Wreck of the other Wahine

Off to war with no radar and a vanishing current

A two part account of the 1951 sinking of one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s best ships - the other Wahine. Part One …

When the Union Steam Ship Company’s TSS Wahine steamed into an Indonesian island in 1951 it was only luck and calm weather that prevented it from being one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s great maritime disasters. That lamentable fate was to be reserved for TEV Wahine 17 years later at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

Seventy two years on from the first wreck, its story has mostly been lost, something that might have pleased the National Party Government of the day. Nothing to see here, Prime Minister Sydney Holland would have wanted to say. There was much wrong and it was covered up. It could also offer new Finance Minister Nicola Willis some pause as she charges into the Cook Strait new ferry business, saying she was ‘going to go off and see whether there are any good reliable Toyota Corollas available’. Wahine’s loss is a reminder about assumptions and screw ups.

Wellington Harbour, departing for Japan and Korea. Photo National Library of NZ

‘Triple screw steamer’ Wahine should be rated as one of New Zealand’s more significant vessels, a Cook Strait and Tasman Sea ferry that fought in a couple of world wars, and sank going to its third conflict.