the ship by 4 clock of April 28 to the west, in the belief that he had left behind him Slope Point. Having heard at 4:25 surf, he drove for 20 minutes a southerly course to then control back to the west. To about 5 clock struck the ship, the Otara Reef, which is about 13 km from Waipapa Point extends into the sea.

The first lifeboat sprang a leak when launching. The second boat managed a volunteer to get far enough to the shore to swim to shore and raise the alarm. A farm worker rode the 56 km to Wyndham to the nearest telegraph. The news reached Dunedin at 13:00 clock. However, it was not marked "urgent" than, therefore presented only at 17:00 the ship Hawea to a bailout from. In the meantime the wind and waves had increased. At midnight succeeded six passengers who were good swimmers to get close to the coast. Three of them succeeded with the help of helpers ashore to pass through the surf drowned the others. Another man tried to get on the reef on land, but had to turn back, three more were drowned while trying to swim to the beach. A third boat capsized in the surf, as it tried to get a line ashore. Although eight of the nine occupants survived, but the boat was damaged and gathered on the coast locals it could not repair. The still remaining boat was the boat because of the waves do not reach, it steered out to sea to be able to pick up a passenger ship to help in hope. The Tararua took over 20 hours to sink, the stern sank at 14:00 clock, the rest of the ship on the following night. The last cries of the victims were heard 2:35 clock in the morning. Only one man managed yet, from the ship to reach the shore.

It 74 bodies were found, of which 55 was buried on a nearby piece of land that is known as " Tararua Acre " today. Three grave stones and a memorial stone have been preserved until today.

Investigation

A judicial investigation concluded that the accident was mainly due to the fact that the captain held the position determined incorrect by 4 clock before he had set his course to the west. It was also found that the lookout had failed to carefully keep an eye out, because you would have otherwise heard the breakers of the surf on time. The court recommended that steamers should have enough life jackets for all passengers on board - the Tararua had only twelve. In addition, a lighthouse to be built on Waipapa Point. This was 1884 in operation.

In 1865 the company was the Tararua only narrowly escaped a shipwreck when she was without suffering damage accrued on a beach at Cape Farewell.

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